August 2022
On July 28, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) released the Senate FY 2023 appropriations bills and accompanying explanatory statements. The bills represent Democratic priorities in the absence of a top-line funding level and an agreement on allocations between defense and non-defense spending levels.
Like the House bills released in late June, the Senate bills would provide boosts for federal agencies that support education research and statistics.
Institute of Education Sciences
The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-H) bill would provide $831.4 million for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The top line amount, while slightly lower than the House top line of $844 million, would represent a nearly 13 percent increase over the FY 2022 top line. The Senate bill includes increases across IES activities, noted in the below table. The Senate language does not note separate funding for the proposed National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE), for which the House bill provided $75 million.
Institute of Education Sciences FY 2023 Proposals ($ in millions)
FY 2022 Omnibus
FY 2023 Budget Request
FY 2023 Request v. FY 2022 $
FY 2023 House*
FY 2023 House v. FY 2022 Final ($)
FY 2023 Senate
FY 2023 Senate v. FY 2022 Final ($)
FY 2023 Senate v. FY 2022 Final (%)
$737.0
$662.5
-$74.5
$844.1
$107.03
$831.4
$94.38
12.8%
Research, Development and Dissemination
$204.9
$197.9
-$7.0
$289.9
$85.01
$245.0
$40.13
19.6%
Regional Educational Laboratories
$58.7
$57.0
-$1.7
$63.7
$5.00
8.5%
Statistics
$111.5
$0.0
$0.00
$121.0
$9.50
Assessment
$187.8
$192.8
$5.1
$5.05
2.7%
Statewide Data Systems
$33.5
$35.5
$2.00
$50.0
$16.50
49.3%
Special Education Studies and Evaluations
$13.3
$11.3
-$2.0
0.0%
Research in Special Education
$60.3
$58.5
-$1.8
$64.3
$4.00
$72.0
$11.74
19.5%
Total - Program Admin
$669.9
-$7.4
$771.0
$101.03
$757.9
$87.92
13.1%
Program Administration (starting FY 2022)
$67.1
-$67.1
$73.1
$6.00
$73.5
$6.46
9.6%
*$75 million of RD&D funding would be directed to establishing a National Center for Advanced Development in Education.
The Senate explanatory statement also includes committee acknowledgment of the three National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and a request for IES to note in its operating plan a timeline and milestones for implementing the recommendations.
National Science Foundation
The Senate Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) FY 2023 bill includes $10.4 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF), of which $8.3 billion would be directed to the Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account and $1.3 billion toward the renamed STEM Education (EDU) directorate. The amounts for NSF are higher than those provided in the House CJS bill and are slightly below the amounts provided in the Biden administration’s budget request, noted in the following table.
National Science Foundation FY 2023 Proposals ($ in millions)
FY 2023 House
$8,838.0
$10,492.1
$1,654.1
$9,631.2
$793.2
$10,338.0
$1,500.0
17.0%
Education and Human Resources / STEM Education*
$1,006.0
$1,377.2
$371.2
$1,250.0
$244.0
$1,327.2
$321.2
31.9%
Research and Related Activities
$7,159.4
$8,453.0
$1,293.6
$7,705.5
$546.1
$8,321.9
$1,162.5
16.2%
*Accounts for name change from “Education and Human Resources Directorate” to “STEM Education Directorate” beginning in FY 2023
National Institutes of Health
The Senate Labor-H bill includes nearly $48 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with $1.75 billion included for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Of the amount that would be provided for NIH, $1 billion would be directed to the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).
National Institutes of Health FY 2023 Proposals ($ in billions)
FY 2022 v. FY 2023 Request $
$44.96
$62.50
$17.54
$47.50
$2.54
$47.96
$3.0
6.7%
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
$1.68
$1.67
-$0.01
$1.76
$0.07
$1.75
$0.1
3.7%
While the 2023 fiscal year begins on October 1, the upcoming midterm elections will likely affect the progress of finalizing funding bills. It is possible that Congress will need to pass a continuing resolution that would extend FY 2022 funding levels into the beginning of FY 2023.
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