Legislative Affairs

During the week of the ASBO International/AASA  2021 Legislative Advocacy Conference, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies approved its federal fiscal year 2022 (FY22) spending bill. Later that week, the bill proceeded for markup by the House Appropriations Committee, and passed on a 33-25 vote.

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the House Appropriations Committee has now reported all of its 12 government funding bills, and lawmakers plan to bring seven of them (including the L-HHS-ED bill) to the House floor in a single package (omnibus) for a floor vote this week. In all, 196 amendments have been filed for debate as lawmakers consider the FY22 omnibus appropriations package (L-HHS-ED funding is in Division A of the document).


A summary of the House L-HHS-ED FY22 appropriations bill can be found here, and highlights are below.

• The bill proposes $253.8 billion above FY21 funding for L-HHS-ED programs (a $55.2 billion or 28% increase).
• It would provide $102.8 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Department of Education (ED) ($29.3 billion above the FY21 enacted level and equal to the President's budget request).
  • For K–12 education, the bill provides $65.6 billion (+$25 billion from FY21) in alignment with the President's budget. Other ED funding provisions include:
    • $36 billion for Title I (+$19.5 billion from the FY21 enacted level).
    • $17.2 billion for IDEA/Special Education (+$3.1 billion from FY21 and $7 million more than the President's budget). This includes $15.5 billion for IDEA Part B (+$2.6 billion).
    • $1 billion for English language acquisition grants (+$203 million from FY21).
    • $2.3 billion for Title II-A Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (+$150 million from FY21).
    • $1.3 billion for Title IV-A Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (+$85 million from FY21).
    • $90 million for Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) Grants (+$10 million from FY21).
    • $2.2 billion for Career, Technical and Adult Education (+$208 million from FY21).
  • Other (non-ED) programs of interest:
    • $3.1 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State Grants (+$250 million from FY21)
    • $7.4 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (+$1.5 billion from FY21).
    • $12.2 billion for Head Start (+$1.4 billion from FY21) and $450 million for Preschool Development Grants (+$175 million from FY21).
    • $3.1 billion for Unemployment Insurance (+$559.4 million from FY21 and equal to the President's budget request. It also includes $155 million in emergency funding to help states address spikes in unemployment claims).
    • $9.16 billion for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (+$3.14 billion from FY21). Includes funding for mental health resources for children/youth, suicide prevention, opioid response grants, and more.

CEF notes that several of the amendments filed for debate on the House bill would affect funding for charter schools-either adding funding, eliminating the bill's prohibition on funding for for-profit charter schools, or other issues. There were also five common amendment themes to limiting the use of federal funds in education, which may be of interest to school business leaders.

• 8 amendments prohibit funding the teaching of Critical Race Theory;
• 4 amendments prohibit or otherwise limit institutions of higher education from getting funding or researchers from China;
• 3 amendments prohibit DACA students from receiving Pell grants;
• 3 amendments eliminate all earmarks (aka, community project funding); and
• 3 amendments cut all ED funding by a specified percentage, ranging from 1% to 36%.

For more information, download CEF's list of key education-related amendments filed for the FY22 House L-HHS-ED bill. This information may be helpful for school business professionals who want to advocate on federal education issues if there are amendments that they agree with or oppose and would like to contact their officials about them. Some amendments, especially those that seek to cut program funding, could have a major financial impact on schools during the 2022–2023 school year if they are passed in the final FY22 appropriations package. See a comparison of the House L-HHS-ED FY22 appropriations bill with prior fiscal year funding of ED programs here.

Note that the House bill is not final, as it must still be reconciled with the Senate L-HHS-ED FY 22 appropriations bill. CEF expects the Senate to start marking up its 12 appropriations bills starting in the first week of August. If you have questions about advocating with your officials, please contact us.