Earlier this week, Congress passed a temporary funding package (a continuing resolution, or CR) to prevent a government shutdown until after the holidays. The agreement provides stopgap funding for four appropriations bills through January 18 and the other eight appropriations bills through February 2. The Labor-Health and Human Services-Education (L-HHS-ED) bill, which funds federal education programs, is one of the bills that had its funding extended at current (FY23) levels through early February.
As a reminder, the House L-HHS-ED Appropriations Subcommittee released an FY24 proposal in July that included devastating cuts to education, including an 80% cut to Title I. This bill has since skipped the typical markup process it would normally go through in the House Appropriations Committee and went straight to the House for additional amendments, which were debated for adoption this week. House officials offered hundreds of amendments, and of those that were passed, the net result is the latest L-HHS-ED proposal would cut an additional $95 million to the already disastrous cuts proposed in the original L-HHS-ED bill. Most of these additional cuts would significantly impact federal staff salaries and program administration.
Since the House has yet to make its final vote on passing the L-HHS-ED bill, there is still time to advocate with lawmakers between now and February. ASBO International has been advocating with K-12 organization allies and through the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) to urge lawmakers to oppose cuts to education programs for FY24. Please join us in advocating for strong education funding in FY24 by telling your elected officials how disastrous cuts to Title I and other programs would be harmful to your students and schools as ESSER funds are winding down. Some lawmakers are trying to justify education cuts because of misperceptions around K-12 COVID-relief spending, so we need your help pushing back on this narrative!
If you have any questions or need assistance with contacting your officials, please contact us. On a related note, ASBO International just closed its latest ESSER Spending Survey to collect member stories about how these funds are being wisely invested to help students. Thank you to everyone who participated, your feedback will help us continue advocating for strong education funding. We appreciate your advocacy and support!
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ASBO USA
asbousa@asbointl.org
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