In the annual appropriations process, Congress elects to make appropriations for certain federal education programs, in part, on a forward-funded basis. Programs funded in this manner receive appropriations in an appropriations act that become available during the last quarter of the fiscal year (i.e., on July 1) and remain available in the next fiscal year. Such programs also may receive an additional amount of funds as advance appropriations, which are provided in one fiscal year’s appropriations act but do not become available to the agency until a following fiscal year. Thus, a single appropriations act funds particular education programs, but those funds become available to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on a staggered basis for distribution to state grantees. For the forward-funded component of these programs, ED has had a long-standing practice of making those funds available to state grantees for obligation on the same day that the funds become available to ED, namely on July 1. For FY2025, ED departed from this practice and did not release forward funds on July 1. The affected programs include those authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), particularly ESEA Title I-C: Education of Migratory Children, ESEA Title II-A: Supporting Effective Instruction, ESEA Title III-A: English Language Acquisition, ESEA Title IV-A: Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, ESEA Title IV-B: 21st Century Community Learning Centers, WIOA Title II: Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants, and WIOA Title II: Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education State Grants. ED alerted states in a June 30, 2025, email that the funds would not be made available under the affected programs on July 1. The email indicated that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was conducting a programmatic review of the funds, in part to ensure that grantees spent funds in accordance with the President’s priorities. ED eventually made funds under the ESEA Title IV-B program available to states on July 21. Funds for the remaining affected programs were released on July 30. Congress addressed the timing of ED’s release of forward funds for FY2026 in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (P.L. 119-75), which provides appropriations for ED. The act includes a new general provision (Division B, Title III, §312) requiring the Secretary of Education to award formula grant funding for specified programs “on the date such funds become available for obligation” to ED. This provision applies to formula grant programs authorized by the ESEA, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act that received appropriations in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026. It applies both to forward funding for these programs available on July 1, 2026, as well as advance appropriations that become available on October 1, 2026.
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