The future of bilateral aid to basic education is at risk, placing the educational opportunities of many of the world's poorest girls and boys on the line. Some donor governments are reducing overall bilateral assistance, others are phasing out long-standing partnerships with particular developing countries and several are abandoning education as a priority sector altogether. In light of the challenge the current reductions in bilateral aid to education are posing to the achievement of universal quality education, the Center for Universal Education and the Education for All Fast Track Initiative have undertaken a preliminary analysis of the current trends in donor aid to education. This paper starts by setting out the financing need in developing countries, in the context both of progress made throughout the past decade, and of the remaining progress yet to be made to strengthen education systems in low and middle income countries. This analysis uses public reports and the results of a short survey of donors to create a forecast of the overall picture of bilateral aid to basic education over the next few years, as well as the impact on individual developing countries. Specifically, the authors focus on low- and low middle-income countries, as defined by the World Bank classifications. This initial analysis reveals that donors are pulling out of the education sector in several countries simultaneously, with little coordination or effort to ensure that funding is not dramatically cut. However, with many countries still coping with large numbers of out-of-school children, and more which have yet to ensure that the education provided is of good quality, the timing for donor withdrawal could not be worse. The fragile gains made in the past decade may be lost altogether if this trend is not mitigated by increased and better coordination of aid to education. Annexes include: (1) Donor Questionnaire; (2) Low and Low-Middle Income Partner Countries Recently Phased Out or to Be Phased Out from 2 or More Bilateral Partner Programs; and (3) Selection of Countries to Lose Education Aid. (Contains 4 charts and 39 endnotes.) [This report was produced by the Center for Universal Education at Brookings.