Disability Policy News In Brief: Special Budget Report

In Brief Special Report: President's FY 2017 Budget Request

The President transmitted his last Federal Budget Request of his Administration to Congress on February 9, 2016.  AUCD is pleased to report that the Administration's Budget for FY 2017 maintains investments in many important programs that support the health and well-being of people with disabilities, preserves the structure of Medicaid, and recognizes the need for a balanced approach to deficit reduction while calling for important investments in NIH research, disease prevention, early childhood, education, employment for people with disabilities, caregiver supports, and health care.  There are big investments in emerging national priorities such as the Zika virus, cancer research, and neurosciences that may offer new opportunities for research, education, training and technical assistance for the AUCD network. The entire Budget is on the Office of Management and Budget website. 

Following is a table and summary highlights of the funding provided in the President's Request for programs within the Departments of Health, Human Services and Education that impact people with disabilities and families.

*The AT Act programs were transferred to ACL from ED by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. 

** Comparably adjusted to reflect the transfer of the Traumatic Brain Injury program from HRSA to ACL in FY 16.

Health and Human Services 

The FY 2017 Budget request proposes $82.8 billion in discretionary budget authority overall and additional mandatory funding for the Departments of Health and Human Services. For more details about the President's Budget request for HHS, see the full FY 2017 Budget In Brief on the HHS website.

Administration for Community Living (ACL)

Overall, the President's Budget requests $2 billion for the Administration for Community Living (ACL), an increase of $28 million over FY 2016.  However, the DD Act programs are level-funded in the Budget: University Centers for Excellence receive $39 million; DD Councils $73 million; and Protection and Advocacy Systems $39 million. Projects of National Significance also receive level funding at $10 million.  The President's FY 2016 request had raised PNS to $14 million; however, Congress did not provide the funding increase in its final FY 2016 appropriations.

The Budget requests $8 million for Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRC), an increase of $2 million over FY 2016. According to the budget summary, this increased investment will help state grantees continue their development and operation of these systems based on the national standards established by ACL, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Veterans Health Administration.

Family Supports

The FY 2017 Budget provides $151 million for Family Caregiver Support Services, which supports a number of essential services that assist family and informal caregivers.The Budget also includes $5 million for Lifespan Respite Care, $2 million more than FY 2016.

The FY 17 Budget also includes $32 million for the Assistive Technology Program, which provides states with financial assistance to increase the availability, access, provision, and training of assistive technology devices and services. Many of these AT programs are located within University Centers.

The Budget requests $5 million to facilitate voting access for people with disabilities, the same as the previous fiscal year.

The Budget requests $109 million for Child Abuse Prevention, including an $11 million increase for child trafficking prevention.

Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA)

The Autism and other Developmental Disabilities line item that funds research and training programs authorized by the Autism CARES Act receives level-funding at $47 million in the President's Budget, the same as the final FY 16 funding bill.  Of the total $47 million, approximately $29 million will be allocated to the Leadership in Education and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program.  This amount supports the increase of $1 million over FY 2106 to initiate two additional programs in states that do not have one for a total of 45 LEND programs nationwide (up from 43). 

The HRSA Title V Maternal and Child Block Grant received $638 million, the same as FY 16. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Overall, the President's FY 17 Budget request for CDC is $11.9 billion, an increase of $87 million relative to FY 2016. This total includes $944 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund.

 For the CDC Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, the President's Budget includes $136 million, the same level as the previous fiscal year. Within that total, $22 million is targeted to the state Disability and Health program.

National Institutes of Health

For the National Institutes of Health, the President's Budget includes $33.1 billion, an increase of $825 million over FY 2016.  This increase is targeted to accelerating research in cancers, precision medicine, and to continue research in the human brain.  This increase is in addition to the $2 billion increase contained in the final FY 2016 omnibus appropriations bill.

Of the total increase for NIH, $195 million, an increase of $45 million, is targeted to the Brain Research through Application of Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.  This Obama Administration initiative is intended to support groundbreaking neuroscience research, neuroimaging, and training initiatives, as well as potential projects to collaborate with industry to test and develop devices for mapping and tuning brain circuitry.

Of this amount, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) that funds the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (IDDRC) is level-funded at $1.3 billion.

As a part of the cancer "moonshot" announced by the President in the State of the Union Address, the Budget provides an increase of $755 million to accelerate progress in preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer. The Budget's multi-year cancer initiative, with support beginning in FY 2016 within NIH, provides additional resources to NIH and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in FY 2017, to improve health and outcomes for patients through investments in research and infrastructure, and brings together researchers across sectors and scientific disciplines. Within the $755 million total, the Budget allocates $680 million for NIH and $75 million for FDA.

The Budget proposes a total of $309 million to continue scaling up the Precision Medicine initiative, which is focused on developing treatments, diagnostics, and prevention strategies tailored to the individual genetic characteristics of each patient. This includes $300 million at NIH, an increase of $100 million above FY 2016. If Congress appropriates the funding, it will support a major scale up of a research cohort of a million or more individuals to extend precision medicine to many more diseases. In addition, funding is intended to continue for the National Cancer Institute to lead research efforts on cancer genomics.

