October 2021
Proposals Include Shift of Education Department Program Administration Funds to IES
On October 18, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) released the drafts of nine bills for FY 2022 appropriations, including legislation that provides funding for education research and statistics. The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-H) and Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) bills have some differences with the House bills and the FY 2022 budget request.
Institute of Education Sciences
The Senate Labor-H bill includes a top line of $814.49 million for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). This amount represents a $172 million increase over the FY 2021 level, and $77 million above the proposal in the FY 2022 budget request of $737.47 million. Much of this increase is accounted for by shifting funding for IES salaries and expenses from the Department of Education overall Program Administration line to a new Program Administration line item within IES. The Senate bill provides $67.5 million for IES Program Administration, an increase of more than 20 percent over the allocation for IES within the Department of Education Program Administration line item in FY 2020.
This shift also would provide more flexibility to the IES director to hire staff. The IES director would be required to submit a report within 30 days of enactment and quarterly reports thereafter that would include “an administrative and staffing plan outlining staffing ceilings by national center, the factors considered in allocating staffing ceilings by national center, actual full-time equivalent employment [FTE] by national center, and an explanation by national center for FTE changes from the preceding quarter.”
AERA included a recommendation for a set-aside for IES within the Department’s Program Administration line in testimony on FY 2022 appropriations to the House and Senate Labor-H subcommittees.
“We are especially thankful to Labor H Chair Patty Murray for providing IES with a significant boost in funding and the flexibility for hiring staff,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “While there is a need for increasing staff capacity across IES, the decline in staff particularly within NCES over the past decade has led to delays in conducting longitudinal surveys that would provide important indicators of interest to policymakers. The inclusion of program administration funding and authority within IES are very important steps toward rebuilding much-needed staff capacity to enable IES to fully carry out its mission.”
Funding for programs within IES otherwise generally reflect the President’s budget request, with the exception of additional increases of $3 million for the Regional Educational Laboratories and $6.5 million for Research in Special Education. The following chart provides a comparison of the FY 2022 IES proposals.
FY 2022 Proposals for the Institute of Education Sciences (in millions)
|
|
FY 2020 Final
|
FY 2021 Omnibus*
|
FY 2022 Budget Request
|
FY 2022 House
|
FY 2022 Senate
|
FY 2022 Senate v. FY 2021 Final ($)
|
FY 2022 Senate v. FY 2021 Final (%)
|
FY 2022 Senate v. Request
|
|
Institute of Education Sciences
|
$623.5
|
$642.5
|
$737.5
|
$762.5
|
$814.5
|
$172.03
|
26.78%
|
$77.0
|
|
Research, Development and Dissemination
|
$195.9
|
$197.9
|
$267.9
|
$260.9
|
$267.9
|
$70.00
|
35.37%
|
$0.0
|
|
Regional Educational Laboratories
|
$56.0
|
$57.0
|
$57.0
|
$59.0
|
$60.0
|
$3.00
|
5.26%
|
$3.0
|
|
Statistics
|
$110.5
|
$111.5
|
$111.5
|
$114.5
|
$111.5
|
$0.00
|
0.00%
|
$0.0
|
|
Assessment
|
$160.7
|
$172.8
|
$187.8
|
$212.8
|
$187.8
|
$15.00
|
8.68%
|
$0.0
|
|
Statewide Data Systems
|
$33.0
|
$33.5
|
$33.5
|
$34.5
|
$33.5
|
$0.00
|
0.00%
|
$0.0
|
|
Special Education Studies and Evaluations
|
$10.8
|
$11.3
|
$21.3
|
$21.3
|
$21.3
|
$10.00
|
88.32%
|
$0.0
|
|
Research in Special Education
|
$56.5
|
$58.5
|
$58.5
|
$59.5
|
$65.0
|
$6.50
|
11.11%
|
$6.5
|
|
Program Administration (Senate FY 2022 Proposal)
|
|
|
|
|
$67.5
|
|
|
$67.5
|
*Excludes $28 million in supplemental funding from FY 2021 omnibus for NAEP and $100 million for IES in American Rescue Plan.
