The SGMA said the Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) program survived a close call by not being eliminated in the new agreement reached on Capitol Hill on April 8 to fund the U.S. government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011. But SGMA officials said the program could still face some cuts due to the unusual budget situation.
The trade group said the program was slated to be eliminated under the original budget proposal that was passed in January by the U.S. House of Representatives, but was not considered in the U.S. Senate. As a result, SGMA said the U.S. Department of Education will receive funding for programs that were not on the cut list in the new agreement.
SGMA said although the agreement was reached on April 8, the U.S. Congress released the details of that agreement on April 12.
But the SGMA said the fight to save PEP is not finished.
“The good news is that PEP is not on the cut list,” said the SGMA in a statement. “Over the next 30 days, the Department of Education will be working with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to decide which of the remaining programs will receive funding. The SGMA will continue its work with our champions in Congress to ensure that PEP is funded.”
The SGMA said it encourages the physical education community, especially past PEP grant winners and new applicants, to contact members of Congress and the Department of Education to let them know the importance of the program and express strong support for continued PEP funding.
“In order to save PE in our schools, we simply need to save PEP,” said Bill Sells, SGMA's vice president of government relations. “Contacting your local member of Congress, now, with that message is something that everybody in the sporting goods and fitness business should do.”
In an interview with SportsOneSource, Sells said the situation remains “fluid” at this point.
“Due to the unusual budget process Congress is not giving the Depart. of Education a road map of how to allocate funds,” said Sells. “As such the Dept. of Ed will have greater say in distribution of funds. It is unclear how they plan to divvy up those funds, but if they don't receive full funding (total Ed budget is cut $10 billion), they could decide to not award new PEP Grants and just fund years two and three of previously awarded PEP grants.”
“It's a very unusual time and just keeping PEP off chopping block is significant as it keeps the program in the FY2012 budget discussion,” added Sells.
He also added that Congress has yet to formally pass the Continuing Resolution to fund the Government through September.
