E-Update for the Week of July 26, 2021

Highlights:

• On July 23, the White House released a fact sheet on the Biden Administration’s efforts to “advance educational equity.”
• On July 22, USED published the approved plans for five additional states and their proposed use of ARP Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) funding.
• On July 21, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a full Committee vote to advance the nominations of Lisa Brown, who is nominated to serve as U.S. Department of Education (USED) General Counsel, and Roberto Rodriguez, who is nominated to serve as USED Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development.

Biden Administration Transition:

Nominations and Personnel:

HELP Committee advances Brown, Rodriguez nominations for top USED appointments, delay vote on Lhamon’s OCR nomination: The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a full Committee vote to advance the nominations of Lisa Brown, who is nominated to serve as U.S. Department of Education (USED) General Counsel, and Roberto Rodriguez, who is nominated to serve as USED Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development.  The Committee advanced both nominations on voice votes and they will next be considered by the full Senate, but votes have not yet been scheduled.  The Committee was expected to also consider the nomination of Catherine Lhamon, who is nominated to serve as USED Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, but the Committee canceled that vote earlier in the morning of July 21.  According to an article from POLITICO, Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) explained that Lhamon’s nomination was not considered due to scheduling conflicts.  A vote on Lhamon’s nomination has not yet been rescheduled.
July 21, 2021

Budget & Appropriations:

Bipartisan infrastructure package still in development after failed procedural vote, could see additional movement this week: Senate Republicans voted to block the chamber from taking up a bipartisan infrastructure package.  After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) scheduled the procedural vote in the absence of a finished packaged, Senate Republicans argued that more time was needed to reach an agreement on specific issues in the still unwritten bill.  The 49-51 vote marked a setback for Democrats, who hoped for the package’s passage before the August recess; however, members from both parties have signaled they expect at least one more try in the next week.  In a statement, a bipartisan group of 22 senators said they “are optimistic that we will finalize, and be prepared to advance, this historic bipartisan proposal to strengthen America’s infrastructure and create good-paying jobs in the coming days.”
July 21, 2021

Coronavirus Updates (as related to education): 

U.S. Department of Education (USED):

USED offers guidance on how schools, colleges can improve ventilation systems using ARP funds: USED released a resource to support schools and institutions of higher education improve their ventilation systems to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The resource outlines how American Rescue Plan (ARP) Funds, as well as previous rounds of relief funding, can be used to improve indoor air quality, including the inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, and upgrading of projects in school facilities. According to the Department, the resource is part of USED’s efforts to support schools “as they prepare to welcome students back to in-person learning this fall and build back better.” A press release is here, and the resource is here.
July 23, 2021

USED approves 5 more state ARP ESSER plans, bringing total to 17 approved plans: USED published the approved plans for five additional states and their proposed use of ARP Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) funding.  With the approval of New Mexico, Iowa, Georgia, Delaware, and Kansas, 17 states have now received both tranches of their ARP ESSER fund allocations. The remaining states will receive their remaining funds once the Department receives and approves their state plan.  A list of all approved states and their plans is here.
July 22, 2021

Non-Coronavirus Updates: 

Administration:

White House outlines efforts to advance educational equity: The White House released a fact sheet on the Biden Administration’s efforts to “advance educational equity.” In the fact sheet, the White House outlines the investments already made in the ARP, along with the proposed investments in the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget request, the American Jobs Plan, the American Families plan, and the bipartisan infrastructure framework, that aim to address disparities and “build back our schools on a stronger and more equitable foundation.” Specific investments highlighted include $122 billion allocated to states and districts through the ARP’s ESSER Fund; the proposed additional $20 billion in funding for Title I schools, which the White House said could be used to promote competitive teacher pay, amongst other uses; and a proposed $413 increase in funding to full-service community schools. The fact sheet is here.
July 23, 2021

U.S. Department of Education (USED):

