E-Update for March 17, 2017
Highlights
- This E-Update includes information for the weeks of March 13 and 20.
- On March 16, the Trump Administration released its first budget proposal, America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again. The budget proposal includes $59 billion for the U.S. Department of Education (USED) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 and proposes additional funding for school choice programs.
- On March 13, USED released a new template for states to use in submitting their ESSA consolidated plans for federal peer review and approval.
- On March 8 and 9, the Senate passed resolutions to disapprove of two USED regulations under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The Senate passed H.J. Res 57, a resolution to disapprove of USED’s regulations on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)’s accountability and state plans provisions under the CRA by a vote of 50-49 and passed H.J. Res 58, a resolution to disapprove of USED’s regulations on teacher preparation issues under the CRA by a vote of 59-40.
U.S. Congress
Budget and Appropriations:
Trump Administration Releases Budget Proposal: The Trump Administration released its first budget proposal, America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again. The budget proposal provides $59 billion for USED in FY 2018, which is a cut of 13.5% below current levels. The proposal includes $1.4 billion in additional funding for school choice programs, including $168 million for charter schools, a $250 million new private school choice program, and a $1 billion increase for Title I that is focused on encouraging districts to adopt public school choice systems. The proposal also maintains funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs, but eliminates funding for Title II and 21st Century Community Learning Centers. Regarding higher education, the budget proposal maintains funding for the Pell Grant Program, but proposes a $3.9 billion reduction from the Pell Grant surplus, decreases the Federal Work-Study program, and eliminates funding for Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro’s (D-CT) statement on the budget can be found here. Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray’s (D-WA) statement is available here and USED Secretary Betsy DeVos’s statement here.
March 16, 2017
House:
House LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee Holds Hearings on Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Appropriations: In the past two weeks, the House LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee has held a number of hearings in preparation for drafting the FY 2018 LHHS Appropriations bill. The hearings include:
- “Investing in the Future – Early Childhood Education Programs at the Department of Health and Human Services,” which focused on the importance of early childhood education for children’s future academic achievement and for breaking the cycle of poverty. Video recording and witness testimony can be found here.
- “Management Challenges at the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and the Social Security Administration: Views from the Inspectors General,” during which USED Inspector General Kathleen Tighe’s testimony focused on the rate of improper payments for the Direct Loan Program and Federal Pell Grant Program and the monitoring and oversight challenges that USED faces. More information can be found here.
- Public Witness Day, during which members heard from a variety of witnesses on topics including, high-quality early childhood education, the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) initiative, federal TRIO programs, federal student aid, and computer science education. More information can be found here.
March 2017
House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee Holds Hearing on MIECHV: The House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the reauthorization of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. During the hearing, Chairman of the Subcommittee Adrian Smith (R-NE) spoke about the importance of holding home visiting models accountable for demonstrating positive outcomes for children and mothers. Video recording and witness testimony can be found here. Chairman Smith’s opening statement is available here and Ranking Member Danny Davis’s (D-IL) opening statement here.
March 15, 2017
House Oversight Committee Approves the SOAR Act: The House Oversight Committee approved H.R. 1387, a bill to reauthorize the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act, on a voice vote. The bill was introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and would expand the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. The bill text can be found here.
March 10, 2017
Senate:
Senate LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee Holds Hearing on STEM Education: The Senate LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing entitled, “STEM Education: Preparing Students for the Careers of Today and the Future.” During the hearing, Chairman of the Subcommittee Roy Blunt (R-MO) spoke about the importance of STEM education, from preschool through college, and highlighted the need to better prepare teachers and promote diversity in STEM. Video recording and witness testimony can be found here.
March 15, 2017
Democratic Senators Send Letter to USED Inspector General Requesting an Investigation: Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sent a letter to USED Inspector General Kathleen Tighe requesting an Inspector General investigation into USED’s decision to delay implementation deadlines for schools to comply with certain requirements under USED’s gainful employment rule. USED announced this decision through a Federal Register notice on March 10, which set July 1 as the deadline for which higher education institutions have to submit an alternate earnings appeal and comply with disclosure requirements in the regulations. The Federal Register notice can be found here.
March 13, 2017
House and Senate:
Democratic and Republican Members Send Letter to USED on FAFSA Tool: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), and House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) sent a letter to USED Secretary Betsy DeVos to request additional information about the cause and scope of the outage of the Internal Revenue Services’ Data Retrieval Tool, which is used to assist students with filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). On March 9, USED and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that the IRS Data Retrieval tool on fafsa.org and StudentLoans.gov will be unavailable for several weeks as the Departments work to address data security issues with the tool. In their letter, the members expressed concern that the outage would discourage students from applying for federal financial aid. The letter can be found here and a press release about the outage can be found here.