National Science Foundation
The Senate CJS bill includes $9.49 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF). While the overall amount is a $1 billion increase over the FY 2021 level, it is below the amount included in the budget request and in the House bill.
Within NSF, the Education and Human Resources (EHR) Directorate would receive $1.1 billion. While this amount represents a 13 percent increase from FY 2021, it is also $187 million below the amount included in the President’s budget request. The explanatory report includes language from the committee that calls on NSF to partner with the Department of Education on transformational education innovation and translation, including in addressing learning gaps due to lost instructional time.
The Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account would receive $7.67 billion under the Senate proposal, representing a nearly 11 percent increase over FY 2021. The explanatory report notes the committee’s support for the proposed Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate, providing up to $864 million for the directorate.
The following chart provides a comparison of the FY 2022 NSF proposals.
FY 2022 Proposals for the National Science Foundation (in millions)
|
|
FY 2020 Final
|
FY 2021 Omnibus*
|
FY 2022 Budget Request**
|
FY 2022 House
|
FY 2022 Senate
|
FY 2022 Senate v. FY 2021 Final ($)
|
FY 2022 Senate v. FY 2021 Final (%)
|
FY 2022 Senate v. Request
|
|
National Science Foundation
|
$8,278.3
|
$8,486.8
|
$10,169.3
|
$9,634.0
|
$9,486.8
|
$1,000.0
|
11.78%
|
-$682.5
|
|
Education and Human Resources
|
$940.0
|
$968.0
|
$1,287.3
|
$1,274.3
|
$1,100.0
|
$132.0
|
13.64%
|
-$187.3
|
|
Research and Related Activities
|
$6,737.2
|
$6,909.8
|
$8,139.2
|
$7,695.7
|
$7,667.1
|
$757.3
|
10.96%
|
-$472.1
|
*Excludes funding from the CARES Act ($76 million) and the American Rescue Plan ($600 million).
**The EHR increase accounts for a proposed program increase and proposed consolidation of cross-agency funding for the Graduate Research Fellowship Program within EHR. R&RA includes funding for a new Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate.
National Institutes of Health
The Senate Labor-H bill includes $47.92 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This amount represents a $5 billion increase over FY 2021, but is also nearly $4 billion below the FY 2022 budget request. The bill contains $2.4 billion for the establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). In comparison, the budget request included $6.5 billion for ARPA-H.
Within NIH, the Senate bill would provide the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) $1.68 billion, an increase of nearly $90 million over the FY 2021 amount, but below the $1.94 billion proposed in the FY 2022 budget request. The explanatory report includes calls for NICHD to prioritize investments in children’s behavioral health research and to continue to support the Learning Disabilities Research Centers and Learning Disabilities Innovation Hubs.
The following chart provides a comparison of the FY 2022 NIH proposals.
FY 2022 Proposals for the National Institutes of Health (in billions)
|
|
FY 2020 Final
|
FY 2021 Omnibus
|
FY 2022 Budget Request*
|
FY 2022 House
|
FY 2022 Senate
|
FY 2022 Senate v. FY 2021 Final ($)
|
FY 2022 Senate v. FY 2021 Final (%)
|
FY 2022 Senate v. Request
|
|
National Institutes of Health
|
$41.7
|
$42.9
|
$51.7
|
$49.4
|
$47.9
|
$5.0
|
11.62%
|
-$3.8
|
|
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
|
$1.6
|
$1.6
|
$1.9
|
$1.7
|
$1.7
|
$0.09
|
5.60%
|
-$0.3
|
*The FY 2022 increase incorporates moving the ECHO and INCLUDE programs to NICHD.
What’s Next?
Congress advanced a continuing resolution at the end of September which extended funding for federal agencies at FY 2021 levels through December 3. Action on appropriations bills will need to be taken by then to avoid a government shutdown. The timing also coincides with action that will be needed to lift or suspend the debt ceiling after Congress voted to raise the debt limit earlier in October.
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