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Education Funding in Flux

Dec 08, 2019

National Education Association

"Fiscal year 2019 ended on September 30, 2019, without Congress having passed the FY2020 budget bill. Instead, Congress punted on a yearlong funding bill by instead passing a short-term continuing resolution or CR that funds the government at FY2019 levels through November 21, 2019.

In June, the U.S. House of Representatives succeeding in passing a FY2020 funding bill that included an increase of $11.8 billion or six percent increase for Labor-HHS-Education. Notable funding increases for education over FY2019 levels included Title I and IDEA both receiving $1 billion increases, Title II funding was increased by $500 million, full-service community schools was increased to $40 million – more than double the current funding level, and the maximum Pell grant award was increased by $150.

In sharp contrast, the Senate attempted to take up appropriations bills in September with little success. In fact, the Labor HHS-Education bill was pulled from the schedule the day it was to be marked up by the committee. Instead, the bill was released without an opportunity for committee members to offer changes. The overall allocated increase to the bill was only an estimated .01 percent – essentially freezing most education funding. Notable changes in education funding from FY2019 levels included flat funding (or no increase) for Title I, Title II and IDEA, a $50 million increase for Title IV, a $20 million increase for Charter Schools, elimination of the full-service community schools program, and the maximum Pell grant award was increased by $135."National Education Association.