Appropriations update: House Committee passes FY 2025 Education Spending Bill, Senate starts process

This week, both the House and Senate made progress on the FY 2025 appropriations cycle. The House Appropriations Committee continued to approve bills sent to them by the 12 spending subcommittees, while the Senate got its process started by deciding topline figures.

House Committee acts on education spending

On July 10, the House Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2025 Labor-Health and Humans Services-Education bill on a party-line vote of 31 – 25. While the bill largely mirrors the legislation that was approved by the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS-ED) and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee on June 27 (see our previous blog for details on the bill), one amendment which cuts $10 million from the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and adds that $10 million to the Charter School grant program was incorporated into the final bill.

Overall, the FY 2025 Labor-Health and Humans Services-Education bill provides $68.1 billion for the Department of Education, a decrease of $11 billion, or 14 percent, compared to the FY 2024 level and $14.5 billion below the President's FY 2025 request. As the Alliance and countless other education and youth development groups said when the House LHHS bill was released last month, these are devastating cuts. Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant issued a statement on July 10, expressing disappointment and urging Congress to ensure that the final FY 2025 LHHS funding bill increases investments in afterschool and other education programs that support afterschool and summer learning.

Key afterschool and summer related funding streams in the bill  face proposed funding cuts, as well as two increases and level funding of the 21^st Century Community Learning Centers (21^st CCLC) program:

• Level funding in the amount of $1.329 billion for 21st CCLC, which is the same as FY 2024 and FY 2023.
   
• An increase of $25 million over FY 2024 for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), for a total of $8.77 billion in discretionary funding. CCDBG supports school-age children participation in afterschool and summer programs, in addition to providing child care to infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
   
• An increase of $10 million over FY 2024 funding for Title IV, Part A, Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, for a total of $1.39 billion.
   
• A $4.7 billion cut for ESSA Title I grants to Local Education Agencies, for a total of $13.7 billion, which would be a 25 percent cut to FY 2024 spending levels.
   
• A $75 million cut (50 percent) for Full-Service Community Schools, for a total of $75 million. The program received $150 million in FY 2024.
   
• A cut of $813 million from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), proposing an investment of $449 million in FY 2025. Within the total amount for CNCS, the bill eliminates funding for AmeriCorps State and National, a cut of $557 million; and eliminates funding for the National Service Trust, a cut of $180 million, which would eliminate funding for Education Awards for eligible participants who complete AmeriCorps service.

The FY 2025 LHHS spending bill could be taken up on the House floor during the last week of July, as House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) tries to make significant progress on the FY 2025 spending cycle before the August recess. Enacting all 12 bills by September 30—the last day of FY 2024, is highly unlikely. Members, staff and advocates assume that Congress will pass one or more continuing resolutions to prevent a full or partial federal government shut-down while lawmakers are on the campaign trail. It is assumed that Congressional action on spending bills will occur after the November elections, during a lame-duck session of Congress.

Senate decides topline figures

On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Appropriations Committee met this week to approve allocations for its 12 Appropriations subcommittees. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine) reached a bipartisan agreement to add to the allocations the extra $69 billion in “side deal” funding that was part of the agreement when the Fiscal Responsibility Act imposed caps on defense and non-defense discretionary funding for FY 2024 and FY 2025. They also will add an extra $13.5 billion in emergency non-defense funding and $21 billion in emergency defense funding. While final allocations have not been made available, even not counting any of the extra funding still to be allocated, the Senate Labor-HHS-Education total of $198.655 billion is $14.1 billion (7.6%) higher than the House bill, and $4.2 billion (2.2%) higher than the comparable FY 2024 level.

You can help!

Making your voice heard is especially important as the bills being discussed now will be a foundation for future negotiations. Friends of afterschool can weigh in with their members of Congress about the importance of funding afterschool and summer learning programs and the potential impact of devastating program freezes, eliminations, and cuts that would be felt in communities nationwide.