ESSA in Practice

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, P.L. 114-95) was enacted in late 2015, as the first comprehensive reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since 2001.

Fiscal year (FY) 2017 is the first to appropriate funding using ESSA funding authorizations. However, appropriators are not bound to adhere to these authorizations, and ultimately deviated from them in many ways—declining to fund some new programs, and appropriating differing amounts for many others.

This Issue Brief compares FY 2017 appropriations for ESEA programs against their authorized funding levels in ESSA, as well as against appropriations for FY 2016, the last year before ESSA’s authorizations took effect.