OCR guidance outlines minimum requirements under current Title IX regulations, suggests schools and colleges can do more to protect students: The USED Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released a question and answer guidance document to help K-12 schools and institutions of higher education understand their responsibilities under the current Title IX regulations, which were amended by the Trump Administration.  Though the Department is in the midst of a comprehensive review of the current regulations, the document focuses on the most recent regulation changes that were implemented in 2020.  In the document, the Department emphasized that the 2020 amendments “set out the minimum steps that a school must take in response to notice of alleged sexual harassment,” explaining that a school “may take additional actions so long as those actions do not conflict with Title IX or the 2020 amendments.”  The document also clarified that schools could respond to sexual misconduct that does not meet the definition of sexual harassment in the 2020 amendments, as “Title IX is not the exclusive remedy for sexual misconduct or traumatic events that affect students.” The guidance is here.
July 20, 2021

Congress:

House:

Scott, Walsh, Marten partner to emphasize importance of workforce development: House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott hosted a press conference with U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Marty Walsh, USED Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) to discuss the importance of investing in workforce development, particularly in response to the unemployment crisis spurred by the pandemic. “We’re challenging local communities to reinvent middle school and high school to better prepare all students for the future of work,” said Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten. “This $10 billion investment would provide underrepresented students more equitable access to high-quality Career and Technical Education opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and connect those students to career pathways that lead to quality jobs in in-demand sectors.” A press release is here.
July 22, 2021

Senate:

Kaine leads Senate Democrats in calling for greater investments in educator workforce programs: Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and thirteen Senate Democrats wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urging the inclusion of $9 billion in funding over ten years to support the educator workforce as part of the pending bipartisan infrastructure legislation or budget reconciliation package. The proposal, which aligns with President Biden’s American Families Plan, would invest in “a well-prepared, diverse, supported, and stable educator workforce” to address widespread teacher shortages that existed before the pandemic. Specific proposals include $2.6 billion for preparation programs through the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program (TQP); $400 million for Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence; and $900 million to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part D’s personnel preparation program. The full letter is here.
July 20, 2021

Burr argues against new child care, preschool programs, instead calls for greater investments in CCDBG and Head Start: Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-NC) published an op-ed in Roll Call titled, “We already have child care and early education programs that work. Let’s invest in them.” In the piece, Ranking Member Burr advocates for increasing funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Head Start as an effective, bipartisan way to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care.  “[CCDBG] and Head Start are important pillars of child care and early education in the United States and enjoy broad, bipartisan support,” he wrote.  “Congress has the opportunity to help more working families by building on and increasing funding for two already proven and successful programs.”  Burr argues that “Democrats want to see families in a one-size-fits-all system, in which child care decisions are made in Washington instead of at home,” positing that one reason why the two programs have been so popular “is that they allow parents to decide what type of child care is right for their family and their needs.” The op-ed is here.
July 19, 2021

Upcoming Events (Congressional and Administration): 

• On July 27 to 29 at 9:00 am each day, the U.S. Department of Education will hold a meeting of theNational Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). More information and registration are here for the 27^th, here for the 28^th, and here for the 29^th.
• On July 27 at 3:00 pm, the Senate Banking Economic Policy Subcommittee will hold a subcommittee hearing titled,“Protecting Student Loan Borrowers and the Economy in Upcoming Transitions.” No witnesses have yet been announced. The hearing will be livestreamed here.
• On July 28 at 10:15 am, the House Education and Labor Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommitteewill hold a subcommittee hearing titled, “Food for Thought: Examining Federal Nutrition Programs for Young Children and Infants.” No witnesses have yet been announced. The hearing will be livestreamed here.
• On July 29 at 10:15 am, the House Education and Labor Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee will hold a subcommittee hearing titled,“Keeping the Pell Grant Promise: Increasing Enrollment, Supporting Success.” No witnesses have yet been announced.  The hearing will be livestreamed here.

