E-Update for the Week of July 15, 2019

Highlights:

• On July 11, the Senate confirmed Robert King as U.S. Department of Education (USED) Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education. The Senate confirmed King with a 56-37 vote, with seven members not voting.
• On July 11, President Donald Trump announced he would no longer be pursuing the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The president had previously been exploring options to add the question to the Census after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his attempts were not justified and ordered lower courts to reconsider the addition. Instead of including a question on the Census, the president issued an Executive Order requiring all federal departments and agencies to provide the U.S. Department of Commerce all requested records regarding the number of citizens and non-citizens in the United States.
• On July 2, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) sent a letter to USED Secretary DeVos arguing that the Department has the legal obligation to provide special education services to immigrant children currently being held in custody at the southern United States border.

Budget and Appropriations:

Impending debt ceiling breach sparks budget talks between Congress, White House: This week, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) continued conversations around the need to increase the debt ceiling and to reach an agreement on overall discretionary spending levels. The discussions were spurred by a report from the Bipartisan Policy Center that the debt ceiling will need to be lifted earlier than expected, possibly as early as mid-September. This new deadline is significant as Congress is scheduled to be in recess beginning July 29 through the first week of September meaning that there would be limited time to act. Given this, the White House and Republicans, as well as Speaker Pelosi, have stated that they would like to address increasing the debt ceiling prior to the recess, with both sides recognizing that an agreement to increase the debt ceiling will likely also require an agreement to be reached around overall discretionary spending levels; however, it will still be a challenge to reach an agreement on overall discretionary spending levels in that time frame.  Separately, the White House continued meetings this week with House and Senate Republican leadership in an effort to agree on a Republican offer on overall discretionary spending levels. The full Bipartisan Policy Center report is here.

Congress:

Senate:

USED higher education nominee finally confirmed by Senate: The Senate confirmed Robert King as U.S. Department of Education (USED) Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education. The Senate confirmed King with a 56-37 vote, with seven members not voting. All Republicans voted in favor of King’s confirmation, with Senators Doug Jones (D-AL), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) also joining in support. In response to his confirmation, USED Secretary Betsy DeVos stated, “We are excited to finally have Bob King confirmed by the Senate. His knowledge and expertise will be a tremendous asset as we continue to rethink higher education in order to better serve all students and prepare them for successful lives and careers.” The full Senate roll call vote is here. Secretary DeVos’s full statement is here.
July 11, 2019

House:

Bonamici requests more information on USED Federal Work Study experiment: On July 5, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) sent a letter to USED Secretary DeVos regarding the Department’s recent announcement of an experimental Federal Work Study site. The Department previously announced it would be exploring the expansion of Federal Work Study to include more private businesses. Rep. Bonamici, in her letter, wrote, “We agree that the Federal Work-Study program is in need of significant reform, but the Department’s proposal will remove statutory guardrails from the program and will allow federal financial aid to flow to private employers without needed transparency.” Rep. Bonamici requested that the Department provide more information about how the experimental site will be evaluated and monitored. The full letter is here. A press release is here.
July 5, 2019

Scott to DeVos – IDEA requires states to provide services to migrant children in custody: House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) sent a letter to USED Secretary DeVos arguing that the Department has the legal obligation to provide special education services to immigrant children currently being held in custody at the southern United States border. The Chairman argued that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) “child find” requirement, which obligates states to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities in need of early intervention or of services, applies to all minors, regardless of citizenship status. “If a state is forced to wait until immigrant children with disabilities are released into the local community then the amount of those compensatory education services is likely to be significantly higher. These children may very well also have a cause of action against the states for failing to uphold their IDEA obligations,” wrote the Chairman. A POLITICO article is here.
July 2, 2019

Administration:

White House:

President drops attempts to add Citizenship question to 2020 Census: President Donald Trump announced he would no longer be pursuing the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The president had previously been exploring options to add the question to the Census after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Administration’s attempts were not justified and ordered lower courts to reconsider the addition. Instead of including a question on the Census, the president issued an Executive Order requiring all federal departments and agencies to provide the U.S. Department of Commerce all requested records regarding the number of citizens and non-citizens in the United States. “They must furnish all legally accessible records in their possession immediately,” stated the president. The president’s full remarks are here. The Executive Order is here.
July 11, 2019

OMB reviewing public charge proposed rule: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) received a proposed rule from the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the Administration’s intention to redefine “public charge” for purposes of inadmissibility as related to immigration status. Public charge refers to whether a person is likely to be dependent on certain public benefits programs. The Department had previously published a notice of proposed rulemaking on public charge in which it sought to expand the public benefits programs that would be included when determining an immigrant’s admissibility and their likely reliability on public assistance programs. The proposed rule elicited more than 260,000 public comments. It is likely that that OMB will finalize its review of the proposed rule within 30 to 60 days before releasing publicly in the Federal Register.
July 3, 2019 

U.S. Department of Education (USED):

DeVos cites success in closing OCR complaints faster than Obama administration:  USED published a statement after the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released data on the completion of civil rights complaints. According to OCR data, the Department has, on average, resolved almost double the number of complaints per year compared to the prior eight fiscal years. “The backlog of cases we inherited should have troubled everyone, as we know justice delayed is justice denied. While many have tried to distort the nature of our approach, the numbers don’t lie. Our approach has been more effective at supporting students and delivering meaningful results,” stated USED Secretary DeVos. In fiscal year (FY) 2018, OCR received 12,435 complaints with 7,019 pending, and the Department resolved 14,074 cases. The full data from OCR is here.
July 10, 2019 

