Emergency training programs aimed to prepare schools for events like Columbine are losing their funding amid budget cuts. "Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools" grants from the federal office of safe and drug-free schools, has evaporated. After paying for hundreds of school districts to prepare for a Columbine-like event, the roughly $30 million grant program finds its future up in the air. So far this fiscal year, the program, created after the tragedy at Columbine, has not been funded, and for 2012, the president's budget proposal includes just $6 million for state-level emergency-planning grants for schools. Part of the reason for shifting away from small, district-level grants to larger state ones is to put in place more comprehensive emergency planning. The 823 grants awarded through 2010 have reached that many school districts and more, because some filed joint applications, during the program's eight-year history, but most of the country's remaining districts could not compete against the larger and more urban districts that won grants in the past. The Department of Education also recommended state-level grants because of a suggestion from the National Commission on Children and Disasters. In addition to the money for state grants, the 2012 budget proposal includes $2.2 million to maintain a technical-assistance center on emergency planning. As the federal budget continues to shrink and competition for education dollars grows fiercer, it should not be surprising that even popular programs that have not raised eyebrows are being downsized. The rule of thumb is going to be programs that are good, but not essential, are going to be eliminated. There is just going to be less money unless the economy turns around. Moreover, some might argue that emergency planning is a function that should be handled at the local level. Schools should be doing this as a matter of course.