President Bush unveiled his budget proposal ^[1] for the Department of Education today—pushing Congress to hold spending levels flat from last year. Cue the hyperbolic press releases from liberals about how the Bush administration is dramatically under-funding education.

The idea that public education has been under-funded during the Bush presidency is a cornerstone of many liberal stump-speeches. But a quick look at the record shows that federal spending on education has actually increased dramatically since 2000. See for yourself ^[2]—if Congress approves President Bush’s request for 2009, Department of Education spending will have increased by 40 percent since 2000. On Title I grants to assist high poverty communities, spending will have jumped by 63 percent.

As we wrote in 2006, taxpayers should be wary ^[3] when they hear politicians suggest that more spending is the answer in education.