The final FY 2016 Omnibus appropriations bill had provided $165 million to work with the community to begin to address concerns related to the follow on to the National Children's Study. There is no mention of the NCS funding in the FY 2017 President's Budget.

Medicaid/Mandatory HHS Spending 

As of January 2016, 30 states and the District of Columbia have elected to expand Medicaid to low income adults with household income up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (Louisiana will make the 31st state).  To encourage more states to take up this important option, the Budget would give any state that chooses to expand Medicaid eligibility three years of full federal support, no matter when the state expands.  

In addition, the Budget removes the cap on funding to Medicaid programs in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Territories to better align territory Medicaid programs with those in states and expands eligibility to 100 percent of the federal poverty level in territories currently below that level.  This proposal would gradually increase the share of Medicaid costs covered by the federal government as Puerto Rico and the Territories modernize their Medicaid programs, a long-time policy goal supported by AUCD.

Education

The Budget requests $69.4 billion in discretionary appropriations for the overall Department of Education in 2017, an increase of $1.3 billion, or 2 percent, over the 2016 level. The Department's budget also includes mandatory funds which do not require annual appropriations. The largest mandatory programs are federally subsidized loans for postsecondary students. In total, discretionary and mandatory funding would make available $209 billion in aid to education in fiscal year 2017, of which $139.7 billion is new postsecondary grants, loans, and work-study assistance-an increase of $42 billion.

ESEA now ESSA

The 2017 request for elementary and secondary education reflects the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA).  The $15.4 billion request for Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) includes a $450 million increase that would support State and local efforts to ensure that all students meet challenging, State-determined college- and career ready standards. A portion of the increase would provide supplemental funds to address the challenge of turning around the nation's lowest-performing schools. Because many of these programs are new, this report provides information on possible new funding opportunities for AUCD research, education, and training through the reauthorized law.  For more detailed information and for additional possible funding opportunities, please review the entire Department of Education's Budget Summary.

State Assessments

The request for the reauthorized State Assessments program includes a $25 million increase that would provide resources to help states efficiently and effectively meet the assessment requirements of the reauthorized law, which are aimed at ensuring that all students graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in college and the workplace. The request also includes a significant increase in funding for Competitive Assessment Grants, the successor to the Enhanced Assessment Grants program, to support projects designed to spur innovation in assessment design and delivery and to help States address pressing needs they have identified for developing and implementing the next generation of their assessment systems.

Education Innovation and Research

The Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program, the successor to the Investing in Innovation (i3) program, would continue to support innovative and proven approaches that address persistent education challenges while also building knowledge of what works in education. The EIR program incorporates i3's tiered-evidence framework that supports larger awards for projects with the strongest evidence base as well as promising earlier-stage projects that are willing to undergo rigorous evaluation. Grantees must provide matching funds equal to 10 percent of their grant award (in cash or in-kind) from Federal, State, local, or private sources.

The $60 million increase proposed for fiscal year 2017 would allow the reauthorized program to fund more high-quality applications not only to build evidence of effectiveness but to demonstrate the feasibility of scaling effective interventions to reach more students and schools.

Best Job in the World Initiative

The Administration proposes $1 billion in one-time mandatory funding for the RESPECT: Best Job in the World (Best Job) initiative, which would support a nationwide effort to dramatically change the ability of high-need schools to attract and retain talented, committed, and accomplished teachers. The goal is to support comprehensive, locally developed efforts to transform up to 200 of these schools into the best places to begin and advance a career in education and thereby improve their ability to provide students with equitable access to effective teachers. The program would award competitive grants of up to $250 million to State educational agencies (SEAs), which would make sub-grants to districts with schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement under the ESEA. Eligible districts would undertake a needs assessment, including community stakeholder input, aimed at identifying incentives and policies for attracting and retaining effective teachers and school leaders.

Supporting Effective Instruction

Supporting Effective Instruction (SEI) State grants provide formula grants to SEAs and subgrants to LEAs to increase student achievement consistent with challenging State academic standards; improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals, and other school leaders; increase the number of teachers, principals, and other school leaders who are effective in improving student academic achievement in schools; and provide low-income and minority students greater access to effective teachers, principals, and other school leaders. SEAs and LEAs have flexibility to carry out a wide variety of activities, consistent with their specific needs.

Teach to Lead

The $10 million request would provide resources to build on the Administration's Teach to Lead initiative by funding teacher-developed and teacher-led projects for improving student learning and school success. Funds would support an award to a nonprofit organization that would design and implement a national competition to make one-time, 3-year grants directly to teachers to support the development, implementation, expansion, and dissemination of projects designed to improve student outcomes for all students in high-need schools or that target the educational needs of low-achieving students.

STEM Master Teacher Corps

This new $10 million program responds to the President's July 2012 call to create a national STEM Master Teacher Corps that would enlist science and math teachers to improve STEM education. If funded, the request would help States create leadership pathways for educators to improve STEM teaching and learning.

