Federal Education

Policy and Funding:

What Happened in
the 111th Congress
Joel Packer, Principal
JPacker@rabengroup.com and the Outlook for
the 112th Congress

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12/14/10 Outside the Box
THE 111TH CONGRESS

Great Victories to Gridlock

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First Session (2009)
• ARRA - $100 billion for education!
o $10 billion for Title I
o $3 billion for School Improvement Grants
o $12 billion for IDEA
o $48 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
o $4.3 billion for Race to the Top
o $650 million for Investing in Innovation
o $15.6 billion for increased Pell grants for college students

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Second Session (2010)

• Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act

o Additional money for Pell grants, community colleges,
minority-serving IHEs

• $10 billion Education Jobs Fund

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Second Session (2010)

• Child Nutrition Reauthorization

o Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act
o President Obama signed into law yesterday.
o $4.5 billion 10-year increase
o Provides 6 cents/meal increase - first real reimbursement
rate increase in over 30 years.
o Removes junk food from schools by applying nutrition
standards for all foods sold in schools.

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Second Session (2010)

• DREAM Act
o Passed House 12/8/10
o Senate on 12/9 failed to overcome procedural barrier to
consideration of House-passed version.
o Still chance for a Senate vote on House bill
 60 votes will be difficult

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Education Funding

From Unprecedented Increases To A

Freeze

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President Obama’s FY 11 Budget
• Increase of $3.5 billion (+7.6%)
o Additional $1 billion contingent on ESEA
reauthorization

• New funding for:

o Race to the Top ($1.35 billion)
o Investing in Innovation ($500 million)

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President Obama’s FY 11 Budget

• Other ESEA program increases:

o School Turnaround Grants = +$354.4 million (+65%)
o Assessing Achievement = +$39.2 million (+9.6%)
o Promise Neighborhoods = +$200 million (+2,000%)
o Magnet Schools = +$10 million (+10%)
o ELL Grants = +$50 million (+6.7%)

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 President Obama’s FY 11 Budget

Programs Frozen
o Title I o Impact Aid
o Migrant Education o Rural Education
o Neglected/Delinquent o Indian Education
o Education for Homeless o 21st Century Community
Learning Centers

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President Obama’s FY 11 Budget

• IDEA State Grants = +$250 million (+2.2%)

o Federal share of special ed costs would remain at 17%
o Amount per student = $1,750

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FY 11 Education Funding: Senate
• $2.8 billion increase (+4.5%)
o Title I = +$450 million (+3.1%)
o School Improvement Grants = +$79 million (+14.5%)
o Striving Readers = +$50 million (+25.0%)
o Early Challenge Learning Fund = $300 million (new)
o 21st Century Community Learning Centers = +$100 million
(+8.6%)
o Education for Homeless Children = +$10 million (+15.3%)
o High School Graduation Initiative = +$50 million (+100.0%)

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FY 11 Education Funding: Senate
o Race to the Top = $675 million total
o Investing in Innovation = $250 million total
o Promise Neighborhoods = +$10 million (+100%)
o English Language Acquisition Grants = +$50 million (+6.7%)
o IDEA State Grants = +$420 million (+3.7%)
o IDEA Grants for Infants and Families = +$20 million (+4.6%)
o Adult Education = +$14 million (+2.2%)
o Education Research = +$40.5 million (+20.2%)

• Fails to fund a $5.7 billion Pell grant shortfall

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FY 11 Education Funding: CR
• Passed the House 12/8

• Freezes funding for all programs at FY 10

• Provides $550 million for Race To The Top

• Pays off $5.7 billion Pell grant shortfall

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FY 11 Education Funding: Senate
Omnibus
• Senate will try to substitute an omnibus appropriations bill
for the House CR.
• Contains increases of $290 million each for Title I and
IDEA, $135 million increase for after school programs,
$224 million for Investing in Innovation as well as the
$550 million for RTTT and $5.7 billion for Pell grants.
• Uphill fight to get 60 votes.
• Republican leadership opposed to both the CR and
omnibus.

