2009 Education Appropriations Guide

Congress completed the fiscal year 2009 appropriations process on March 10th, 2009, finalizing annual funding for nearly all federal education programs through September 2009 at $62.6 billion, up $3.4 billion from the prior year. Making sense of the federal education budget and the appropriations process can be a frustrating task for education advocates, state and local policymakers, the media, and the public. The now concluded fiscal year 2009 appropriations process is no exception due to numerous stopgap funding measures and emergency economic stimulus legislation.

This issue brief is intended to be a helpful guide to the appropriations process and recently enacted fiscal year 2009 education funding, including economic stimulus funding signed into law earlier this year through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

To read the full report, download the PDF.