April 2, 2024
Congress passed a 1.2 trillion dollar spending bill to provide funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, an omnibus package that wrapped up funding for the remaining 8 appropriations bills, including the Labor Health Human Services Education and Others (LHHS) bill, which provides for education. FY24 runs from October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024 (yes, we are already halfway through FY24) and FY24 funding will be in schools for the 2024-25 school year. This document provides an overview of what K-12 education funding was included in the final spending package.
Important context here are the budget caps that are in place for FY24 and FY25 as a result of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023 - a bill that raised the debt ceiling for two years in exchange for spending caps. The FRA caps non-defense discretionary (NDD) funding for FY24 at roughly $704 billion, but a “side-deal” provided an additional $69 billion, bringing FY24 levels
close to that of FY23. FY25 is anticipated to have a 1% increase in discretionary spending, but once we account for allowed adjustments, FY25 allocations will be at a cap even lower than that
of FY24, which means Congress will have to make larger cuts to funding. Historically, education funding has remained stagnant or is cut when spending caps are in place. Luckily, the FY24 package is drastically different from the House FY24 proposal that gutted Title I funding by 80% ($14 billion cut) and sought to eliminate numerous education programs. Given the current constraints, the small increases allotted for the key K-12 education formula programs should be commended.
ANALYSIS: The FY24 package provides $79.1 billion to the Department of Education (USED) – a $500 million cut below the FY2023. However, the majority of K-12 education programs received level funding while a few key programs received modest increases – most notably Title I and IDEA received increases of $20 million. See below what programs received increases, level funding, or cuts.
Also notable, Congress has continued investment in student mental health and school safety. The FY24 package provided $74 million for School-Based Mental Health Services Grants, which
was not included in the FY23 appropriations package but received funding in 2023 from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Additionally, the first FY24 omnibus that Congress passed on March 6 - which funded 6 other agencies - included level funding for programs within the STOP School Violence Act:
• $82 million to the Bureau of Juvenile Assistance (BJA)
• $53 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office.
Programs that received increased funding:
Title I: $18.389 billion (+ $20 million)
IDEA (Special Education Grants to States): $14.213 billion (+ $20 million)
Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP): $220 million (+ $5 million)
IMPACT Aid: $1.625 billion (+7 million)
Perkins Career & Technical Education (State grants): $1.439 billion (+10 million)
Head Start: $12.3 billion (+ $275 million)
Child Care and Development Block Grants (CCDBG): $8.7 billion (+ $725 million)
Programs that received level funding:
Comprehensive Literacy Development Grants: $194 million
Innovative Approaches to Literacy: $30 million
Migrant Education: $375 million
Neglected/Delinquent: $49 million
ESSA Title II: $2.19 billion
21st Century Learning Community Learning Centers: $1.3 billion
Education for Homeless Children: $129 million
Native Hawaiian Education: $45.897 million
Alaska Native Education: $44.953 million
ESSA Title IV: $1.38 billion
School Safety National Activities: $216 million
Promise Neighborhoods: $91 million
Full Service Community Schools: $150 million
Supporting Effective Educator Development: $90 million
Charter School Grants: $440 million
Magnet Schools Assistance: $139 million
English Language Acquisition: $890 million
Teacher Quality Partnerships: $70 million
Programs that received cuts:
Education Innovation and Research: $259 million (- $25 million)
Teacher and School Leader Incentive Grants: $60 million (- $113 million)
Perkins Career & Technical Education (Natl Prog): $12 million (- $20 million)
Comprehensive Centers: $50 million (-$10 million)
State Assessment: $380 million (- $10 million)
Cybersecurity (Homeland Security/CISA): $1.18 billion (- $121 million)