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Squeeze on Aggregate Funding
• Obama budget = $1.128 trillion
• House-passed level = $1.121 trillion
• Senate Appropriations committee = $1.114 trillion
• Senate Republicans’ proposed level = $1.108 trillion
o Now also the Senate omnibus level
• Year-long CR = $1.089 trillion
• Republican “Pledge” = FY 08 level = $1.029 trillion
($99 billion below Obama)

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2010 Elections

Republican Landslide

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2010 Congressional Elections -
Third Change Cycle in a Row
U.S. House
• Overwhelming Republican victories, with Republicans holding the largest number of
House seats since 1948.
• Biggest House gains since 1938 rolling back Democratic victories in 2006 and
2008.
U.S. Senate
• 16 New Senators - Largest number since 1980, with over 40% of Senators serving
their first term in 112th Congress.
• Democrats hold on to the Senate by slim margin; face difficult 2012 cycle with 23
Democrats up for reelection compared to only 10 Republicans.

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 U.S. Senate
112th Congress 111th Congress

Democrats 51 57
Republicans 47 41
Independents 2 2
(both caucus with Ds) (both caucus with Ds)

U.S. House of Representatives

112th Congress 111th Congress

Democrats 193 255

Republicans 242 178
Vacancies 2

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112th Congress

More Gridlock or Bipartisan Deals?

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2011 House of Representatives

• House will be controlled by Republicans for the first

time since 2007.

• Republicans picked up 63 seats, which is a larger

pickup than the historic 1994 Republican sweep.

• There will be 97 new members in House.

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“Pledge to America”
• Released in September to serve as a broad outline of
Republican agenda if they took control of the House.

• Pledge calls for cutting $100 billion in non-security

discretionary spending - return to FY 2008 appropriations
levels
– could result in 20% cut to education funding
• Calls for repeal of health care reform law.
• Permanently extend all expiring tax cuts.
• Pledge does not mention education.

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House Education and Labor
Committee
Chairman John Kline (R-MN)

• Has praised Education Secretary Duncan for his

leadership on ESEA and has endorsed some
aspects of the Administration’s Blueprint.
• Supports “pursuing education reform that restores
local control, empowers parents, lets teachers
teach, and protects taxpayers…”.
• Supports increasing funding IDEA, which he has
called a "huge unfunded mandate ... that we
ought to address."
• Wants to consolidate 60 education programs.

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House Education and Labor
Committee

Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA)

• Had a major role in writing No Child Left Behind in

2001.

• Champion of funding for federal education programs.

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 Senate HELP COMMITTEE

Chairman Tom Ranking Member

Harkin (D-IA) Mike Enzi (R-WY)

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 ESEA Reauthorization
• Odds against ESEA being reauthorized.
• Not a Republican priority.
• New Republicans are very conservative.
• As many as 12-15 new Rs will be on Education and Labor
Committee.
• No money.
• Repeal of health care reform is their priority.
• Splits among Dems and among Republicans.

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 ESEA Reauthorization
• National Journal -12/10/10
– “The island on which a new K-12 law could be built—
surrounded by a sea of union-supported Democrats on
one side and tea party Republicans on the other—has
shrunk considerably.”
– “Bipartisan agreement on reauthorizing No Child Left
Behind seems improbable. The safe bet is gridlock.”

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Education Funding
• Increases will be very difficult.
• Likely to be caps and cuts on domestic
discretionary spending.
• Republicans will push to roll back spending to
FY 08 levels and then freeze.
• Could result in a 21.7% aggregate cut from
Obama FY 11 budget levels.

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Education Funding
• President Obama on 12/6/10: “I will
continue to fight for those investments that
will help America win the race for the jobs
and industries of the future -– and that
means investments in education and
innovation and infrastructure.”

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Education Funding
• National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform:”…we must
invest in education, infrastructure, and
high-value research and development to
help our economy grow, keep us globally
competitive, and make it easier for
businesses to create jobs.”

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QUESTIONS

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