March 16, 2017
Regulations:
Senate Passes Resolution to Disapprove of ESSA Accountability and State Plan Regulations: The Senate passed H.J. Res 57, a resolution to disapprove of USED’s regulations on ESSA’s accountability and state plans provisions under the CRA by a vote of 50-49. The vote was along party lines with the exception of Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) who opposed the resolution. Senate Republicans’ statement can be found here. Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray’s (D-WA) statement is available here. House Committee on Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott’s (D-VA) statement can be found here and House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Ranking Member Jared Polis’s (D-CO) statement here.
March 9, 2017
Senate Passes Resolution to Disapprove of USED’s Teacher Preparation Issues Regulations: The Senate passed H.J. Res 58, a resolution to disapprove of USED’s regulations on teacher preparation issues under the CRA by a vote of 59-40. In a statement after the vote, HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said, “Overturning this regulation says that states – not a distant department in Washington, D.C.—are responsible for evaluating whether a college’s program gives teachers the skills they need to help their students learn.” Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) and HELP Committee Chairman Alexander’s statement can be found here.
March 8, 2017
Administration
White House:
President Trump Holds Discussion on Vocational Training: President Donald Trump will lead a roundtable discussion on vocational training in conjunction with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit. The roundtable attendees will include U.S. and German business leaders.
March 17, 2017
U.S. Department of Education:
USED Releases New ESSA Consolidated State Plan Template: USED released a new template for states to use in submitting their ESSA consolidated plans for federal peer review and approval. The first deadline for states to submit their plans is April 3. A regular clearance process for the information collection is also being initiated through the Federal Register, which allows interested persons to submit comments on or before May 12, 2017. The new template can be found here and the Federal Register notice is available here. After the announcement, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Chairman of the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Todd Rokita (R-IN) released a joint statement, which can be found here. Additionally, Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) and House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) released a statement that is available here
March 13, 2017
USED Rescinds Guidance on Collection Fees for Defaulted Borrowers: USED’s Office of Postsecondary Education announced the decision to rescind guidance from the Obama Administration that prevented guaranty agencies from imposing collection fees on defaulted borrowers who quickly begin repaying their loans. The letter notes that the guidance “would have benefited from public input” and thus the Department will not set forth new guidance on the subject without a public comment period. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici’s (D-OR) statement on the announcement can be found here.
March 16, 2017
Upcoming Events
- On March 21, the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development will hold a hearing entitled, “Improving Federal Student Aid to Better Meet the Needs of Students” at 10:00 am. This hearing was previously announced for March 15, but was postponed. More information here.
Publications
RFA and CCSSO Release ESSA Guide for States: Results for America (RFA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released “Leverage Points,” a guide for states which details the opportunities in ESSA to use data, evidence, and continuous improvement to advance outcomes for students.
March 9, 2017
IHEP and APLU Release Case Studies on Data Use: The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) and the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU) released a series of case studies from leading higher education institutions, which focus on their use of student-level data to drive progress. The case studies describe how these institutions turned the data into actionable information that helped improve student decisions and outcomes.
March 2017
Legislation
S. 553
Court Legal Access and Student Support (CLASS) Act of 2017
Sponsor: Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)
S. 597
A bill to increase Federal Pell Grants for the children of fallen public safety officers, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
S. 601
Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act of 2017
Sponsor: Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)
S. 615
A bill to establish an alternative, outcomes-based process for authorizing innovative, high-quality higher education providers to participate in programs under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Sponsor: Senator Michael F. Bennet (D-CO)
S. 620
A bill to amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to support community college and industry partnerships, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Senator Al Franken (D-MN)
S. 628
A bill to amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 to raise the quality of career and technical education programs and to allow local eligible recipients to use funding to establish high-quality career academies.
Sponsor: Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA)
S. 648
A bill to establish a grant program to promote the development of career education programs in computer science in secondary and postsecondary education.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
S. 653
A bill to amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 to make the maintenance of effort provision less burdensome on States.
Sponsor: Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
S. 660
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational opportunities for Native American Indians.
Sponsor: Cory Gardner (R-CO)
H.Res. 171
A bill expressing support for designation of the week beginning March 5, 2017, as “School Social Work Week”.
Sponsor: Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)
H.R. 1379
A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the entitlement to educational assistance under the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs for members of the Armed Forces awarded the Purple Heart.
Sponsor: Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA)
H.R. 1391
A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide educational and vocational counseling for veterans on campuses of institutions of higher learning, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN)
H.R. 1429
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education to provide students with annual estimates of student loan borrowing costs.
Sponsor: Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN)
H.R. 1432
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to repeal the suspension of eligibility for grants, loans, and work assistance for drug-related offenses.
Sponsor: Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA)
H.R. 1462
A bill to amend part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow States, in accordance with State law, to let Federal funds for the education of disadvantaged children follow low-income children to the public school, charter school, accredited private school, or supplemental educational service program they attend, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ)
H.R. 1474
A bill to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to educational organizations to carry out educational programs about the Holocaust.
Sponsor: Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)
H.R. 1485
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide students with increased flexibility in the use of Federal Pell Grants, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY)
H.R. 1528
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational opportunities for Native American Indians.
Sponsor: Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO)