Senate Releases Text of All 12 Spending Bills for Fiscal Year 2021
This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its spending bills for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, five weeks after the fiscal year began. Senate Appropriators propose a modest increase to certain programs within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and fail to increase many others, falling short of the request put forth by the field. Details include the following:
- IDEA Grants to States Program (Part B) would receive a $110 million increase, for a total of $12.87 billion.
- IDEA Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities Program (Part C) would receive a $7.5 million increase, for a total of $484.5 million.
- IDEA Preschool Program (Part B Section 619) will receive a $7.5 million increase, for a total of $401.6 million.
- State Personnel Development would be level funded at $38.6 million.
- State Personnel Preparation grants would be level funded at $89.7 million.
- The National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) within the Institute for Education Sciences would be level funded at $56.5 million.
- The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act would be level funded $13 million.
The Senate does not intend to consider their proposed spending bills through the typical committee and floor process. Rather, they are viewed as opening bids for negotiations with the House of Representatives, which passed the bulk of its spending bills in July. The federal government is currently operating at FY 2020 levels through December 11 due to a short-term spending gap that was enacted on October 1. Both bodies of Congress need to come to a new spending agreement before December 11 to keep the federal government funded.
To learn more about the Senate proposal, go here.
Action Alert
As the Senate and House negotiate funding levels for Fiscal Year 2021, you have another opportunity to weigh in with lawmakers and urge them to make meaningful investments in the programs that support infants, toddlers, children, and youth with exceptionalities.
Please click here to go to CEC’s new Legislative Action Center, where you can join your colleagues to quickly and easily urge lawmakers to invest their federal dollars wisely.