FY 2010 House Appropriations Bill - Department of Education

The House approved the Fiscal Year 2010 budget for the Department of Education on July 24, sending the engrossed bill to the Senate for action this week.

The House would fund the Department of Education’s various discretionary programs at nearly $65 billion, more than $1 billion higher than FY 2009, but about $18 million less than the Administration’s request. This number is buoyed by more than $98 million made available in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for education services.

Below are select programs included in the bill. All figures are rounded. A full accounting of the Department of Education’s proposed budget can be found here .

OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

Education for the Disadvantaged
School Improvement Grants:
$546 million
Equal to the FY 2009 funding level.
65 percent, or $1 billion below the Administration’s request.

Title I Early Childhood Grants:
No funding provided
$500 million below the Administration’s request.

Early Learning Fund:
No funding provided
$300 million below the Administration’s request.

School Improvement Programs
State Grants for Improving Teacher Quality:
$2.95 billion
Equal to the FY 2009 funding level, and the Administration’s request.

Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP):
$184 million
Up 3 percent, or $5 million above the FY 2009 funding level, and the Administration’s request.

A last minute amendment from Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI), at the urging of Reps. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Vern Ehlers (R-MI) provided the first increase to the Department of Education’s MSP since 2006.

As noted in the Committee on Appropriation’s report (published before the Obey floor amendment)--
“The Committee recommends $178,978,000 for Mathematics and Science Partnerships, which is the same as the fiscal year 2009 funding level and the budget request. This program promotes strong math and science teaching skills for elementary and secondary school teachers. Grantees may use program funds to develop rigorous math and science curricula; establish distance learning programs; and recruit math, science, and engineering majors into the teaching profession. They may also provide professional development opportunities. Grants are made to States by formula based on the number of children aged 5 to 17 who are from families with incomes below the poverty line. States then award the funds competitively to partnerships that must include the State education agency; an engineering, math, or science department of an institution of higher education; and a high-need school district. Other partners may also be involved.”

Educational Technology State Grants:
$100 million
Down 63 percent, or $170 million below the FY 2009 funding level
Equal to the Administration’s request.

21st century community Learning Centers:
$1.18 billion
Up 4 percent, or $50 million above the FY 2009 funding level, and the Administration’s request.

State Assessments:
$411 million
Equal to the FY 2009 funding level, and the Administration’s request.

OFFICES OF INNOVATION AND IMPROVEMENT

Innovation and Improvement
Magnet School Assistance:
$105 million
Equal to the FY 2009 funding level, and the Administration’s request.

Teacher Incentive Fund:
$446 million
Up 360 percent, or $349 million above the FY 2009 funding level
Down 14 percent, or $41.4 million below the Administration’s request.

National Teacher Recruitment Campaign:
$10 million, a new program authorized in the 2008 Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization.

OFFICE OF STUDENT AID

Federal Pell Grants
Pell Grants:
$17.8 billion
Up 3 percent, or $495 million above the FY 2009 funding level.
Up 2 percent, or $338 million above the Administration’s request.

As noted in the Committee on Appropriation’s report--
“The Committee does not include the bill language proposed by the Administration that assumes enactment of proposed language that would change the Pell Grant program to an appropriated entitlement, setting the maximum award at $5,550 and thereafter increasing the maximum award amount by the Consumer Price Index plus one percent. This legislative proposal will be considered by the authorizing committees. In the interim, the Committee continues bill language providing discretionary funding for Pell awards.”

And later--
“The bill also includes language deferring $511,000,000 in unobligated balances under the Academic Competitiveness and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grants until October 1, 2010 because these funds are not needed for awards in fiscal year 2010. The Administration requested a rescission of these funds.”

OFFICE OF POST SECONDARY EDUCATION

Higher Education
Minority Science and Engineering Improvement:
$10 million
Up 17 percent, or $1.42 million above the FY 2009 funding level.
Up 11 percent, or $994,000 above the Administration’s request.

Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need:
$31 million
Equal to the FY 2009 funding level, and the Administration’s request.

Teacher Quality Partnerships:
$43 million
Down 16 percent, or $7 million below the FY 2009 funding level, and the Administration’s request.

Baccalaureate STEM and Foreign Language Teacher Training Program:
As noted in the Committee on Appropriation’s report--
“The Committee does not recommend funding for the Baccalaureate STEM and Foreign Language Teacher Training Program, which is the $1,092,000 below the fiscal year 2009 funding and the budget request. The Committee eliminates this program because it duplicates funding included in the Administration’s budget request for the National Science Foundation of $113,220,000 for the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and Math and Science Partnership Program.”

Master’s STEM and Foreign Language Teacher Training Program:
As noted in the Committee on Appropriation’s report--
“The Committee does not recommend funding for the Master’s STEM and Foreign Language Teacher Training Program, which is $1,092,000 below the fiscal year 2009 funding level and the budget request. The Committee eliminates this program because it duplicates funding included in the Administration’s budget request for the National Science Foundation for the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program providing graduate degree programs for students to become mathematics and science teachers in high-need K–12 school districts.”

INSTITUE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

Institute of Education Sciences
Research, Development, Dissemination:
$199 million
Up 19 percent, or $32 million above the FY 2009 funding level
Down 11 percent, or $25 million below the Administration’s request.

Statistics:
$109 million
Up 10 percent, or $10 million above the FY 2009 funding level and same as the Administration’s request.

Regional Education Laboratories:
$70.7 million
Up 4 percent, or $3.08 million above the FY 2009 funding level and the Administration’s request.

Assessments:
$139 million
Equal to the FY 2009 funding level and the Administration’s request.

Statewide Data Systems:
$65 million
Equal to the FY 2009 funding level and the Administration’s request.