Every Student Succeeds Act

Education Department Gets Slight Boost in FY 2016 Deal

By Andrew Ujifusa — January 05, 2016 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Title I aid for the nation’s neediest students is getting a $500 million boost, up to approximately $14.9 billion, while state grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are rising by $415 million, up to $11.9 billion, as part of the omnibus federal budget deal for fiscal 2016 signed into law by President Barack Obama last month.

Those and other spending increases are part of an overall budget increase for the U.S. Department of Education of $1.2 billion. The total increase for the U.S. Department of Education’s budget is about 2 percent, up to about $68 billion.

In addition, Head Start, which is under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is getting a $570 million increase, up to $9.2 billion, under the omnibus budget, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant under HHS is rising by $326 million, up to $2.8 billion.

“We’re particularly pleased that very few programs were cut,” said Joel Packer, the executive director of the Committee for Education Funding.

Some Reductions

Title I program evaluation, however, has been cut by just short of $1 million, and the Transition to Teaching program has been eliminated.

Although, going forward, the recently signed Every Student Succeeds Act eliminates the School Improvement Grant program, which was expanded and revamped by former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, it does receive funding for fiscal 2016 in the new spending bill to the tune of $450 million. That’s a decrease, however, from the $506 million it got in fiscal 2015. So the SIG program will be able to continue for at least another budget year.

And another Obama initiative, Investing in Innovation, known as i3, is flat-funded at $120 million for fiscal 2016. (The ESSA includes a similar research-based program.)

The budget also clarifies that formula-funded grant programs will continue to operate under the previous reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—the No Child Left Behind law—for the 2016-17 academic year. In short, the ESSA isn’t really relevant for this budget bill.

Funding Highlights

Among the program highlights in the budget package:

• Charter school grants will receive an additional $80 million, up to $333 million.

• The National Assessment of Educational Progress will receive an additional $20 million, up to $149 million.

• The Striving Readers program will receive an additional $30 million, up to $190 million.

• 21st Century Community Learning Centers will receive an additional $15 million, up to $1.17 billion.

• Impact Aid will receive an additional $17 million, up to $1.3 billion.

• Promise Neighborhoods will receive an additional $16.5 million, up to $73 million.

• Safe and Drug-Free Schools and National Programs will receive an additional $5 million, up to $75 million.

• Rural education will receive an additional $6 million, up to $176 million.

“These numbers, I predict, are going to be fairly similar to what we get next year,” Packer said.

A version of this article appeared in the January 06, 2016 edition of Education Week as Ed. Dept. Budget Sees Slight Boost In FY 2016 Deal

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Every Student Succeeds Act Biden Education Department Approves One Request to Cancel State Tests But Rejects Others
Officials will allow D.C. to cancel tests. They denied similar requests from two other states and approved less extensive waiver requests.
6 min read
Image of students taking a test.
smolaw11/iStock/Getty
Every Student Succeeds Act Republicans Tell Miguel Cardona His Plan for ESSA Waivers Seems to Violate the Law
The Every Student Succeeds Act doesn't permit the education secretary to seek certain data he's asking for, the two GOP lawmakers say.
4 min read
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, left, listens as Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, center, speaks during a press briefing at the White House on March 17, 2021.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, left, listens as Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, center, speaks during a press briefing at the White House on March 17, 2021.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Every Student Succeeds Act How Will ESSA Hold Up During COVID-19? Pandemic Tests the Law's Resilience
Lawmakers designed ESSA to limit mandates covering issues like how tests are used. Will that affect how well the law survives the pandemic?
6 min read
Every Student Succeeds Act Betsy DeVos Tells States Not to Expect Waivers From Annual Tests
The tests required by federal law are crucial to helping schools respond to the coronavirus pandemic and help vulnerable students, the education secretary said in a letter to chief state school officers.
3 min read