NAfME Federal Appropriations Update for Fiscal Year 2025

NAfME Federal Appropriations Update for Fiscal Year 2025

By Zachary Keita, NAfME Advocacy and Public Policy Communications Manager

Updated July 11, 2024

The release of the Biden Administration’s Fiscal Year 2025 (FY 2025) budget request on March 11 marked the first step in the annual federal appropriations process, in which funding levels for the upcoming fiscal year are determined. In this budget request, the Biden Administration proposed $82.4 billion in discretionary funding for the U.S. Department of Education (ED), a $3.1B increase over FY24 funding.

Following the Biden Administration’s budget request, U.S. House and Senate members meet in their respective appropriations subcommittees to “mark up” (i.e., make revisions to) the proposed budgets. The ED receives its funding through the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, which receives initial review and approval from the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee in the House and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) subcommittee in the Senate.

House of Representatives

In July, the House Appropriations Committee approved its Labor-HHS-Education funding bill for fiscal year 2025, which includes major cuts to education programs. The bill would provide the U.S. Department of Education with $68.1 billion in discretionary funding, which is roughly an $11 billion (13%) decrease below FY 2024 funding and falls $33 billion short of the President’s budget request. In order to reach the $72B funding mark, the Labor-HHS-ED appropriations bill calls for drastic cuts to several high-impact programs administered by ED. In this blog we will review key aspects of the House Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, discuss how the election cycle will impact appropriations, and provide an opportunity for advocates to take action in support of programs impacting music education.

Program	FY25 Funding (Proposed by House Majority)
Title I	$13.7 billion—$4.7 billion decrease below FY 2024 funding
Title II	Completely Eliminated
Title IV-A	$1.4 billion—$10 million increase over FY 2024 funding
IDEA	$15.5 billion—$30 million increase over FY 2024 funding
Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers	$1.33 billion—Level funding compared to FY 2024
Teacher Quality Partnerships	Completely Eliminated
Augustus F. Hawkins Center for Excellence	Completely Eliminated
HBCU, TCU, and MSI Research and Development Infrastructure Grants	Completely Eliminated

While programs such as Title IV-A and IDEA received modest increases in the House Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, several vital programs, aimed at supporting students from low-income backgrounds (Title I) and developing the teacher workforce face (Title II) face drastic cuts or total elimination. At the higher education level, programs aimed at bolstering the capacity of minority serving institutions (MSIs) and diversifying the teacher workforce are also at risk of elimination. With the United States currently in the midst of a teacher shortage, cuts to programs that would strengthen and diversify the teacher pipeline are non-starters for NAfME. Likewise, NAfME is unable to support a bill that would reduce funding to programs that support our most vulnerable student populations, such as Title I. We urge members of Congress to revise these funding proposals when the bill is considered on the House floor.

What’s Next?

The Labor-HHS-Education bill will move on to markup in the full House of Representatives. On the Senate side, appropriators began their first round of markups following the July 4 recess, but no schedule has been released for consideration of the Labor-HHS-Education bill. In a normal year, once both chambers approve their respective Labor-HHS-Education bills, they would meet to reconcile the differences in programmatic funding, before ultimately sending final bills to the President. Because this year is an election year, we can almost be certain that Congress will pass a continuing resolution this fall, postponing final decisions on the budget until the results of the election are clear.

Advocacy

Appropriations offer a key opportunity for advocates to seek increased funding for their programmatic priorities. NAfME, along with state music education associations and partner organizations have taken full advantage of this opportunity and continue to raise awareness around the importance of music education. On June 11, more than 300 music education advocates joined NAfME on Capitol Hill to meet with their members of Congress and advocate for programs impacting the profession. A blog recapping NAfME’s 2024 Hill Day can be found here.

In addition to in-person advocacy on Capitol Hill, NAfME will continue to host online advocacy campaigns for members, allowing you to share your story and the importance of supporting music education in your community. When advocating to Congress, the most compelling arguments you can provide to legislators are based on personal experiences within their state. This is why we need you, music education advocates, to rally together and show your support for these vital programs. Visit NAfME’s federal funding campaign for more information on how you can urge legislators to support these key education programs throughout the appropriations cycle.

Top photo by © Ashlee Wilcox Photography, LLC