This morning, the Senate
Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee marked up their FY2017 appropriations
bill. The Full Appropriations Committee will mark up the bill on
Thursday morning at 10:30 am Some of the discretionary programs follow:
1. Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Update
- The
draft bill provides $161.9 billion in discretionary spending, which is
$270 million below the FY2016 level and $2 billion below the
administration’s budget request.
- Department of Education total: $67.8 billion (drop of $220 milllion from FY2016).
- Department
of Health and Human Services: $76.9 billion ($1.4 billion increase
above FY2016). As previously noted, the National Institutes of Health
would receive $34 billion, an increase of $2 billion above FY2016.
- The bill restores “Year Round Pell,”
which allows students to receive a second grant to take a third
semester of classes in an academic year, in order to graduate sooner.
The program would affect approximately a million students, and the
average recipient would be expected to receive $1,650 more in aid. Both
Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) are in
support of the initiative. The program takes $1.2 billion out of the $7.8 billion Pell Grant surplus.
- The bill supports an increase in the maximum Pell grant from $5,815 for the 2016-17 school year, to an estimated $5,935 for the 2017-18 school year.
- Title I Grants to Local Education Agencies–
$15.4 billion, a $500 million increase above FY2016, including $450
million in funding now in consolidation of the School Improvement Grants
program.
- Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants–
$300 million for this new formula block grant to school districts. This
represents a $22 million increase over the combined FY2016 funding
levels for programs consolidated to create this new formula block grant.
- IDEA Grants to States–
$11.95 billion for grants to states under part B of the IDEA, a $40
million increase above FY2016, to support special education services for
children with disabilities.
- Impact Aid–
$1.316 billion, an increase of $10 million above FY2016. The bill
rejects the Administration’s proposed elimination of this federal
property program, and instead includes a $2 million increase for the
program.
- Charter Schools– $343
million, an increase of $10 million above FY2016, to support school
choice through grants to States and charter management organizations for
the start-up, replication, and expansion of high-quality charter
schools.
- Promise Neighborhoods- $73.2 million, the same as FY2016.
- TRIO Programs– $900 million, the same as FY2016.
- Institute for Museum and Library Services– $231 million, a $1 million increase above FY2016.
- Homeless student education. Support for homeless students under the McKinney-Vento Act receives $77 million, $7 million more than last year.
- Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
The bill provides $110 million, an increase of $3 million, for the
Department of Education’s OCR. If enacted, this would represent an
increase of $10 million over a two year period.
- No new policy riders were attached to the bill.
2. Speaker Ryan unveiled “poverty plan” today. FYI - Education components below:
- Measures
to improve early childhood development, supporting ideas that work on
the front lines, and making sure parents are fully informed about the
choices they have for their kids’ care and education.
- A
more inclusive approach to help at-risk youth stay on the path to
rehabilitation, tailoring benefits and services to each child’s needs
and challenges.
- Reforms to child nutrition programs, so
that we help the most vulnerable children—especially those in rural and
low-income areas—get better access to healthy meals.
- Changes to improve job training, so that more workers can be matched with the skills needed to fill jobs in their communities.
- A
modernization of the Pell Grant program that allows students to use
those grants year-round if they want to accelerate their coursework, and
financial aid reforms to make it easier for students to pay for college
and pay back their loans.