Congressional appropriators released the text of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, H.R. 2471, in the early morning hours of March 9, in the hopes of finishing the FY 2022 appropriations process in the next week.
The omnibus appropriations package includes $76.4 billion in funding for Education Department discretionary programs, an increase of $2.9 billion over the enacted FY 2021 appropriations amount. It includes $17.5 billion for Title I, Part A, a $1 billion increase over FY 2021 enacted levels, and $13.3 billion for IDEA Part B, a $400 million increase compared with FY 2021. However, the funding figure falls far short of the FY 2022 request from the Biden administration as well as House and Senate appropriations bills that would have provided more than $30 billion for Title I and $15.5 billion for IDEA, Part B.
“I am so proud of this government funding legislation, which delivers transformative federal investments to help lower the cost of living for working families, create American jobs, and provide a lifeline for the vulnerable,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairperson Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. “During this time of great uncertainty and change, we are tackling some of our nation’s biggest challenges.”
“It’s been a very, very long road to this point,” said House Appropriations Committee Vice-Ranking Member Tom Cole, R-Okla. “I’m encouraged that we are finally moving forward to complete our work, albeit very late.”
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, provides increased funding for several other Education Department-administered programs. It will provide $2.2 billion for Title II, Part A, a $100 million increase over FY 2021 enacted levels, and $1.3 billion for Title IV, Part A Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, a $100 million increase over FY 2021. The Institute of Education Sciences would receive $737 million, up from $642 million in FY 2021; Title III English Language Acquisition would receive $831 million, up from $797 million; and Full-Service Community Schools would receive $75 million, up from $30 million.
More from DA: Just how effective were masks in stopping COVID from spreading in schools?
The House is expected to vote on the FY 2022 omnibus on March 9, along with a short-term continuing resolution, H.J. Res. 75, to extend FY 2022 funding until March 15. The current CR, the Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act, H.R. 6617, expires March 11, but the Senate is expected to need more time to move the omnibus over procedural hurdles. If the Senate passes the bill without amendment, it will move to President Biden’s desk for signature into law.
FY 2022 began Oct. 1, and the federal government has been operating under a series of CRs as funding negotiations stalled. While funding for federal programs, including those administered by the Education Department, has been uninterrupted, the lack of a full-year funding bill has delayed preliminary allocations notices for Title I, Part A and several other non-competitive grant programs authorized by the ESEA for SY 2022-23. Federal officials speaking at the 2022 National ESEA Network Conference said those figures would not be available until two to three weeks following final congressional action on FY 2022 appropriations.
Charles Hendrix covers education funding and other Title I issues for LRP Publications.
