Early this morning, lawmakers introduced the final six-bill appropriations package for fiscal year (FY) 2024, totaling more than $1.2 trillion. The release comes one day before the continuing resolution (CR) keeping government open is set to expire.
The bill provides the Department of Education $79.1 billion in discretionary spending, which is approximately a $500 million below FY 23 levels. These lower funding levels are largely the result of the bipartisan agreement on spending caps for FY 24 and 25 that was part of the deal to raise the debt limit last year. However, in a big victory, the Perkins Basic State Grant will be funded at $1.44 billion, which is an increase of $10 million above FY23 levels.
The bill does decrease the amount of funding available for competitive grants under the Perkins s Innovation and Modernization Grants (Section 114(e) of Perkins V) .
In addition, key funding levels in the bill include:
Department of Education
- $18.4 billion for ESSA Title I grants to local education agencies, an increase of $20 million
- $14.2 billion for IDEA state grants, an increase of $20 million over FY 23
- $1.38 billion for Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (ESEA Title IV), equal to FY 23
- $729 million for Adult Education, equal to FY 23
- $7,395 for the maximum Pell Grant, equal to FY23
- $703 million for the Institute of Education Sciences, a decrease of $14 million
Department of Labor
- $2.9 billion for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity State Grants, equal to FY 23
- $285 million for Registered Apprenticeships, equal to FY 23
- $65 million for Strengthening Community College Training Grants, equal to FY 23
- $1.8 billion for Job Corps, equal to FY 23
The House plans to vote on the package tomorrow, March 22, at 11:00 AM EST. The bill will then move to the Senate where lawmakers may face procedural hurdles that prevent voting on the package before the midnight deadline. It seems possible that there will be a short shutdown this weekend of part of the government. However, senators should be able to finish their work and send the bill to President Biden’s desk over the weekend, averting a significant disruption in services
ACTE will keep you abreast of the bill’s final passage or any other developments.
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