§3331 Administrative Provisions

Summary

Federal adult education money must add to, not replace, state or local spending on adult education and literacy. To get federal funds, the Secretary checks an agency’s spending. The agency’s spending per student or total spending in the second year before must be at least 90 percent of what it spent in the third year before. If spending falls, the Secretary figures out how much it dropped and reduces the federal payment by the smaller of the percentage drops (using per-student or total spending). Capital costs and one-time project costs are left out of these calculations. If the federal amount for the program drops from one year to the next, the spending test is lowered by the same percent. The Secretary can waive the rule for no more than 1 fiscal year for emergencies like a natural disaster or a sudden loss of state funds, and a waiver won’t lower the required level in the following year.