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Education officials tell Senate House budget amendments could derail literacy and transformation work
Summary
State education leaders told the Senate Appropriations Committee that provisions in the House budget — including omission of a $700,000 literacy reversion and sharp reductions to transformation funding — would hamper the agency’s ability to implement statewide literacy improvements and transformation activities in FY27.
For the record, Zoe Saunders, Secretary of Education, told the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 27 that several amendments in the House budget would undermine the agency’s ability to lead an ongoing education transformation and to carry out planned literacy supports.
Saunders said the House draft omits a requested $700,000 reappropriation tied to literacy work and takes previously approved transformation dollars out of the agency’s control. "Absent those funds, I just want to be clear about the risk: we will not be able to carry out the really critical work that the agency has been tasked to do to support teachers," Saunders said.
The omission is not new money, Saunders and Deputy Secretary Jill Campbell said; the department had reallocated federal-origin and carryforward funds to support statewide literacy improvements under Act 139. Agency officials told the committee that last year’s education transformation request was for just over $4 million, that it was reduced to about $2.8 million in the enacted budget, and that the House draft further curtails available funds to roughly $800,000. "We are finding every penny right now to maximize our support for the field," Campbell said, warning the reductions would disrupt hiring and implementation plans for field-facing positions.
The delegation also raised concerns that the House draft diverts some funds from agency appropriations into district grant programs and places new restrictions on how the agency may use appropriated dollars, including limitations that would complicate data visualizations and dashboards the agency uses to provide transparency to districts. Deputy CFO Sean Ko said one table in the materials shows a related line item totaling roughly $1.44 million; the department said it would provide further detail to the committee.
Education officials described continuing federal uncertainty — including past reversions of ESSER-era funds — and urged the committee to consider the operational risk of shifting program authority. They said their federal outlook is currently for level funding into FY27 but that the state must monitor potential transfers of federal programs between agencies that could affect July 1 drawdowns.
The committee pressed for clarifications on numbers and staffing. The agency reported an operations budget for personnel and contracts of about $42.3 million and described recruitment challenges tied to eight-month limited-service positions; officials said converting certain limited-service roles to permanent positions is integral to sustaining field support.
The agency will present more detail to House Education and offered to return to the Senate with follow-up information. The committee did not take any formal votes during the session; members asked staff for additional budget details and said they would review the department’s submitted materials.
