January 12, 2026
As Congress considers the nation’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget, it is essential that they invest in children, youth, and families by funding the Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) Grant Program at $135 million.
Community Schools are a proven strategy for success in thousands of schools across the country. Impact spans both academic and non-academic outcomes, from higher test scores, decreased chronic absence, stronger school-family-community relationships, to increased access to essential services for students and families. From Evansville Indiana’s Vanderburgh School Corporation, a FSCS grantee that has been implementing the strategy for years to increase the number of students pursuing higher education, decrease expulsion and suspension rates, increase early literacy marks and other general academic scores; to California, where Community Schools have improved test scores in English language arts and math, decreased chronic absence by an average of 30%, and lowered suspensions by an average of 15%. At its core, the Community School strategy is about creating connections – it connects schools to families, families to resources, and communities to opportunities.
In mid December, 19 Full-Service Community School (FSCS) Federal Grant Program grantees received non-continuation letters from the U.S. Department of Education. The appeals process that followed led to one overturned decision in Idaho and several pending lawsuits in Illinois, Maryland, and North Carolina. With several years of funding left, the loss of these funds for both grantees and for the larger education system as a whole will be devastating to the impacted school communities and hundreds of thousands of students collectively.
This congressional appropriations cycle is perhaps the most important one for the future of this federal program. Since this grant program began in 2008, it has expanded to support an increasing number of communities in a diverse range of contexts and geographies. This appropriations cycle must preserve the progress made by programs that utilize this effective strategy. Community Schools make sense – they prioritize local control of schools with family engagement, collaborative leadership, and fiscal responsibility. By aligning community resources and breaking down silos, Community Schools avoid duplication of effort and maximize the impact of every dollar spent. Instead of piecemeal programs that work in isolation, these schools integrate services, creating a multiplier effect that benefits all students, families, and communities.
“Community Schools are not just buildings; they are hubs of opportunity,” shared IEL President Eddie Koen. “They provide real, essential programs and services that many of our students and families rely on. We must send the message to our kids that they are valued, by providing the resources they need to succeed.”
IEL’s Coalition for Community Schools continues to closely monitor FSCS and is mobilizing the field to advocate for continued investment of the program in FY26 budget. We will also continue our outreach to members of Congress to educate them about how they can support grantees. You can make your voice heard too – the time is now to share your story with your representative.