On Monday, October 18, 2021, the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), released a budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 for the Department of Education. In total, the Committee proposed to allocate $98.4 billion in base discretionary funding for the department—an increase of $24.9 billion over Fiscal Year 2021 and $4.4 billion less than the budget request issued by the Biden-Harris Administration in May 2021.

When discussing the proposal, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the Chair of both the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, stated that "budgets are a statement of [individuals] values and priorities – and [she] believe the investments in this bill are investments in a stronger, fairer future for all our country's kids, workers, families and communities."

However, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), expressed his opposition to the overarching budget proposal, stating: "Chairman Leahy's decision to unilaterally unveil partisan spending bills is a significant step in the wrong direction. This one-sided process has resulted in bills that spend in excess of the Democrats' own budget resolution and fail to give equal consideration to our nation's defense ... If Democrats want full year appropriations bills, they must abandon their go-it-alone strategy and come to the table to negotiate."

Key priorities included in the request are:

Early Childhood Education:

  • Child Care and Development Block Grant: The Committee recommended approximately $7.31 billion to support high-quality child care for working families. The investment is estimated to benefit more than 2 million children in fiscal year 2022 if passed and enacted.
  • Head Start: The Committee recommended approximately $12 billion to help the continuation of high-quality childhood education provided via Head Start, a program created to promote the school readiness of infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children from low-income families.

Lower and Secondary Education:

  • Career and Technical Education: The Committee recommended approximately $1.41 billion to help states develop, expand and improve career and technical education programs in middle school, high school and post-secondary settings.
  • Charter School Program: The Committee recommended $440 million for the Charter School Program. While the proposed budget expressed lawmakers continued support of barring for-profit entities from receiving funding allocated via the program, they recognized that some charter schools enter into contract with for-profit entities to manage day-to-day services. The Committee stated that the Department of Education must "ensure such contracting relationships safeguard Federal funds from fraud, waste, and abuse; prioritize the educational needs of students; protect the independence of the charter school and its board; be fully transparent and sufficiently overseen; and provide reasonable terms and costs for services provided, among other factors necessary to eliminate the potential risk to Federal funds being used for unintended purposes."
  • Education Research: The Committee recommended approximately $267.9 million for education research, development, evaluation and national dissemination activities.
  • Homeless Children and Youth: The Committee recommended approximately $146.5 million for states to support the development and implementation of plans on educating students experiencing homelessness and to make grants to local education agencies to support these children.
  • Rural Education: The Committee recommended approximately $200 million for rural education to help overcome unique resource and capacity issues.
  • Special Education: The Committee recommended approximately $15.5 billion for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part B State Grants. It is estimated that the funding would help an estimated 7.6 million students with disabilities if passed.
  • State Academic Assessments: The Committee recommended approximately $58.5 million for competitive grants to State Education Agencies a consortium of State Education Agencies to "carry out activities designed to improve the quality validity and reliability of State academic assessment."
  • Title I-A Grants to Local Educational Agencies: The Committee recommended approximately $33.1 billion for Title I-A Grants to Local Educational Agencies. This would be the most significant increase to the program if passed. Funding is equally split between targeted grants and education finance incentive grants.

Higher Education:

  • Federal Work-Study: The Committee recommended approximately $1.23 billion for Federal Work-Study, a federal financial aid program that provides part-time jobs to undergraduate and graduate students to help with the cost of education expenses. Funding allocated via this program would be distributed to approximately 3,200 institutions of higher education. Institutions must provide at least 25 percent of student earnings.
  • Historically Black Colleges and Universities: The Committee recommended approximately $400 million to strengthen Historically Black Colleges. Lawmakers hope the funding will address "historical inequities in higher education" and be used to "purchase equipment; construct and renovate facilities; develop faculty; support academic programs; strengthen institutional management; enhance fundraising activities; provide tutoring and counseling services to students; and conduct outreach to elementary and secondary school students." The Committee also recommended approximately $100 million for the Historically Black Graduate Institutions and $22 million for Predominately Black Institutions.
  • Pell Grants: The Committee recommended approximately $24.28 billion in discretionary funding for Pell Grants, a federal financial aid award provided to undergraduate students who "display exceptional financial need." This recommendation would represent the largest increase provided by federal lawmakers to the program since 2009 and would increase the maximum award to $6,895 for the 2022–2023 school year. Unlike financial aid provided in the form of a federal student loans, Pell Grants do not have to be repaid.

Please find here links to the draft bill text, bill summary and explanatory statement, from which the above information was pulled.

Originally published 19 October, 2021

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