Education Budget

Over the past couple of weeks, the Department of Education has approved the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) applications of 14 more states. These states join the 36 states/territories that have already begun to receive funds. As of July 17th, nearly $8.7 billion in SFSF monies have been disbursed to states. (Previous posts analyzing the applications of the first 36 states/territories can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

The full table of all approved states/territories can be accessed here.

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

Separation of Degrees - A Report on Teacher Compensation

Illinois Cuts Millions from Education Budget

Budget Plan Approved in California Senate

Maryland Faces Budget Cuts, Preserves Money for K-12

On Tuesday, the House Education and Labor Committee approved a bill that makes major changes to federal higher education assistance programs. The full House may vote on it as early as next week. At the core of the bill is one of President Obama’s priority education issues: shifting all federal student loans to the Direct Loan program, generating significant administrative savings that are redirected to expand student aid. The House, however, breaks with the President’s proposal on how the savings will be spent, particularly with respect to Pell Grants.

The Pell Grant program is the cornerstone of federal grant aid for low-income college students. In academic year 2008-09, eligible students received Pell Grants worth between $890 and $4,731 each to pay tuition and attendance costs.

Last Friday the House Appropriations Committee passed its version of the fiscal year 2010 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, which funds early education programs operated by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education.

The bill includes $7.2 billion in funding for Head Start, a $122 million (1.7 percent) increase over the fiscal year 2009 funding level, and $2.1 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, the same funding level as in fiscal year 2009. The bill also sets aside $271 million in CCDBG for quality improvement, above the 4 percent of CCDBG funds automatically set-aside for quality. $99 million of these funds are directed towards improving quality of care for infants and toddlers. These funding levels match those proposed by the Obama administration in the President's fiscal year 2010 budget request.

It's rare to see early childhood centers being included in discussions of school construction -- an omission that we've lamented before. But the new education bill moving through Congress this week offers good news on that front. The bill not only provides $5 billion for construction and renovation of K-12 schools, it also includes a parenthetical reference to "early learning facilities, as appropriate."

The bill -- the Student Aid and Fiscal Reform Act introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif) -- cleared the House Education and Labor Committee yesterday, 30 to 17.  

For more information on the how these construction funds could be used, see yesterday's post by our sister blog, Ed Money Watch.

A major new federal investment in early education, the Early Learning Challenge Grant program that was included in legislation introduced last week by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, and which we wrote about here, cleared its first hurdle on the way to becoming law yesterday. The House Committee on Education and Labor passed a reconciliation bill that would overhaul federal student loan programs and use some of the savings from those reforms to fund Early Learning Challenge Grants. 

As included in the committee-passed bill, the Early Learning Challenge Grant program is virtually unchanged from Miller's original bill. But the House committee did chop funding for the Early Learning Challenge Grants in the last years of the reconciliation bill's 10-year time frame. Instead of a program that sends $1 billion to states each year until 2019, the program is now described as ending in 2017. In other words, the new bill sets the funding at $8 billion over 8 years intead of $10 billion over 10. 

Much has been said about the recent student loan bill authored by Congressman George Miller (D-CA). The bill makes some major changes to the existing federal student loan program and provides significant funds for early learning programs. But little has been said about the $5.0 billion the bill provides for modernization, renovation and repair of public school facilities including early learning facilities.

The bill provides school facilities funding through two separate pots. One funding pot, $2.5 billion in both 2010 and 2011, will be distributed to states based on their share of total Title I funding (after reserving 7 percent of funds for outlying and disaster areas). States will then distribute those funds - minus a 1 percent set-aside for administration - directly to local education agencies (LEAs) based on their share of total state Title I funds.

The second pot consists of an additional $35 million in both 2010 and 2011 for LEAs in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to address damage incurred during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These funds will be distributed based on each LEA's share of the total cost of damage to public school infrastructure.

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

In Massachusetts, Charter School Limit Could Double

Arizona Stimulus Mix-Up Leaves Schools with a $250 Million Windfall

Ohio Education Plan Is a Mixed Bag

Avoiding Tax Hikes, Pennsylvania Democrats Drop Some Higher Ed Funding From Budget

The early childhood community is just starting to digest yesterday's news about legislation in Congress that could provide a new stream of money for states setting up high-quality early learning systems. In the hubbub and coming analysis on the bill's details, we also shouldn't miss some important elements of not just what it says, but how it has been introduced. In other words, it's time to practice saying two words: reconciliation and mandatory.

The early education piece is a small section of much larger bill designed to overhaul the government's student loan program. That bill is a reconciliation bill, meaning that it is specifically designed to move through Congress much faster than your typical piece of legislation.

Last Friday the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education approved its version of the 2010 appropriations bill for programs under its jurisdiction. Overall, the bill increases the total Department of Education appropriation by more than $6.0 billion from 2009 levels with large increases for several major programs. However, the House bill does not fulfill all of the President's requests.

Most notably, the House Subcommittee did not honor the President's request to increase the allocation for School Improvement Grants under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act by nearly $1.0 billion. While the President's plan would have diverted funds from Title I Grants to local education agencies (LEAs) into the School Improvement Grants, the House Subcommittee bill maintains 2009 levels for LEA grants and School Improvement Grants. However, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides an additional $3.0 billion in School Improvement Grants for 2009 and 2010.