July 2024
In June and July, the House and Senate appropriations committees worked toward moving legislation to fund federal agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2025, beginning on October 1. Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, budget caps are in place for FY 2025 that provide for a 1 percent increase in top-line defense and nondefense funding above FY 2024 levels. The process thus far has played out differently between the House and the Senate, with the House strictly adhering to the caps in place for FY 2025 and the Senate appropriations leadership announcing a bipartisan agreement to include an additional $13.5 billion in emergency funding for nondefense programs.
The bills that have been advanced so far are mixed in their impact on federal education research and statistics programs that reflect the different approaches that the House and Senate are taking. The House proposals would provide flat funding for most programs within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) but eliminate funding for the Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs); significantly cut funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) STEM Education (EDU) Directorate; and restructure the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the appropriations process. Meanwhile, the Senate has proposed an increase for the NSF EDU Directorate, with details still forthcoming on IES and NIH.
National Science Foundation
The House and Senate appropriations committees advanced their versions of the FY 2025 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) bills on July 9 and 25, respectively. Both bills provide increases for NSF overall compared with FY 2024, but the top line for NSF in both bills remains below the amount that NSF received in FY 2023 inclusive of supplemental funding.
The House FY 2025 CJS bill includes $9.26 billion for NSF, representing a 2.2 percent increase above the FY 2024 level, but 9.1 percent below the $10.2 billion included in the president’s budget request. Within NSF, the EDU Directorate would receive $1 billion, representing a nearly 15 percent cut compared with FY 2024, and a 23.1 percent decrease from the FY 2025 budget request. Some of this reduction would be through a provision prohibiting NSF from funding the Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program (AISL) and the Analytics for Equity Initiative. The Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account, which supports the other directorates within NSF, would see a 5.2 percent increase above FY 2024 but would be 6.2 percent below the FY 2025 budget request.
The Senate FY 2025 CJS bill includes larger increases for NSF and its programs, with a top line of $9.55 billion, an increase of 5.4 percent compared with FY 2024, but also representing 6.2 percent below the FY 2025 budget request. Unlike the House bill, the Senate CJS bill does not cut funding for the EDU Directorate, which would be funded at $1.23 billion, an increase of 4.5 percent above the FY 2024 amount. The report language highlights the importance of the AISL, allocating $70 million to that program in the bill, and includes similar language from prior years encouraging NSF to establish the Centers for Transformative Education Research and Translation authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act. The R&RA account would receive a 4.9 percent increase, though the $7.53 million provided for R&RA also accounts for the inclusion of $973 million in emergency funding.
National Science Foundation (in millions)
FY 2023 Total with Supplemental
FY 2024 Final
FY 2025 Budget Request
FY 2025 House
FY 2025 House v. FY 2024 ($)
FY 2025 House v. FY 2024 (%)
FY 2025 Senate
FY 2025 Senate v. FY 2024 ($)
FY 2025 Senate v. FY 2024 (%)
$9,876.4
$9,060.00
$10,183.00
$9,258.64
$198.64
2.2%
$9,550.00
$490.00
5.4%
STEM Education
$1,246.0
$1,172.00
$1,300.00
$1,000.00
-$172.00
-14.7%
$1,225.00
$53.00
4.5%
Research and Related Activities
$7,826.5
$7,176.50
$8,045.32
$7,546.63
$370.13
5.2%
$7,528.28*
$351.78
4.9%
*Within the Research and Related Activities account, $973 million would be emergency funding.
Institute of Education Sciences
On July 10, the House Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) appropriations bill on a 31–25 vote. The bill text includes $740.37 million for the IES top line, a 6 percent cut from the FY 2024 amount, and represents the proposed elimination of the Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs). The bill would otherwise hold nearly all of the IES program accounts frozen at FY 2024 levels, with the Statistics line receiving a $1 million boost for a study on policies related to school cell phone usage.
The bill text also includes a provision that reflects the proposal in the president’s budget request to rescind $25 million of unobligated FY 2024 funding from IES. The FY 2025 budget request included a proposal for a reduction in the FY 2024 two-year funding available of $10 million from the Statewide Longitudinal Data system (SLDS) program and $15 million from the RELs.
Institute of Education Sciences (in millions)
FY 2023 Omnibus
FY 2025 Budget Request **
**
FY 2025 House v. FY 2025 PBR ($)
FY 2025 House v. FY 2025 PBR (%)
$807.6
$793.1
$815.46
$740.37
-$52.73
-6.65%
-$75.08
-9.21%
Research, Development and Dissemination
$245.0
$245.00
$0.00
0.00%
Regional Educational Laboratories
$58.7
$53.7
$58.73
-$53.73
-100.00%
-$58.73
Statistics
$121.5
$121.50
$122.50
$1.00
0.82%
Assessment
$192.8
$193.3
$193.30
Statewide Data Systems
$38.5
$28.5
$38.50
$28.50
-$10.00
-25.97%
Special Education Studies and Evaluations
$13.3
$13.32
Research in Special Education
$64.3
$64.26
Total - Program Admin =
$734.11
$719.6
$734.61
$666.87
-7.33%
-$67.73
-9.22%
Program Administration
$73.5
$80.85
$73.50
-$7.35
-9.09%
**The FY 2025 budget request includes a proposed rescission of unobligated FY 2024 funding of $15M from RELs, $10M from SLDS; the House FY 2025 bill includes overall a $25 million rescission of unobligated funding.
National Institutes of Health
The House FY 2025 LHHS bill includes $48.58 billion overall for NIH, which would represent flat funding at the same level as FY 2024. Aligned with a recent framework from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) with recommendations to reform NIH, the House FY 2025 LHHS bill would consolidate NIH’s 27 institutes into 15. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) would be combined with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to form a new institute, the National Institute for Disability Related Research (NIDRR).
The NIDRR would receive $2.32 billion “with respect to research on human development, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and deafness and other communication disorders.” This would represent a 1 percent increase from the combined FY 2024 funding for NICHD and NIDCD. The report language for NIDRR refers to programs and priorities within NICHD and NIDCD as they currently stand, including language encouraging NICHD to prioritize funding for the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement; the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study; and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.
The House schedule originally included consideration of the FY 2025 CJS and LHHS bills during the week of July 29 as part of leadership efforts to pass all 12 appropriations bills before the August recess. However, unsuccessful attempts to pass several of the bills, including a failed vote on the Legislative Branch bill, led the House to recess early without taking up either of the CJS or the LHHS bills. The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a markup hearing to consider the Senate FY 2025 LHHS bill on August 1.