Distributed via Email: August 8, 2012
EDUCATION FUNDING
This week, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced plans for a six-month Continuing Resolution that would extend funding for education and other programs into March 2013. The federal fiscal year is October 1 through September 30. The six-month Resolution represents a compromise developed to allow time for Congress to address the issue of sequestration (see below), which is slated to impose across-the-board cuts of 7.8 percent or more to education and other domestic programs. The six-month Resolution also pushes the budget timeline down the road, past the election, into the new year and to the new Congress. The Resolution was set at the top-line level of the Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) budget caps established as part of last summer's Budget Control Act. That is a $1.047 trillion Resolution. Typically, Continuing Resolutions level-fund government. Level funding (based on FY12) would be at $1.043 trillion, meaning there is an additional $4 billion to be allocated. The Resolution is expected to be written this month while members of Congress are in their respective states/congressional districts.
ILLINOIS ’ ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT (ESEA) WAIVER UPDATE
The State Superintendent announced on Monday that the U.S. Department of Education has approved the state’s request to freeze the Annual Measurable Objectives (AMO) at the 2010-11 school year levels (85 percent). This request was made due to the delay in the approval of the state’s application for a waiver to some aspects of the No Child Left Behind law. Dialogue continues on the waiver request.
The AMO freeze means the calculations for Adequate Yearly Progress targets for 2011-12 will be based on the previous year’s levels, without increasing. This is a one-time request, but will provide districts with some relief as the Illinois State Board of Education continues to work through the waiver process. The AYP results that were recently released are based on the 2011 AMO targets.
SEQUESTRATION
Sequestration, a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011, is automatic federal funding cuts that will go into effect unless Congress sends the President a balanced deficit reduction plan before January 2, 2013. It is scheduled to impose $1.2 trillion in across-the-boards cuts to education and other domestic programs. The budget cuts would affect elementary and secondary education programs such as Title I grants for disadvantaged students, special education grants, School Improvement Grants, Head Start, and Impact Aid, cutting them by an estimated 7.8 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Other estimates project that the budget cuts would be more than 7.8 percent.
On July 20, the U.S. Department of Education issued a memorandum, clarifying the impact of sequestration on federal education programs with advanced funds (Title I grants, special education grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Teacher Quality grants and Career and Technical Education grants). Based on the new guidance, schools do not have to plan for any of the cuts of sequestration impacting schools during the 2012-13 school year. The memo clarifies that all cuts will be felt during the 2013-14 school year.
Absent this clarification, the understanding had been that any federal dollar available under FY13 budget authority would be subject to the sequester. This would have included the advanced portions of FY12 dollars for the four programs listed above and would have impacted schools during the 2012-13 school year. The new guidance clarifies that while the calculation for the sequester will still consider the advanced portion of FY12 and the regular FY13 appropriations, none of the cuts based on that calculation will be made until July 2013. Consequently, schools do not need to brace for sequestration-related cuts in the 2012-13 school year.
As of July 25, both the House and Senate have passed H.R. 5872, the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, which would require the Administration to explain how sequestration would be applied to programs within 30 days after its enactment, including the estimated percentage of cuts for each program, as well as the "resulting reductions at the program, project, and activity level." The House of Representatives passed this bill by a vote of 414 to 2 on July 18. The Senate passed it on July 25, without amendment by unanimous consent.
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS
A House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education voted in late July to cut $1.1 billion in funding from the U.S. Department of Education for FY13. School Improvement Grants ($534 million), Race to the Top ($549 million) and Investing in Innovation grants ($149 million) are proposed for elimination under the bill. The Subcommittee did, however, increase funding for IDEA by $500 million and level fund Title I grants.
SESSION CALENDAR
Congress will be out of session until Monday, September 10.
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