RRCNA Advocacy Update - January 2010

Dear RRCNA Members:

FY2010 Federal Appropriations Approved

In mid-December, appropriations bills for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education for the fiscal year that began October 1 were passed by the Senate and House and signed by President Obama. The final bill maintained Title I funds at the same level as the FY2009 appropriations bill and it did not fund the proposed Early Childhood Grants or the Early Learning Challenge Fund. The Early Learning Challenge Fund will likely be funded in the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act pending in Congress.

The bill increased Striving Readers funding to $250 million and eliminated funding for the Early Reading First program, folding it into the new Striving Readers. Since the Reading First funding has been terminated, the Striving Readers funding is meant to be allocated across the entire P-12 continuum – though the approved funding level is but a small percentage of the previous $1 billion per year Reading First budget. After certain set-asides, $235 million will be offered for competitive state grants. States must subgrant at least 95% of their grants as follows:

• At least 15% for children birth through age 5;
• At least 40% for children from kindergarten through grade 5; and
• At least 40% for students in middle and high school, with “an equitable distribution” between the two grade ranges.

Additional detail on funding totals for selected programs within the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services is presented in a table prepared by Washington Partners, LLC.