by Dr. David Holbrook, Executive Director | National Association of English Language Program Administrators (NAELPA)
It’s the time of year when anyone interested in what’s happening with government funding is looking at the U.S. Congress and wondering what they will do to pass a government funding bill before September 30th and avoid a government shutdown.
The U.S. government funding cycle runs from October 1st one year, to September 30th the of next year. This is the fiscal year for the U.S. government. The funding under consideration now is for Fiscal Year 2024 or FY24 for short. If an appropriations bill, sometimes called a budget or funding bill, isn’t passed by September 30, 2023, the government technically runs out of money, and we will see a government shutdown. Typically, when Congress can’t agree on funding levels by the September 30th deadline, they pass a Continuing Resolution or CR. A CR allows funding to continue past the September 30th deadline at existing levels with little or no change.
There are lots of things to consider when looking at the impact of how and when Congress passes an FY24 Appropriations Bill (Note that FY24 funding includes funding for the 2024-2025 school year).
Things to Know
When Congress passed the Inflation Reductions Act (IRA) earlier this year, it agreed to government funding levels for two years (FY24 and FY25). This should have made passing appropriations bills for these two years easy. Unfortunately, that is not what is happening.
Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have proposed FY24 appropriations bills. The Senate’s version followed the guidelines outlined in the IRA; however, the House’s version included significant cuts to government funding. The House’s proposed funding bill significantly cuts education funding, including zero funds for Title III and huge cuts to Title I. The Biden administration has issued a “Statement of Administration Policy” opposing the cuts proposed by the House. Biden has indicated he would veto an appropriations bill that violates the funding levels agreement negotiated in the IRA.
Given the current inability of the House and Senate to agree on FY24 appropriations and the Biden administration’s threat to veto a budget that doesn’t align with the agreement negotiated in the IRA, it looks like Congress will need to pass a CR to avoid a government shutdown. And discussions related to passing a CR have already begun. However, there is some opposition to passing a CR as well, which makes a government shutdown appear like a real possibility. Note that CRs are also time-limited, providing a deadline for when an appropriations bill must be passed. CRs passed in September often have a deadline of sometime in December.
The amount of time that a CR extends the due date for passage of an FY24 appropriations bill is also something to watch. The IRA included a requirement that if FY24 appropriations are not passed by January 1, 2024, there will be automatic 1% budget cuts across all programs (not just education programs, but all government programs). Hopefully, we’ll see an appropriations bill passed that aligns with the IRA before January 1st and avoid the automatic 1% budget cuts.
COVID – ESSER – Funding Update
Three pots of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds were provided by the three Coronavirus relief bills passed by the U.S. Congress. The first pot of ESSER funds expired last year on September 30, 2022. The second pot of ESSER funds, often called ESSER II, expires this month on September 30, 2023. If you still have ESSER II funds to spend, be sure to obligate or commit to spend these funds (like sign a contract to purchase something) during their period of availability, which expires on September 30, 2023. And note, there is an additional liquidation period of 120 days beyond the end of the period of availability. This means that as long as a district obligates its ESSER II funds prior to October 1, 2023, they have until January 28, 2024, to pay out those funds.
There is a third pot of ESSER funds, referred to as ESSER III funds. The period of availability of ESSER III funds expires on September 30, 2024. If you wish to make a purchase, like enter into a one-year contract, with ESSER II funds but need additional funds to cover the costs past January 28, 2024, consider using any remaining ESSER III funds. And remember to plan for sustainability. ESSER funds will run out and won’t be replaced. If a purchase has recurring costs, you may need to rework future budgets to account for the additional costs in future years when ESSER funds are no longer available.