Upcoming Events (Outside Organizations): 

• On July 27 at 2:00 pm, New America will hold an event titled,“Transforming Teacher Preparation To Best Serve Students.” The webinar will examine why transforming teacher preparation must be a national priority now and explore how to make high-quality teacher preparation a sustainable reality through practices and policies at all levels. More information and registration are here.
• On July 27 at 3:00 pm, Education Reform Now will hold an event titled,“Assessments 101: Assessment Types, Their Uses, and Building Balanced Assessment Systems.” The event will discuss the foundational basics of assessments, including the common language used to define the different assessment types. More information and registration are here.
• On July 28 at 1:00 pm,The Hill will hold an event titled, “Latina Leaders Summit.” The event will convene Latina leaders from Congress, government, business, education, healthcare, and advocacy for a high-level discussion on Latina empowerment and progress. More information and registration are here.
• On July 28 at 1:00 pm, the Brookings Institution will hold an event titled,“Improving Labor and Education Data Systems After the COVID-19 Unemployment Crisis.” The event will focus on the need for and approaches to a holistic redesign of the labor and education digital ecosystems. More information and registration are here.
• On July 28 at 2:00 pm, Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU) will hold an event titled,“Borrower Defense: How to Respond to Borrower Defense Claims, Preserve all Applicable Defenses for any Hearing or Litigation, and Engage in Effective Government Relations Strategies.” The event will offer an opportunity to learn about the U.S. Department of Education’s (USED) Borrower Defense Unit, which is actively engaged in investigating over 337,000 borrower defense to repayment claims against at least 266 institutions of higher education. More information and registration are here.

Latest from EducationCounsel:

• Danielle Ewen, Davida McDonald, and Joe Fretwell partnered with New America to publish a new resource titled, “A Toolkit for Effective and Supportive Transitions for Children, Families, and Educators in Fall 2021 and Beyond.” The toolkit provides immediate steps that state and local officials can take to establish effective and supportive transition policies, including the support for collaboration between early childhood education settings and elementary schools. The resource is here.
• Danielle Ewen and Carla Garrett from the Comprehensive Care Network for Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina published a new resource titled, “How Pandemic Relief for K-12 Education Can Support Early Childhood.” The resource offers information about the allowable uses of funds as well as the continued need and multiple opportunities to prioritize early childhood education to ensure the youngest learners and their families are supported and included in all local education planning. The resource is here.

Publications (Administration): 

• On July 19, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report titled“COVID-19: Continued Attention Needed to Enhance Federal Preparedness, Response, Service Delivery, and Program Integrity.” In the report, GAO presented findings from its ongoing monitoring and oversight efforts related to the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Key takeaways include identifying that USED did not create and follow proper guidelines to ensure COVID-19 relief funds were distributed properly, particularly in terms of the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund; that roughly 5.5 percent of higher education institutions that received emergency grants were awarded grants in excess of the amounts allocated to those schools; and that these errors were largely due to time and capacity constraints at the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE). The full report is here.

Publications (Outside Organizations): 

