Congress returned from its August recess and faces a mountain of work. Its first task will be to pass a continuing resolution, a temporary spending measure that will keep the government operating beyond October 1 when the new fiscal year begins. As Congress moves to pass a continuing resolution, the House and Senate will continue to try to make progress on passing and even negotiating the final versions of the fiscal year 2024 funding bills. The central challenge to moving these is the stratospherically different overall and individual program funding levels that the House and the Senate Appropriations Committees have advanced. For example, the House Appropriations Subcommittee’s proposed funding level for the U.S. Department of Education is more than $20 billion below what its Senate counterpart has approved and what Congress passed last year.
Among other cuts, the House version would eliminate Title II-A, as well as cut Title I by 80%. The Senate version maintains funding at last year’s levels for most programs – including Title II-A. Learning Forward is working hard to preserve at least level funding for Title II-A, as the Senate Appropriations Committee has already agreed to do. But we need the help of everyone in the Learning Forward community to weigh-in to their members of Congress on the value proposition of federal spending on educator professional learning, particularly in terms of its impact on learning recovery and student achievement. If we do not succeed, our students, schools, and fellow educators will face tough budgetary decisions next year.
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