Blog Layout

View from DC: FY22 Appropriations final, Rural STEM act moving

Mar 24, 2022
Headshot for Thomas Phillips

A federal perspective on public policy from our desk in Washington provided by Thomas Phillips, Sr. Congressional Affairs Specialist at Battelle.


Q: Before we look ahead to 2022’s legislative agenda, what were the most essential policy moments for STEM education in 2021? 

A: 2021 was a year focused on pandemic response and recovery. I’d say that while not a “STEM” specific moment, the most significant moment in policy was the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, and the historic investments it made in education. For example, a year ago, less than half of all public elementary and middle schools in America were meeting for in-person instruction; now, 95% are open full-time. That shift can be attributed to the $122 billion investment by the federal government that ensured K-12 schools could reopen safely, and stay open for good. 


On the STEM front, I would point to one standout piece of legislation, the bipartisan Rural STEM Education Research Act, which passed both chambers of Congress, and is currently being conferenced as part of a larger innovation and competitiveness package. I’ve said this before, and I’ll repeat it now: the contributions of our STEMx members helped shape that legislation, and it will soon be law (fingers crossed)! 

Q: We’re a few months into calendar year 2022, and nearly halfway through the fiscal year; what’s going on with appropriations?

 

A: After many months, and nearly as many continuing resolutions (CRs), which carried us from October 1st through last week, Congress finally passed an “omnibus” spending bill to finalize FY22 appropriations, and it was signed into law by President Biden on March 15th. H.R. 2471, the FY2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act, is a package of all 12 regular spending bills, hence the Latin etymology for the package: omnibus means “for all.” While it’s a positive that FY22 spending is finally enacted, and at overall higher levels than FY21, the breakdown of the process is still concerning. During the FY22 process, the House only passed 9 of 12 regular appropriations bills, and the Senate passed none. Without a return to regular order (where both chambers consider and vote on a full slate of bills), the process will continue to be mired in controversy and plagued with delays.

 

I’ll speak more to those delays when I talk about the upcoming release of the President’s Budget Request (PBR). For now, however, I’d like to report out on the accounts of interest to the STEM education community. Below, I’ve updated the table shared with us by the STEM Education Coalition with the recently enacted FY22 funding levels.

 

You’ll see increases over FY21 in every account, although the final omnibus increases are not as high as those from the House-mark passed last summer. Notably, the Title I-A Grants to LEAs saw an increase of $1 billion, which is the largest increase to that program in over a decade. Additionally, Title II-A’s Supporting Effective Instruction grants saw an increase of $27 million. Title IV-A’s Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants were increased by $60 million (which is still over a quarter-billion dollars shy of the funding level authorized in ESSA), and Title IV-B’s 21st Century Community Learning centers were increased by $30 million. The Education Innovation and Research program was increased by $40 million and CTE State Grants saw an additional $45 million over FY21. Finally, NASA’s STEM Engagement program was increased by $10 million, and the NSF’s Education and Human Resources (EHR) Directorate was increased by $32 million to bring the account just over $1 billion!


Program FY 2021 Final FY 2022 Request FY 2022 House Mark FY 2022 Omnibus
ESSA Title I-A Grants to Local Education Agencies $16.54 billion $17.25 billion $36 billion $17.5 billion
ESSA Title II Supporting Effective Instruction Grants $2.14 billion $2.15 billion $2.3 billion $2.17 billion
Title IVA Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants $1.22 billion $1.22 billion $1.3 billion $1.28 billion
Title IVB 21st Century Community Learning Centers $1.26 billion $1.31 billion $1.4 billion $1.29 billion
Education Innovation and Research $194 million $194 million $254 million $234 million
Career and Technical Education State Grants $1.33 billion $1.33 billion $1.38 billion $1.38 billion
NASA STEM Engagement $127 million $147 million $147 million $137 million
National Science Foundation’s Education and Human Resources Directorate $968 million $1.29 billion $1.27 billion $1 billion

Q: When can we expect to see the President’s Budget Request (PBR) for FY23, and what happens next?

 

A: The initial PBR is expected to drop next week, on March 28th. This is later than normal, but not quite as late as last year. I’ll note that despite arriving late, this PBR will just be a “skinny” budget, meaning we won’t have all of the granular details that come with each agency’s full request. Those will come later in the spring.

