What the Budget Resolution Really Means for Education Funding

The House and Senate are expected to vote tomorrow on the congressional budget resolution for fiscal year 2009, and debate over the resolution is becoming increasingly contentious. Do education advocates and the media really know what is at stake for education?

Both the House and Senate budget resolutions would boost discretionary spending above an inflationary baseline increase from the current fiscal year 2008 levels and above President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget request. The Republican minority is not pleased, labeling the spending increase “huge” and “astonishing”

How this all affects education funding is a complicated question. The budget resolution is an often misunderstood document that sets a congressional spending plan for the next five years. The budget resolution recommends spending levels in 20 broad categories but does not set funding amounts for individual programs. One category, “Function 500,” includes a total allocation for all education-related programs. Only after the budget resolution debate has ended will the Appropriations Committees divide up that spending and select a discretionary spending level for the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittees, which then determine the discretionary funding for specific education programs.

Confused? New America’s Federal Education Budget Project just released a primer on how the budget resolution affects education funding. If you want to know what is actually happening in the budget world right now—hint: It’s not what the political rhetoric coming from Congress is telling you—check out this primer by Jason Delisle.