On Tuesday, Congress released a bipartisan, bicameral Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding package. The U.S. House of Representatives is debating the bill today before the Senate considers the proposal next week.

Overall, the spending bill provides small increases for Title 1 Part A (+$20 million), IDEA Part B (+$20 million), Rural Education Achievement Program (+$5 million), Impact Aid (+$5 million), Charter Schools (+60 million), and level funding for key formula grant programs – Title II-A, Title III-A, and Title IV-A. NCASA is pleased the final agreement aligned more closely with the bipartisan Senate proposal than with the deep cuts previously advanced by the House of Representatives.

Of great importance is the inclusion of a provision requiring the Department of Education (DOE) to distribute formula grant funding to states by July 1. Given last year’s withholding of FY25 funds, NCASA urged appropriators to provide as much predictability as possible for school districts to access federal funding.

The new appropriations bill’s report includes language requiring the administration to brief lawmakers at least twice a month on the status of implementing DOE interagency agreements. The bill does not include any language invalidating already-signed agreements or prohibiting agreements DOE has said it’s developing to move special education, data collection, and civil rights enforcement elsewhere in the federal government.

The budget proposal also doesn’t explicitly block the Trump administration from further reducing DOE staff but specifies the department must maintain enough staff to carry out mandatory functions “in a timely manner,” and it may not pursue any staffing reductions that affect its budget-services office.

If the bill is approved by the House, the Senate will return from recess next week with just four days to approve the spending bill and secure the president’s signature before the Jan. 30 funding deadline.