The Senate Appropriations Committee on Nov. 10 released that chamber’s version of FY 2021 funding bills for federal agencies, including the U.S. Education Department.
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill includes $73.2 billion in overall spending for ED. The bill includes approximately $16.4 billion for Title I, Part A grants to local educational agencies (a $125 million increase over FY 2020) and $12.9 billion for IDEA Part B grants to states (a $125 million increase from FY 2020).
The Senate bill’s release comes as the 116th Congress is working to complete its appropriations work during the “lame duck” session. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said in a statement on releasing the FY 2021 appropriations bills that they “are the product of bipartisan cooperation among members of the [Appropriations] Committee.” Shelby said he hopes to work with leading House and Senate appropriators to “resolve our differences 
in a bipartisan manner.”
The Democratic-controlled House on July 31 passed H.R. 7617, a minibus spending bill that includes a total of $76.3 billion in discretionary spending for ED. The bill was approved by a 217-197 party line vote and sent to the Senate for consideration by that chamber. However, the Senate failed to pass the House measure, and the chambers passed a continuing resolution to extend federal funding beyond the Sept. 30 deadline.
Legislators have until Dec. 11 to negotiate another funding extension or complete work on FY 2021 appropriations bills and avoid a shutdown.
In the image are comparisons of the enacted FY 2020 appropriation, the FY 2021 Trump administration budget proposal, H.R. 7617 as passed by the House, and the Senate Appropriations Committee FY 2021 Labor-HHS-Education funding bill. All figures have been rounded.
*Source: Congressional FY 2020 budget documents, Trump administration FY 2021 budget proposal, H.R. 7617, and Senate Appropriations Committee FY 2021 Labor-HHS-Education bill.
Charles Hendrix covers education funding and other Title I issues for TitleIAdmin, a DA sister publication.