• On July 22, the Brookings Institution published a report titled, “Quick College Credentials: Student Outcomes and Accountability Policy for Short-Term Programs.” The report documents the size and scope of short-term vocational programs, discusses current policies designed to ensure program quality, and explores the implications of alternative accountability policies that regulators might consider. Key findings from the report include identifying that the number of short-term credentialing programs for which students can take out federal student loans for has decreased in recent years, from 730 programs in 2010 to 103 in 2019; that 70 percent of the programs participating are offered by for-profit institutions and nearly half are cosmetology programs; and that despite reporting high completion and job-placement rates, post-college earnings for students graduating from these programs are quite low. The full report is here.
• On July 21, the Education Trust published a report titled,“A Natural Fit: Supporting After-School Staff of Color in Teacher Pipelines.” The report examines the experiences of current and former teacher candidates of color with after-school or out-of-school time (OST) experience to provide insights into how teacher preparation programs and state policymakers can create the right programmatic experiences and conditions to recruit after-school/OST staff into the teaching profession and prepare them for success. Key recommendations for states include arguing that states allocate resources to establish and strengthen recruitment relationships between nontraditional teacher preparation programs and after-school/OST service providers; to adopt statewide guidelines and invest in supports for nontraditional teacher preparation pathways that include teacher licensure test preparation, and at least one year of mentor teacher support and coaching before participants enter the classroom as teachers of record; and to increase investments in scholarships, loan forgiveness opportunities, and tuition reimbursements for teacher candidates with after-school/OST experience. The full report is here.
• On July 20, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) published a fact sheet titled,“Who Would Attend UPK?” The fact sheet estimates how many families will participate if high quality preschool education is offered to all 3- and 4-year-olds at no cost to their families, according to a survey of nearly 800 parents whose children could be eligible for Universal Pre-K (UPK). Key findings include identifying that 80 percent of parents said they would be very or somewhat likely to enroll their children if offered free, high-quality pre-k in the fall; and that only 13 percent of parents said that they were not at all likely to enroll a child. The fact sheet is here.
• On July 19, The Black Education Research Collective (BERC) at Columbia University’s Teachers College published a report titled,“Black Education in the Wake of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism: Toward a Theory of Change & Action.” The report presents findings from a BERC research study conducted to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism have impacted Black education from the perspectives of Black parents, teachers, students, education, and community leaders. Key findings include confirming that the pandemic and systemic racism had a disproportionate and traumatic impact on Black students, families, and communities; that increased racial trauma and mental health issues will have major implications for teaching and learning post-pandemic; and that failed responses to COVID-19, police brutality, and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol have further reduced the Black community’s trust in schools and public institutions. The full report is here.
• On July 19, the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) publishednew data on Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion, finding that students among the class of 2021 completed 4.8 percent fewer FAFSA applications compared to the class of 2020, resulting in a drop of about 102,000 forms. By July 2, an estimated 53.3 percent of the class of 2021 completed a FAFSA, down 2.5 percent from last year, and across the classes of 2020 and 2021, more than a quarter-million fewer seniors completed a FAFSA than we would have expected, due to the pandemic. Additional key takeaways include identifying that schools with higher concentrations of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds saw greater declines in FAFSA completion; and that the data could indicate continued enrollment declines for fall 2021, as last year’s “catastrophic” enrollment declines came on the heels of a smaller FAFSA completion decline. The full report is here.
• On July 19, the Brookings Institution published a report titled,“4-Day School Weeks: Educational Innovation or Detriment?” The report explores the impact of a four-day school week on students’ learning and well-being. Key findings include identifying that while shorter weeks may attract teachers, one can’t expect major cost savings or attendance gains; that maintaining instructional time remains key for mitigating the academic harm of the pandemic; and lost exposure to the school environment can result in more than just achievement losses, including reduced access to school-meal programs and structured social interactions. The full report is here.

Legislation: 

H.R.4533
A bill to amend the General Education Provisions Act to allow the release of education records to facilitate the award of a recognized postsecondary credential.
Sponsor: Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO)

H.R.4596
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education to establish record-management plans in order to be accredited or continue to be accredited, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA)

H.R.4600
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize institutions of higher education to limit the amount of a Federal loan that an enrolled student may borrow.
Sponsor: Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI)

H.R.4607
A bill to prohibit the award of Federal funds to an institution of higher education that hosts or is affiliated with a student-based service site that provides abortion drugs or abortions to students of the institution or to employees of the institution or site, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)

H.R.4631
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reinstate the authority of the Secretary of Education to make Federal Direct Stafford Loans to graduate and professional students.
Sponsor: Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)

H.R.4635
A bill to reverse declining milk consumption in schools.
Sponsor: Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT)

H.R.4646
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for comprehensive student achievement information.
Sponsor: Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT)

H.R.4655
A bill to establish a pilot program to promote public-private partnerships among apprenticeships or other job training programs, local educational agencies or area career and technical education schools, and community colleges, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA)

H.R.4663
A bill to amend the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to provide additional funding for E-rate support for emergency educational connections and devices, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY)

H.R.4666
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to modernize and improve the public service loan forgiveness program, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)

H.R.4667
A bill to provide for temporary emergency impact aid for local educational agencies.
Sponsor: Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY)

S.2379
A bill to amend the General Education Provisions Act to allow the release of education records to facilitate the award of a recognized postsecondary credential.
Sponsor: Senator Mark Warner (D-VA)

S.2399
A bill to provide Federal student loan relief for teachers who work in a military impacted community.
Sponsor: Senator Gary Peters (D-MI)

S.2408
A bill to prohibit the award of Federal funds to an institution of higher education that hosts or is affiliated with a student-based service site that provides abortion drugs or abortions to students of the institution or to employees of the institution or site, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Senator Steve Daines (R-MT)

S.2410
A bill to address and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students.
Sponsor: Senator Bob Casey (D-PA)