The countdown is on to Dec. 21 and the current FY ’19 budget deadline. You may have seen the public interchange between President Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader (presumed Speaker Elect) Nancy Pelosi.
Education funding is not affected by this potential shutdown. Congress completed its funding work for Labor Health Human Services Education & Other (LHHS) federal funding ahead of schedule. LHHS is the appropriations bill that funds USED and provides the bulk of federal education dollars to K12 schools.
Learn more about key federal education issues including: ESSA, nutrition regulations, farm bill, vouchers, ERate and other topics.
Here’s the full report on the budget negotiations from AASA:
The government is currently funded through Dec. 21. But top congressional leaders have yet to spell out how they plan to organize the appropriations bills in votes on the House and Senate floors and face a partial shutdown at the end of next week, with President Donald Trump holding firm to his demands for $5 billion for a border wall and fencing.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the floor last week that his chamber’s Democrats could support $1.6 billion for border barriers, but no more.
Education funding is not affected by this potential shutdown. Congress completed its funding work for Labor Health Human Services Education & Other (LHHS) federal funding ahead of schedule. LHHS is the appropriations bill that funds USED and provides the bulk of federal education dollars to K12 schools.
The federal government is currently funded through a combination of final appropriations bills (including Labor Health Human Services Education & Other (LHHS) and a handful of bills under a Continuing Resolution that expires on Dec 21. Federal fiscal year 2019 (FY19) started Oct. 1.
In recent years—spanning more than a decade—Congress has failed to complete its funding work on time and has needed to implement a continuing resolution (CR) for parts or all of the budget to avoid a federal shutdown. LHHS was always one of the funding pieces left to the end, often used to absorb cuts to pay for increases elsewhere. Different political pressures aligned for 2019 (which will be in schools for the 19-20 school year) and resulted in LHHS being funded on time.
Full details are on the AASA blog, but here’s a quick rundown:
- Overall allocation to USED is $71.5 billion, an increase of $581 million. The final bill rejects the proposal to consolidate USED with the Department of Labor, as well as the Trump/DeVos privatization agenda. The bill does NOT include language to prohibit the use of federal education dollars to arm school personnel.
- Programs receiving an increase: Title I ($100 m); Title IVA ($70 m); IDEA Part B ($100 m); 21st Century ($10 m); Charter School grants ($40 m); Perkins Career Tech ($70 m); Impact Aid ($32 m)
- Programs that are level funded: Title II A; Title III
- Full chart, courtesy of Committee for Education Funding
