Late Sunday night, Congressional appropriators released a Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) Omnibus package (which comprises the 11 outstanding bills that need to pass to fund the government through FY17). Congress must vote on the measure by Friday, May 5 in order to avoid a government shutdown.
The Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill includes the following allocations:
- Perkins Basic State Grants remain level-funded at $1,117,598,000. This amount has remained constant since FY14 and is a restoration of cuts that were part of the continuing resolution. We know you are anxious to find out your final Perkins allocation. Once the omnibus is finalized, the U.S. Department of Education budget services will need to run the federal to state formula to determine the state-by-state allocations. So, look for those soon.
- Student Support and Academic Achievement state grants, new grants under Title IV-A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), receive $400 million. These block grants have a variety of allowable uses, one of which includes CTE programs and activities that meet the requirements of ESSA’s definition for a “well-rounded education.”
- Pell grants remain funded at their FY16 level and year-round Pell grants are reinstated. However, the bill includes a $1.3 billion rescission that would lower the reserve amount available in the future.
- State formula grants provided through Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) remain level-funded at $2,709,832,000.
- Apprenticeship programs funded through the Department of Labor see an increase from the FY16 allocation of $90 million to $95 million in FY17, with a direction to “build on the success of the ApprenticeshipUSA program” and “prioritize grant applications that engage, recruit, and serve women and other under-represented populations.”
You can find a helpful table with these numbers and more from the National Skills Coalition here.
Once Congress approves the FY17 Omnibus bill, it is likely that appropriators will turn their attention to the FY18 budget.
Kathryn Zekus, Senior Associate, Federal Policy