Fiscal Year 2018 Federal Child Care and Related Appropriations

Publication Date: May 30, 2018
Current as of:

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 provides funding for multiple Federal agencies through the end of Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2018. This law (Public Law 115-141) continues funding for early care and education programs as summarized below. The Act provides funding for Discretionary programs requiring annual appropriations.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)[1]

FFY 2018 Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, (P.L. 115-141) appropriates $5.226 billion for CCDBG, the Discretionary portion of CCDF funds. The law requires that the entire amount of CCDBG funds be used to supplement, not supplant, State general revenue funds for child care assistance for low-income families. The FFY 2018 CCDBG appropriation (Discretionary CCDF) requires that $157 million be set-aside for Indian tribes and tribal organizations. This set-aside is in addition to the minimum funding set-aside for Indian tribes and tribal organization in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014.

FFY 2018 CCDF Mandatory and Matching Funds. Mandatory and Matching funds under CCDF remain at $2.917 billion for FFY 2018. The Mandatory and Matching funding was extended for FFY 2017 and FFY 2018 in The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L.115-31). The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141) also extends the technical assistance and research set-asides included in the CCDBG Act to the Mandatory and Matching funding[2].

Combined funding for the CCDF program for FFY 2018, including CCDBG Discretionary and CCDF Mandatory and Matching funds, is approximately $8.143 billion.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

FFY 2018 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Funding for TANF was extended for FFY 2017 and FFY 2018 in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 115-31) at $16.5 billion. TANF is authorized through the Social Security Act.

Head Start

FFY 2018 Head Start. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, provides $9.86 billion for Head Start in FFY 2018, including $755 million for Early Head Start expansion grants or Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships, in which Early Head Start grantees will work with child care programs to increase the number of high quality slots for infants and toddlers.

Social Services Block Grant (SSBG)

FFY 2018 Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) is funded at $1.7 billion. States may transfer up to 10 percent of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to SSBG. The overall limit on the percentage of TANF funds that can be transferred to CCDF and SSBG is 30 percent. SSBG funds a broad range of social services including child care.

Preschool Development Grant (PDG)

FY 2018 Preschool Development Grant (PDG). The Preschool Development Grant is funded at $250 million for FFY 2018. The PDG is jointly administered by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education. The PDG is designed to strengthen state and local efforts to build, develop and expand high-quality preschool programs so that more children from low- and moderate-income families enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school.

Other Related Early Care and Education Appropriations for FFY 2018

U.S. Department of Education (ED)[3]

Title I, Part A Grants to Local Education Agencies. The appropriation for Title I grants to local education agencies is $15.76 billion for FFY 2018. Title I provides flexible funding to high-poverty school districts and schools that may be used for staff salaries, professional development, program materials, extended-time programs and other strategies for raising student achievement. Some school districts use Title I funds to support preschool programs.

21st Century Community Learning Centers. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers received $1.21 billion for FFY 2018 to provide funding for afterschool programs. Funds flow through formula grants to the States which award local grants to public and private entities (as well as directly to some existing local grantees through continuation funding).

Special Education Grants for Infants and Families (IDEA, Part C). Funding for these grants, authorized by Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), is $470 million for FFY 2018. States use these funds to provide early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.

Special Education Preschool Grants (IDEA, Part B). Funding for Special Education Preschool grants, authorized by Part B of IDEA, is $381 million for FFY 2018. State education agencies use these funds to provide special education and related services for preschool-aged children with disabilities.

Ready-to-Learn Television. Funding for Ready-to-Learn Television is $27.7 million for FFY 2018. This program supports educational television programming for children and families and a variety of related activities, including the development and dissemination of education and training materials for parents, child care providers, and other educators.

Campus Child Care. For FFY 2018, funding for this program is $50 million to be awarded to institutions of higher education for campus-based child care through ED's Child Care Access Means Parents in School program.

Institute of Education Sciences or IES. This Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences is funded at $613 million for FFY 2018 for its three Centers: the National Center for Education Research (NCER); the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE); and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). All three centers have some activities focusing on early education and preschool programs.

Promise Neighborhoods. The FFY 2018 appropriation provides $78 million for Promise Neighborhoods. This program supports projects that significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and youth in distressed communities and to transform those communities by providing a cradle-to-career continuum of comprehensive education reforms, effective community services, and strong systems of family and community support- with high-quality schools at the center. Applicants may propose to implement a comprehensive local early learning system as part of the applicant’s cradle-to-career continuum.

Prepared by the Office of Child Care

 

[1] CCDF consists of two separate funding streams: 1) Discretionary funding authorized by the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act, subject to annual appropriation; and 2) an entitlement portion of Mandatory and Matching funds made available under Section 418 of the Social Security Act.

[2] The CCDBG Act of 2014 allows HHS to set-aside up to one half of one percent of Discretionary appropriations for technical assistance to grantees and up to one half of one percent for research.

[3] For more detailed information regarding Department of Education Appropriations see the following website: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/news.html . A table of FFY 2018 appropriations is available at https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/18action.pdf.

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