Senate appropriators propose level funding for 21st CCLC in FY 2025

The Senate Appropriations Committee released and marked up their Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) bill on August 1, 2024. The bill proposes $231.34 billion in base discretionary funding for Fiscal Year 2025, and the Committee approved the bill along bipartisan lines by a vote of 25-3. The Nita M Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Center Initiative (21st CCLC) – the only federal funding stream dedicated to afterschool, before-school, and summer learning programs – would receive the same amount it did in FY 2024, $1.329 billion. Earlier this year, the White House proposed level funding for 21st CCLC. Several weeks ago, the House Appropriations Committee also proposed level funding for 21st CCLC, although the partisan plan would cut or eliminate funding for many other education programs.

Unlike the House bill, the Senate spending proposal was developed in a bipartisan way. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine) agreed to follow the spending limits set in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which was enacted in May of 2023. On the other side of the Capitol,  the FY 2025 House Labor-HHS-Education bill proposes cutting $11 billion, or 14 percent, from FY 2024 funding levels.

The Senate bill would provide $80 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education – a marked contrast to the House plan, which allocates $$68.1 billion in discretionary funding for the Department. The House plan has been approved by the full Appropriations Committee along party lines but has not yet reached the House floor for consideration. Ultimately, the two chambers will have to negotiate a final spending bill. With Congress adjourning for recess next week until after Labor Day, the House and Senate will be under considerable pressure to pass appropriations bills or a continuing resolution by October 1, 2024, to avoid a federal government shutdown. That is an ambitious undertaking, and the odds of a continuing resolution are increasing before final decisions are made about FY 2025.

Key funding provisions of the Senate bill include the following:

• Level funding for the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Center program, which supports before-school, afterschool and summer learning programs for more than 1.3 million students. The program would receive $1.329 billion for FY 2025.
   
• $10.35 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant—a $1.6 billion (18 percent) increase over fiscal year 2024—which will help more families across the country find and afford the child care they need. This Department of Health and Human Services program supports school-age children with afterschool and summer programs, in addition to providing child care to infants and toddlers.
   
• The bill provides a $280 million increase for Title I-A grants to Local Education Agencies, for a total $18.687 billion. These Education funds can be used by school districts to support afterschool and summer learning.
   
• The bill also provides $1.39 billion, a $10 million increase over fiscal year 2024, for Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants. These funds can be used for afterschool Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), physical activity and a host of other uses
   
• $150 million for Full Service Community Schools, level with last year; this funding supports comprehensive services and expands evidence-based models that meet the holistic needs of children, families, and communities, including afterschool and summer learning components
   
• $1.497 billion for career and technical education (CTE), which can be used for school community partnerships supporting middle school and high school youth engaged in career-connected learning
   
• $80 million for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program, a $5 million increase
   
• $1.23 billion for Federal Work Study, level with last year, which can help support college students working in afterschool and other community-based organizations while attending college
   
• The bill includes a $35 million increase for AmeriCorps State and National grants. This will support AmeriCorps members serving in communities across the country and working to address pressing challenges, including supporting afterschool and summer learning programs.
   
• $101 million for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program that supports adolescents
   
• $20 Million to continue Career Pathways for Youth Grants for grants 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.

Congressionally Directed Funding, similar to the earmarks of the past, are also included in the Senate bill. (There are none in the House spending proposal). Funding mentioned in the afterschool space includes support for local programs in Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, and more. 

The voices of programs and programs supporters is as important as ever in this process! We know 25 million youth await access to affordable afterschool programs. While neither the House nor Senate bills propose cuts to 21st Century Community Learning Centers, program costs continue to increase, making it difficult to serve the same number of students in the future and failing to address increasing demand for afterschool and summer learning programs.

Now is the moment for friends of afterschool to let Congress know that level funding is effectively a cut for afterschool, and that these important programs deserve to be funded at a level that allows them to serve all children who need them.