ACTE

Background Information

Exactly how does the federal government get money to your classrooms and communities? Congress operates under a fiscal year that runs from October 1-September 30. For example, Fiscal Year 2009 began on October 1, 2008, and ends on September 30, 2009. You will often see "Fiscal Year" abbreviated as FY 09 or FY 2009.

To accommodate this fiscal year structure and school year timing, funds that are allocated by Congress for a fiscal year are held and distributed to schools on July 1, in time for the next school year. For example, funding decisions made by Congress in 2008 were for FY 2009 (October 2008 - September 2009) and will reach schools in July of 2009 to fund the 2009-2010 school year. There are of course a few exceptions, but as a general rule, when we speak of FY 2009 education funding, it is for the 2009-10 school year, FY 2010 funding is for the 2010-11 school year, and so on.

The federal budget process begins each February when the president submits the Administration's request to Congress. The president's request is not binding, but Congress often uses it as a blueprint as it puts together its own budget.

After the president releases the budget priorities, the House and Senate Budget Committees begin work on the congressional budget. These committees study the president's proposals, along with requests from other committees and Members of Congress and put together their own "budget resolutions." The budget resolution sets a "spending ceiling" for each broad budget category. There are 17 major categories for which the Budget Committees recommend spending ceilings. CTE programs are part of the category known as "Function 500 - Education, Training, Employment and Social Services." The budget resolution has no binding authority over specific program funding levels, but the higher the total funding levels in the budget resolution, the higher the likelihood of increases for programs such as Perkins, IDEA, WIA and NCLB.

Once the budget resolution has been agreed upon and passes both chambers of Congress (usually by April), the Appropriations Committees begin the work of setting specific funding levels for individual programs, such as Perkins and other education and workforce development programs. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees make "line-item" decisions for the appropriations bills. The Appropriations Committees, however, must stay within the budget parameters established by the Budget Committees for the Education, Training, Employment and Social Services Function.

The next important funding decisions concerning CTE are made in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.

Appropriations bills put together by these committees are supposed to pass the House and Senate and be reconciled by a conference committee, where any differences between House and Senate versions are resolved, in time for the new fiscal year to begin on October 1. Often, many of the larger and more controversial appropriations bills are not completed by this time, and Congress must pass a "continuing resolution" to continue program funding at current levels until a new budget can be passed.

After this process in complete, preparation for the next fiscal year begins and the process starts again. Each of these steps, including the president's budget request, the work of the Budget and Appropriations Committees, and the final passage of appropriations bills in the House and Senate allow for input from constituents and are vital to the continued funding of programs to support education.