Bipartisan, bicameral FY 2026 Education spending bill includes afterschool, summer program support

Almost 4 months into the 2026 fiscal year (FY 2026), a newly negotiated bipartisan 4-bill spending package was released this week, just 10 days before the current short-term FY 2026 continuing resolution expires on January 30. Lengthy negotiations between both parties and both chambers have resulted in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, a $1.2 trillion spending package that includes four spending bills: Defense; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

This new spending bill invests a total of $1.329 billion for the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative across all 50 states and territories. That’s the same level of funding for local afterschool and summer learning programs as last year. The bill rejects the President’s proposal that would eliminate 21st CCLC by collapsing it with 17 other K-12 education programs. We are grateful for the bipartisan support of House and Senate appropriators and the many champions for afterschool and summer programs in Congress as well as friends of afterschool nationwide who lifted their voices in support of sustaining 21st CCLC. While avoiding a funding reduction is good news,  it’s important to recognize that level funding is not sufficient given the increased costs associated with offering high quality afterschool and summer learning opportunities and increased demand for programs. In fact, level funding will mean fewer youth are able to access afterschool and summer opportunities, and afterschool advocates will urge Congress to increase funding in FY 2027.

The final FY 2026 Labor- Health and Human Services-Education (Labor-HHS) spending bill provides $221 billion for federal programs and activities – down several billion from last year. Specifically, for the Department of Education, the legislation provides a total of $79.1 billion in discretionary appropriations almost on par with FY 2025. This includes $18.4 billion for Title I formula funding to schools, the same level as last year. Title I funds can be used to support numerous local needs, including afterschool and summer learning programs. The bill supports early education and school age childcare for students up to age 13, by investing $8.8 billion in the Child Care and Development Block Grant, an increase of $85 million above fiscal year 2025.

Specific proposed funding levels for education programs that support afterschool and summer learning and enrichment include:

• The Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers: $1.329 billion, level with the FY 2025 enacted level. The 21st CCLC program  serves almost 1.4 million students annually in every state at nearly 10,000 sites across the U.S. The President’s budget proposal to eliminate this program was rejected. 21st CCLC funds will not be consolidated under the FY 2026 LHHS bill. 
   
• Title I Funding to Local Education Agencies: $18.4 billion, level with last year. Title I provides basic and flexible funding to low-income school districts to improve student outcomes. Schools can spend Title I funds on afterschool and summer learning programs. The House FY 2026 proposal included steep cuts to these funds.  
   
• Title IV Full-Service Community Schools: $150 million, level with FY 2025, to provide comprehensive services and expand evidence-based models that meet the holistic needs of children, families, and communities, including out-of-school time programs. The House and President’s budget proposal for FY 2026 would have eliminated this funding.  
   
• Promise Neighborhoods: $91 million, level with FY 2025, for grants to increase access to great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare students to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career. Afterschool and summer can be one component of these efforts. 
   
• Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants: $1.38 billion, level with the 2025 enacted level. These funds for school districts established under ESSA support activities that provide students with a well-rounded education, ensure safe and supportive learning environments, and use technology to improve instruction. Allowable uses for the grant include support for afterschool STEM activities.  
   
• TRIO and GEAR UP: $1.2 billion for Federal TRIO programs, level with the 2025 enacted level. Additionally, $388 million for GEAR UP, also level with the 2025 enacted level. Both programs help high school youth prepare and access higher education. 
   
• Federal Work Study: $1.23 billion, equal to the 2025 enacted level. Federal Work Study can be used to support college students working in community-based afterschool programs.
   
• Career, Technical Education (CTE): $1.4 billion for Career, Technical and Adult Education (CTE) State Grants which assist states and localities with expansion and improvement of CTE programs; and $12.4 million for CTE National Activities, which conduct research and evaluation of CTE programs receiving federal funding. CTE programs can partner with community-based afterschool providers to provide workforce development and career exploration programs.  

Proposed funding levels for afterschool and summer related programs in the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, and the Corporation for National and Community Service:

• Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG): $8.8 billion, an increase of $85 million above FY 2025. CCDBG supports children from age 0 to 13, about 44% of which are school-age children. Funding available through CCDBG to states is also used to support program quality and staff professional development.  
   
• Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS): $1.3 billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), maintaining the level set in FY 2025. CNCS supports AmeriCorps and VISTA that are key assets for hundreds of afterschool programs.
   
• Career Pathways for Youth Grants: This grant funding was eliminated in the bill – in previous years $20 million was provided to support national out-of-school time organizations that serve youth and teens and place an emphasis on age-appropriate workforce readiness programming to expand job training and workforce pathways for youth and disconnected youth.

The bill also includes at least $9 million in afterschool, summer, or youth development-related Community Project Funding that goes to specific projects at the behest of Members of Congress.

The bill also includes language addressing the interagency agreements between the Department of Education (ED) and other agencies like the Department of Labor (DOL). These agreements, announced last November, would aim to relocate management of programs like 21st CCLC from ED to DOL. While the bill does not currently list any specific programs that must remain in ED, it does include language that affirms congressional authority to determine funding allocations and agency responsibilities. It restricts transfers of funding to other agencies.  It also includes language responding to the Administration’s actions to withhold, terminate, and/or delay federal education funding for a variety of programs last year, including the following: Sec. 512 of the bill (page 351) includes long-standing language prohibiting funding to be transferred except where the transfer is authorized by an appropriations bill. The bill does not move funding from ED to other agencies.

• The bill includes language on pages 316-17 that says ED “shall support staffing levels necessary to fulfill its statutory responsibilities,” which is in line with what the Supreme Court ordered in response to lawsuits following the layoffs at ED in Spring 2025.
   
• Page 1 of the explanatory statement of the legislation says it prohibits unilateral funding and program transfers and requires agencies to follow the bill and the explanatory statement, saying that agencies “shall not reallocate resources or reorganize activities except as provided herein…Any action to eliminate or consolidate programs, projects, or activities should be pursued through a proposal in the President’s Budget so it can be considered by the Committees.”
   
• Page 83 of the explanatory statement says that “no authorities exist for the Department of Education to transfer its fundamental responsibilities under numerous authorizing and appropriations laws, including through procuring services from other Federal agencies, of carrying out those programs, projects, and activities to other Federal agencies.”

The House plans to vote on the bill this week, with the Senate taking it up next week before the January 30 deadline. If the bill passes the full floor of both chambers, it will go to the President for a signature. There are potential obstacles to the bill passing, including the funding and language related to the Department of Homeland Security, which is one of the four bills in the package. Supporters of afterschool and summer programs can continue to reach out to their elected officials regarding support for local programs.