 

As far as what happens next, both chambers of Congress will be reviewing the request as they set their 302(b) allocations, and prepare their own appropriations bills for FY23. During this time, stakeholders will weigh in with the appropriations subcommittees on their own priorities, and eventually, each subcommittee should pass a bill to be considered by the full committee, then the full House or Senate. Congress has until September 30th to pass all regular appropriations for FY23; however, we all know that they have a handy tool at their disposal which will allow them to bypass that deadline. My prediction today is that they’ll pass a CR until after the election – kicking the can down the road so they can focus on the midterms. What happens after that will be determined in the voting booth.  

 

Q: You’ve laid out the budget and appropriations process for this year – what else is on the legislative table?

A: As I mentioned up front, the House and Senate are currently working on conferencing their differences on a major competitiveness package. Before known as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) it’s now called America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act. It includes everything from re-authorizations for the NSF and the DOE Office of Science, to security and trade provisions, along with emergency supplemental appropriations for the semiconductor industry, which is facing a chip shortage. As far as large-scale, bipartisan legislation goes, this package does and has it all.

 

To that end, there are some provisions that the broader STEM community is trying to include in America COMPETES. Battelle and STEMx worked closely with the STEM Education Coalition and Senator Mark Kelly’s office on the recently introduced Strengthening STEM Ecosystems Act. That bipartisan legislation would complement the innovation components of the broader package, and efforts to incorporate it (in whole, or in part) are ongoing.

 

It’s going to take a concerted effort to get America COMPETES over the finish line, and especially within the timetable that Congressional leadership would like (that is, before Memorial Day recess). Assuming they meet that “deadline” Congress will not be in a hurry to get much else done until after the midterm elections are over. We can expect a bit of a lull through the summer and fall as they turn their attention to the campaign trail. Then, we’ll see a sudden flurry of legislative activity coming in November and December during the “lame-duck” for any and all outgoing members.

 

I’ll be going into a bit more detail and providing additional insight into the congressional calendar and STEMx’s engagement activities during my presentation to the STEMx Members Roundtable later today. Please join me, and bring your questions!

 

As always if you want to learn more about anything in this post, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Celebrating the 2023 STEM Innovation Forum

By Rob Evans • 01 Nov, 2023
by Heather Sherman, Director of STEMx The 2023 STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce was a success! Through our collaboration with STEMconnector and Million Women Mentors, we convened 160 leaders from industry, government, non-profit organizations, and education institutions from all over the United States to discuss strategies and best practices to support the STEM workforce. We were honored to host a variety of dynamic speakers including: Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado Brynt Parmeter, Chief Talent Management Officer, U.S. Department of Defense Dr. Athina Kanioura, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, PepsiCo and Dr. Lisa Hinkelman, Founder and CEO of Ruling Our eXperiences (RoX). We extend our gratitude to our panelists, Learning Session speakers, and participants who joined us in Denver. Broadening participation We set out share information on trends in STEM education and workforce development, with an emphasis on broadening participation in STEM careers. Resources from sessions highlighting strategies for broadening participation are linked below: DoD STEM: Developing a STEM Workforce to Support the National Security Mission Priming the Pump for High Demand STEM Careers STEM Workforce Readiness for Teen Girls: “If She Can See It, She Can Be It” Driving change Another goal of the forum was to feature high impact strategies, programs and solutions that are driving change, and STEMx members from LASTEM , the PAST Foundation and MBRT showed how they are engaging youth and building career awareness through their workforce programs. Emerging technologies We looked towards the future to better understand how emerging technologies will change the world and the ways we must prepare STEM talent for jobs in logistics, artificial intelligence, research safety , bioenergy , and renewable technologies. Chevron‘s sponsored panel, “Cultivating the Talent to Drive the Innovation and Technologies for Ever-Cleaner Energy” was a rich discussion featuring experts from Chevron, Project Lead the Way and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Jamie Vernon, Executive Director, and CEO, Sigma Xi Society was a fantastic moderator for this discussion. Next steps We have linked event resources including videos, slide decks and collateral on the event landing page . The event photo gallery is located there as well. If you attended, please complete our 30 second event survey . Five lucky winners will be selected at random to receive a Forum water bottle! More importantly, your feedback matters to us. If you did not attend, mark your calendar for next fall - we’re looking to make next year even bigger! If you are interested in hosting in your state, or have thoughts about compelling content that we should include, please reach out to Heather Sherman .

STEM Innovation Forum: Agenda and New Sponsors

By Rob Evans • 03 Oct, 2023
Join us for The STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce
Share by: