President Biden on Dec. 3 signed the Further Extending Government Funding Act, H.R. 6119, a continuing resolution that will provide federal government funding for FY 2022 through Feb. 18, 2022, following House and Senate passage of the bill to avert a federal government shutdown.
The Senate passed the bill by a 69-28 vote on Dec. 2 following an earlier 221-212 vote to pass the bill in the House.
Democrats hope the funding extension will provide time to hash out final spending levels for FY 2022, which could include significant increases to Title I, Part A of the ESEA as well as the IDEA if it aligns with the Biden administration’s funding request and appropriations bills introduced in the House and Senate. Indeed, Democratic leadership is pushing for an omnibus funding bill to provide appropriations for the remainder of FY 2022, which began on Oct. 1.
However, H.R. 6119 will maintain funding at FY 2021 spending levels for Education Department programs through February — more than four months after the start of the current fiscal year.
“This bill makes very minimal changes,” said House Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern, D-Mass. “It would simply keep the lights on until Feb. 18 as work continues on a longer-term measure.”
The delay in passing a full-year appropriations bill will likely delay preliminary FY 2022 Title I allocations to state and local educational agencies, which ED usually releases early in the calendar year.
“We fully expect Congress to pass a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open, and to provide additional time to reach an agreement on full-year funding levels for fiscal year 2022,” according to an Education Department official. “Once there is a final FY 2022 appropriation that sets the program funding levels — including for Title I — ED will be able to release the preliminary FY 2022 Title I allocations.”
Charles Hendrix covers education funding and other Title I issues for LRP Publications.
