FY 2026 Funding Signed.  What It Means
for Your Program

Federal Budget

FY 2026 Omnibus Signed: $79 Billion in Education Funding. Here Is What Survived.

21st CCLC Preserved at $1.329 Billion

For 21st CCLC grantees, this means your current funding cycle is secure and renewal applications can proceed with confidence. State education agencies will be releasing updated guidance on the 2026-27 grant cycle in the coming weeks. Watch for those notices and review your program's performance data now, before the application window opens.

Other Title Funding: What Changed

Title I funding was maintained at current levels with a small inflation-adjusted reduction. Title II teacher quality funding saw a modest cut of approximately 3%. Title IV-A Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants, which many afterschool programs draw on as a supplemental source, were maintained.

The child care funding situation is more complex. The Child Care and Development Block Grant received a nominal appropriation, but the discretionary freeze embedded in the omnibus package limits states' ability to expand child care slots in FY 2026. Programs that rely on CCDBG subsidies to fund families should review their current agreements with state agencies and understand what any enrollment growth will require.

Quick Hits

Child Care Funding Freeze: What Programs Need to Know

The child care provisions in the omnibus received less attention than K-12 line items but affect a significant number of programs that serve school-age children. Three things worth tracking:

• CCDBG subsidy reimbursement rates are frozen at FY 2025 levels. Programs that have not reviewed their subsidy agreements recently may be absorbing real cost increases without corresponding reimbursement increases.

• Head Start received a 2% increase, maintaining approximately 833,000 enrollment slots nationally. Programs that coordinate with Head Start for K-3 transitions should confirm any changes with their local grantee.

• The Pre-K Improvement grants under Preschool Development Grants received level funding. State-administered programs operating under PDG should confirm with their state agency whether grant cycles are affected.

Data Your Program Needs

New Absenteeism Report: The Connection Afterschool Programs Can No Longer Ignore

The Department of Education released updated chronic absenteeism data in late February. The national picture remains concerning: 28% of K-12 students meet the threshold for chronic absenteeism, with rates significantly higher in high-poverty districts, rural schools, and schools serving large proportions of English learners.

The practical implication for program directors is this: your attendance data is a policy-relevant asset right now. If you can show that your program is associated with improved school-day attendance rates, that is a powerful argument for sustained funding, expanded access, and school-day partnership resources.

If your program does not currently collect or analyze data on school-day attendance for participants, this is the year to build that capability. The data infrastructure is not complex, but it does require a data sharing agreement with the school or district, which is worth pursuing now before summer.

Action Item

The Summer Staffing Window Is Shorter Than You Think. Here Is Your Free Guide.

With FY 2026 funding now confirmed, programs that have been holding summer staffing decisions pending budget clarity can move. That is good news, but it also means the window for competitive hiring is compressed. Programs that waited will be competing for the same candidates as programs that started in January.

Three staffing priorities for March and April:

Confirm your summer leadership team first. Site directors, program coordinators, and lead counselors drive summer program quality more than any other single variable. Fill those roles before you focus on line staff.

Build a pipeline, not just a posting. Job boards and posting-only approaches consistently underperform for summer positions. The most effective programs treat summer hiring as a year-round relationship, not a spring transaction.

Use the staffing guide before you post a single position. GSW Education Partners offers a free Summer Staffing Guide for program directors that covers role design, compensation benchmarking, interview frameworks, and onboarding timelines.

Dates to Watch

March and April Deadlines for Program Leaders

• MAR

  15
  State 21st CCLC Guidance Expected

  Most state education agencies will release updated 21st CCLC guidance and program year announcements by mid-March. Check your state agency's website and confirm your program's compliance status before this date.

• MAR

  28
  Federal Title Programs Q3 Reporting

  Q3 federal program reports are due for most districts on a standard fiscal calendar. Confirm your state's specific deadlines and begin data compilation now if you have not started.

• APR

  1
  Summer Staffing Competitive Window Opens

  Most afterschool and summer programs target April 1 as the start of competitive summer hiring. Programs that have not begun pipeline work by this date will face a compressed candidate pool for quality positions.

• APR

  15
  Summer Program Enrollment Should Be Open

  For programs serving high-need families, enrollment should be open no later than mid-April. Families need time to make childcare arrangements, and late enrollment often means lower overall participation, particularly among the families with the most barriers.

• MAY

  1
  Summer Budget Finalizations

  Districts operating summer programs on grant funding should have final budgets and staffing plans confirmed by May 1 to allow adequate onboarding time for summer staff.

Sources and Further Reading

Citations for This Edition

• FY 2026 Omnibus Spending Package, U.S. Congress. Signed February 28, 2026
• 21st CCLC Appropriations History, Afterschool Alliance: afterschoolalliance.org/policyFunding.cfm
• National Center for Education Statistics, Chronic Absenteeism Data 2025: nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/ia1
• Department of Education Chronic Absenteeism Report, February 2026: ed.gov/chronic-absenteeism
• Child Care and Development Block Grant Overview, Office of Child Care: acf.hhs.gov/ohs/head-start
• Summer Learning Loss Research Summary, RAND Corporation: rand.org/summer-learning
• Head Start Program Facts, Administration for Children and Families: acf.hhs.gov/ohs/head-start

From Our Team

Where We Are Focusing in March

Budget clarity and staffing season running simultaneously is a hard combination for district and program leaders to manage. We have been in this space long enough to know that the programs that come out of spring in the best shape are the ones that treat March as a decision month, not a waiting month.

If you have questions about what the FY 2026 numbers mean for your specific program, or if you want to talk through your summer staffing plan, reach us at contact@gsweducationpartners.com. We are available for a quick call and genuinely happy to help you think it through.