In the fiscal year (FY) 2022 omnibus appropriations bill, Congress re-introduced the usage of earmarks, also known as “congressionally directed spending” or “community project funding”. This allows Members of Congress to guarantee funding for specific projects or grantees that would benefit their state or district. You can find an overview of CTE-related FY22 earmarks here.
Each Member office can submit project funding requests from constituents to be reviewed by the appropriations committee, allowing CTE programs the opportunity to submit proposals to their Members of Congress. Recently, the Senate Appropriations Committee released earmark request guidelines for FY23 (click here for ACTE’s summary of House Appropriations Committee guidance).
Most relevant to CTE-related earmark requests, the Senate Appropriations Committee is considering proposals for the following agencies and accounts under the Departments of Education and Labor:
- Employment and Training Administration
- Rehabilitation Services Administration: Demonstration and Training Programs
- Elementary and Secondary Education: Fund for the Improvement of Education
- Higher Education Programs: Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
The deadline for Member offices to submit earmark requests related to these agencies and accounts is May 25th. However, since offices typically set their own deadlines before this date, you should reach out to your Senator as soon as possible to submit proposals.
The Senate Appropriations Committee will not consider proposals that include funding for for-profit entities, multi-year funding and those in which the Senator or their family members have a financial interest. Unlike request guidelines in the House, Senators have no request or funding limits, however, the total funding of earmarks still cannot exceed over 1% of overall discretionary funding.
For individuals seeking more guidance related to earmark requests, America Forward released an earmark toolkit and will also hold an Earmark Office Hour on Wednesday, April 20 from 2-3 p.m. EST to answer questions about the submission process.
Additionally, if you have a project that might be eligible under these guidelines and need any assistance with requests or do not know how to get in touch with your elected officials, please email Zach Curtis, Manager of Government Relations (zcurtis@acteonline.org) and Alisha Hyslop, Senior Director of Public Policy (ahyslop@acteonline.org).
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