Earlier today, President Biden released his full Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 federal budget proposal. While the Administration had released a “skinny” budget in April, it only included overview information and few specifics. The budget proposal released today includes full details of the Administration’s priorities for both mandatory and discretionary spending, including spending details for both his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan that were previously released.
Overall, the discretionary request would restore non-defense discretionary funding to 3.3% of GDP, or $769 billion, which is approximately the historical average over the past 30 years. More specifically, the request includes $102.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education, a $29.8 billion or 41% increase over the 2021 enacted level. Further, it includes $14.2 billion for the Department of Labor, a $1.7 billion or 14% increase over the 2021 enacted level.
Many of the largest increases, especially for education, were concentrated on just a few programs, including Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and Pell Grants. A $20 million increase was proposed for the Perkins Basic State Grant, which represents a smaller increase than it received in FY 2021. In addition, the budget included a proposal for an additional $108 million for Perkins National Programs to fund a competitive grant for middle school and high school CTE innovation projects and related technical assistance and evaluation.
In addition, the budget documents outline $1 billion per year in new mandatory funding for the next 10 years as part of the Administration's proposed American Jobs Plan. This would fund a new CTE program to "support the development and implementation of high-quality career pathway programs in middle and high schools, with a priority on programs that connect underrepresented students to STEM and in-demand sectors and help increase the capacity of community colleges to offer high-quality workforce training programs.” It is important to note that this proposal is not likely to be considered through the regular congressional appropriations process, but instead through efforts to pass the American Jobs Plan.
The president’s budget proposal is not binding, and it will be up to Congress to allocate funds to individual programs through the appropriations process, but is a reflection of the Administration’s priorities for the year and can serve to inform congressional negotiations over spending decisions and new policy proposals.
Specific funding levels relevant to CTE in the Biden Administration’s FY 2022 budget include:
- Perkins Basic State Grant: $1,354,848,000, a $20 million increase over FY 2021
- Perkins National Activities: $115.4 million, a $108 million increase over FY 2021
- Adult Education State Grant: $675 million, the same level as in FY 2021
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity (WIOA) state grants: $3.7 billion, a $203 million increase above FY 2021 enacted levels
- Federal Work-Study: $1.19 Billion, the same level as in FY 2021
- Registered Apprenticeship Programs: $285 million, a $100 million increase above FY 2021 enacted levels
- Pell Grant: $6,895 maximum grant, a $400 increase above FY21 enacted levels (with an additional $1,475 proposed through the American Jobs Plan, bringing the total to $8,370 for the maximum grant)
We will be releasing more detailed analysis and information soon about how you can advocate with Congress for a more robust increase for the Perkins Basic State Grant, and for the inclusion of CTE-specific resources in the American Jobs Plan. Additional resources on the budget can be viewed on the White House’s website, as well as on the Department of Education’s website.
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