Rounding Up Events from Our Nation’s Capitol
Recissions of Education $$
In a significant action, the US Education Department announced on June 30th that more than $6 Billion in funds originally slated to be disbursed on July 1st would be withheld, at least temporarily. The reason given was that the department was reviewing the expenditures and needed more time to complete that review.
The funds that were being held up were primarily from Title I, and included programs for migrant students, teacher preparation, and after school programs. Specifically, the programs cited were state teacher training grants; summer and after-school programs funded under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program; the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program; and funds for migrant education programs plus students who speak limited English.
Of concern to districts is the reality that these funds had already been approved and districts were beginning to hire staff and commit to programs for the coming year based on those earlier approvals by both the Congress and the President.
Representatives of both the Council of Chief State School Officers and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA-the Superintendents’ Association) have expressed alarm over this action and called attention to the harm that it would cause for schools across the nation.
NAPT notes that this does not directly affect school transportation, but we are determined to keep our members informed of developments that affect their local districts’ budgets and operations. We continue to monitor federal legislative and budget activities on several fronts, including IDEA, for their impact on our members.
First-Ever Federal Voucher Program
The budget reconciliation bill (known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) included provisions for a tax credit program that would allow individuals to contribute to non-profits set up to run voucher programs in the states. AASA and other national and state organizations consider this program a serious threat to funding for and support of our nation’s public schools.
Below are several provisions taken from an analysis prepared by AASA following passage of the bill:
• The tax credit is permanent, and the amounts that may be donated are unlimited. There is no federal ceiling on how much can be spent on vouchers. The Republican majority removed the $4 billion volume cap on the total amount of donations.
• The bill does limit the amount a donor can get a tax credit on: The text now allows any individual to donate to a voucher nonprofit for a dollar-for-dollar tax credit worth $1,700 (rather than the originally proposed 10% of adjusted gross income).
• While the House version stated that there could be no Federal control over private or religious schools, the Senate bill removed that prohibition. In other words, the final bill will allow (but not require) federal regulation of schools funded with federal vouchers. The bill provides broad authority for the Secretary of Treasury to regulate the program, including explicit authority to regulate scholarship granting organizations and potentially to regulate private schools.
• Finally, there is no longer a mandate that states have a voucher program. States can voluntarily choose whether to set up voucher nonprofits (or scholarship granting organizations as they are referred to in the bill). They do not have to set up any system for funding private schooling or homeschooling. The voucher nonprofits can only administer school vouchers within their state and States can regulate them and the private schools they work with to a great degree.
AASA and other education leaders fought hard to have amendments added to the original bill and their efforts contributed to modifications and limitations to the final provisions in the Senate bill.
NAPT will continue to monitor this new program for its impact on education funding, the number of states that implement the program, and the effects it could have on transportation of students who would attend a wider array of school locations.
NTSB Report on Student Fatality & Distracted Driving
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently issued a report related to a fatality accident that killed a 13-year-old student waiting to board a school bus in Wisconsin in May 2023.
Specifically, a 17-year-old driver of a pick-up truck failed to stop for a stopped school bus and struck the student. The NTSB investigation determined that the pick-up truck driver did not react in time because he was texting on his cell phone while driving as he approached the bus.
The NTSB included recommendations to auto manufacturers and cellphone companies on the use of cellphone lock out technologies. The report also calls on NHTSA to develop guidelines related to driver distraction technologies and practices. It also urges the public to avoid distracting behaviors including texting and use of cellphones while driving their vehicles.
NAPT recognizes the tragic loss of life in Wisconsin and adds our voice to calls for solutions to the distracted driving problem in our country.
For the full NTSB report, click here. For the NTSB press statement, click here.
Changes Ahead for Medicaid and School Funding?
The so-titled “big, beautiful bill” includes changes to and reductions in funding for Medicaid. Education groups across the country have been assessing the impact that the cuts will have on school-based health, mental health and special education services and programs.
Medicaid funds are used to support school transportation services in schools across America and reductions to the funding or changes in the reimbursement process could have significant effects on school budgets and support for transportation.
This will remain an area of high concern for us at NAPT in conjunction with our partners at AASA and ASBO. As we gain more information, we will share it here with our members and consider webinar programs to get that information in your hands.
For now, we are sharing the executive summary of a report from the Healthy Schools Campaign about Medicaid in schools and how cuts to that funding are likely to affect school programs and service capacity. That summary is linked here for your reading: Survey-Report-Executive-Summary.pdf The full report is available at: https://bit.ly/school-medicaid-cuts
Reconciliation Package Draws Concern from Education Groups
Excerpted here is an official statement from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA-The Superintendents’ Association) in regard to the ‘big, beautiful bill’ passed by Congress and signed by the President into law:
“AASA, the national organization representing public school leaders across the United States, strongly opposes the massive budget bill moving through Congress. This legislation marks a significant and historic step backwards in the federal government’s commitment to support every child, in every zip code, through public education.
For the first time in American history, the U.S. Senate has advanced a reconciliation package that explicitly directs public taxpayer dollars to private schools. Just a few months ago Congress voted to level-fund K-12 education and now Republicans are utilizing the tax code to funnel billions of dollars to support families and students who already have the means to attend private school. Our country cannot afford to fund a secondary private system of education that is able to pick and choose which children they serve; this is a costly mistake that jeopardizes America’s prosperity and sets our public schools back.
We are equally concerned about the bill’s cost-shifting provisions, which will have devastating downstream effects on public education funding. Proposals that restructure Medicaid and SNAP will force states to shoulder significantly more of the financial burden to meet the basic needs of children and families. Education is already one of the largest line items in state budgets. These new pressures will constrain state resources and force impossible tradeoffs—often at the expense of schools and the students they serve.
This reconciliation package fails our children and flies in the face of our nation’s long held bipartisan support for a high quality and accessible American public education system. We strongly urge superintendents to contact their members of Congress and urge them to oppose this harmful legislation.”
NOTE: NAPT has not issued a statement about the budget bill directly. But we are reviewing its contents and identifying areas that our members should understand in terms of implications for their districts and for their own transportation operations and capacity. We will continue to explore these areas and provide information and resources to assist our members as they work through the issues.