Publications (Congressional and Administration):

• On July 10, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a report titled, “Baccalaureate and Beyond: A First Look at the Employment and Educational Experiences of College Graduates, 1 Year Later.” The report examines outcomes (e.g. degree completion time, amount borrowed, employment status, earnings, etc.) for individuals who earned their bachelor’s degree in the 2015-2016 academic year. Key findings of the report include identifying that there was an increase in the number of students who graduated from for-profit colleges, increasing from 4.6 percent in 2008 to 6 percent in 2016; that of those who graduated for-profit colleges, 85 percent had to borrow in order to pay tuition, whereas only 65 percent of students who attended public colleges had to borrow; and that for-profit college graduates had, on average, higher student loan debt compared to public college graduates ($43,600 compared to $27,900). The full report is here.
• On July 9, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a report titled, “Trends in Ratio of Pell Grant to Total Price of Attendance and Federal Loan Receipt.” The report examines cost of postsecondary attendance between academic years (AY) 2004 and 2016, and how much of that cost is covered by federal assistance. Key findings of the report include identifying that more than 60 percent of Pell Grant recipients also received federal student loans to cover the remaining balance of their tuition; that Pell Grants covered more of the total price of attendance for students at public 2-year institutions compared to all other institutions; and that Pell Grant recipients at public 2-year institutions received fewer federal student loans compared to other institutions. The full report is here.

Publications (Outside Organizations):

• On July 11, iNACOL released a report titled, “Modernizing the Teaching Workforce for Learner-Centered, Competency-Based, Equity-Oriented Education: State Policy Recommendations.” The report summarizes state opportunities to improve teacher development and how they can respond to the need for competency-based, student-centered approaches. Key recommendations from the report include suggesting that states convene a task force to craft a unifying vision and roadmap; increase the diversity of the educator workforce; prepare teachers for learner-centered, competency-based, equity-oriented education; redesign teacher licensure and credentialing; and build balanced systems of assessments that enable learner-centered, competency-based, equity-oriented teaching. The full report is here.
• On July 9, the Center for American Progress (CAP) released a report titled, “Student Debt: An Overlooked Barrier to Increasing Teacher Diversity.” The report examines student loan debt of teachers across the country, particularly that of Black and Latinx teachers. Key findings of the report include identifying that compared to their White peers, Black and Latinx students in teacher preparation programs are more likely to borrow federal loans; that the amount of average student loan debt for Black teachers increased between 2008 and 2012, whereas all other groups stayed the same or decreased; and that Black and Latinx teachers borrowed more in federal loans compared to White teachers. The full report is here.

Upcoming Events (Congressional and Administration):

• On July 16 at 10:15am, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment will hold a hearing titled, “Scaling Up Apprenticeships: Building on the Success of International Apprenticeship Models.” No witnesses have been announced yet. It is likely the Democratic majority will focus on the need for robust federal oversight and recent actions by the U.S. Department of Labor to expand apprenticeships. More information will be posted here.
• On July 16 at 2:00pm, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services will hold a hearing titled, “Strengthening Federal Support to End Youth Homelessness.” No witnesses have been announced yet. More information will be posted here.
• On July 17 at 10:15am, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education and the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment will hold a joint-hearing titled, “Educating our Educators: How Federal Policy Can Better Support Teachers and School Leaders.” It is likely that Democrats will focus on federal programs such as Title II of the Higher Education Act need more robust federal investment to expand their impacts. More information will be posted here.

Upcoming Events (Outside Organizations):

• On July 15 at 4:15pm, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Third Way are hosting an event titled, “Promoting accountability in higher education: Finding common ground.” The panel discussion will attempt to find commonalities between Republicans and Democrats as to how higher education institutions can be held more accountable for the outcomes of their students. More information and registration are here.
• On July 17 at 4:00pm, AEI is holding an event titled, “Practical perspectives on ‘A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty’.” The panel discussion will focus on a recent National Academies of Sciences report on how child poverty can be reduced in the United States. More information and registration are here.
• On July 18 at 3:30pm, AEI is holding an event titled, “Identifying pathways to prosperity: Insights from a new state-by-state index.” The panel discussion will focus on the recent launch of the Legatum Institute’s “US Prosperity Index” which evaluates the health, education, and safety of state citizens to determine their “prosperity.” More information and registration are here.

Legislation:

H.R.3647
A bill to provide temporary impact aid construction grants to eligible local educational agencies, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. TJ Cox (D-CA)

H.R.3659
A bill to establish an Anti-Bullying Roundtable to study bullying in elementary and secondary schools in the United States, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Max Rose (D-NY)

H.R.3662
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that student borrowers are provided relief from their student loans in the instance of substantial misrepresentation or omission by an institution of higher education.
Sponsor: Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA)

H.R.3667
A bill to create a new Federal grant program that provides grants to State libraries to allow schools with summer lunch programs to keep their libraries open for student use during the summer months.
Sponsor: Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY)

H.R.3674
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to eliminate origination fees for Federal Direct Loans.
Sponsor: Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA)

H.R.3692
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide greater access to higher education for America’s students, to eliminate educational barriers for participation in a public service career, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA)

H.R.3718
A bill to address food and housing insecurity on college campuses.
Sponsor: Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT)

S.2070
A bill to create a new Federal grant program that provides grants to State libraries to allow schools with summer lunch programs to keep their libraries open for student use during the summer months.
Sponsor: Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)

S.2085
A bill to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to eligible entities to carry out educational programs about the Holocaust, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)