Promise Neighborhoods

The request provides an increase of nearly $55 million to support up to 15 new awards to local partnerships to implement comprehensive, neighborhood-based plans for meeting the cradle-to-career educational, health, and social service needs of children and families in high-poverty communities. The theory of action behind the reauthorized Promise Neighborhoods program is that providing both effective, achievement-oriented schools and strong systems of support to children and youth in poverty offers them the best hope for overcoming poverty and building a better life.

Next Generation High Schools

This new program would promote the whole-school transformation of the high school experience in order to provide students with challenging and relevant academic and career-related learning experiences that prepare them to transition to postsecondary education and careers. Building on the first-ever White House Summit on Next Generation High Schools, this $80 million proposal would make competitive awards to LEAs in partnership with institutions of higher education and other entities, such as nonprofit and community-based organizations, businesses, and other industry-related organizations. The Department would give priority to projects that: (1) are designed to improve readiness for postsecondary education and careers in STEM fields, particularly for student groups historically underrepresented in those fields; (2) serve areas with limited access to high-quality college and career opportunities such as high-poverty or rural LEAs; or (3) include partnerships with employers that help students attain career-related credentials.

Special Education

Part B

For the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part B State grants, the Administration is requesting $11.9 billion, level with the fiscal year 2016 appropriation (which was increased by $415 million in FY 2016).  The Administration estimates that this amount would maintain the Federal contribution toward meeting the excess cost of special education at approximately 16 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure (APPE) and provide an estimated average of $1,777 per student for about 6.7 million children ages 3 through 21.

Funding for the Preschool Grants program would be increased by $35 million (for a total request of $403.2 million) to provide special education and related services to children ages 3 through 5. Under the current statute, LEAs may reserve up to 15 percent of the funds they receive under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to provide coordinated early intervening services (CEIS) to children in grades kindergarten through 12. The Administration, therefore, is requesting additional flexibility to allow LEAs to use funds reserved under the IDEA to provide CEIS to children ages 3 through 5.

Part C Early Intervention

AUCD is pleased to report that the request also includes a $45 million increase (for a total request of $503.6 million) for the Grants for Infants and Families (Part C) program to assist States in providing high-quality early intervention services to approximately 352,000 infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. The Administration's request would reserve $15 million to make competitive grants to partnerships of public and private entities to support community-based model demonstration projects.

Part D National Services

The President's Budget provides $237.1 million for Special Education National Activities to maintain support for technical assistance, dissemination, training, and other activities that assist States, LEAs, parents, and others in improving results for children with disabilities. The request for the Technical Assistance and Dissemination program includes a $10 million increase to support grants to substantially increase the Administration's investment in model demonstration projects to build the evidence-base for promising practices in critical areas such as interventions for students with autism that require intensive services and support. All other Part D programs are level-funded.

Institutes of Education Sciences

Within the Institutes of Education Sciences, the bill report language acknowledges the importance and need for more research related to infant and toddler care and education and encourages the IES to make grant funding available for such research.

Higher Education Act

Within higher education funding, support is continued for the Transition to Postsecondary Program for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID) at $11.8 million in FY 2016. There is no additional report language concerning this program.

Vocational Rehabilitation

The $3.4 billion request for the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) State Grants program includes an increase of $6.8 million over the fiscal year 2016 mandatory level, consistent with the inflation increase specified in the authorizing statute.  The President's Budget acknowledges the reauthorization of and willingness to support the goals of WIOA and states "that people with disabilities represent a vital and integral part of our society, and the Administration remains committed to ensuring that individuals with disabilities have the opportunities to compete for and enjoy high-quality employment in the 21st century global economy."

Supported Employment

The Administration requests $30.5 million for the Supported Employment State Grants program, an increase of $3 million over the 2016 level, to assist State agencies in meeting the new challenges and opportunities resulting from WIOA. The budget acknowledges that WIOA made several significant changes to this program in order to maximize the potential of individuals with the most significant disabilities, particularly youth, which require ongoing supports to achieve competitive integrated employment.

Conclusion

As you know, the President's Budget request is just the first step in the fiscal year 2017 budget and appropriations cycle.  The next step is for the House and Senate to develop budget resolutions (BR) to provide overall discretionary budget caps.  Since the Bipartisan Budget Act provided top-line numbers for discretionary spending for the next two years, the Budget Committees technically do not need to develop budget resolutions.  Once the overall Budget is agreed to, the 12 Appropriations subcommittees will receive their allocations and begin to hold hearings and markup their bills. While both House and Senate Appropriations Committee chairmen are eager for "regular order" in getting all 12 funding bills passed individually, it is unclear in this presidential election year how far appropriators will get in putting together their spending bills.

AUCD will continue to advocate for sufficient federal investments in research, education, training, and community supports and services for people with disabilities and families.

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For definitions of terms used in In Brief, please see AUCD's Glossary of Legislative Terms