E-Update for November 11, 2016
Highlights
- On November 8, Donald Trump was elected president. The website for President-elect Trump and information on his education priorities can be found here.
- On November 7, House and Senate Republicans wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Education (USED) Secretary John King urging the withdrawal of USED’s proposed supplement, not supplant regulation.
- On November 4, USED sent its final State Authorization regulations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. Final regulations will likely be released before the end of the Obama Administration.
U.S. Congress
Chairman Alexander Reflects on Implications for Education Regulations under a Trump Presidency: During a conversation with the Chattanooga Rotary in Tennessee, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said that he hoped “the president-elect would review the regulations on healthcare in addition to education and labor that President Obama has put out exceeding legal authority and either repeal them, not enforce them or change them.”
November 11, 2016
Representative Virginia Foxx Announces Decision to Run for Chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee: Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) officially announced that she will run to be Chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee following the retirement of current Chairman John Kline (R-MN). Rep. Foxx has noted that reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) will be two of her top priorities.
November 9, 2016
House and Senate Republicans Urge USED to Withdraw Proposed Supplement, Not Supplant Regulation: 25 Republican members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee and the Senate HELP Committee, including House Committee Chairman Kline and Senate Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), wrote a letter to USED Secretary John King urging the Department to withdraw its proposed supplement, not supplant regulation. The Committee members argued that the regulation violates the intent of Congress and urged USED to instead collaborate with Congress to implement ESSA.
November 7, 2016
Administration
Obama Administration Announces New Measures to Support Veterans’ Access to Education: In honor of Veteran’s Day, President Obama announced a series of new measures to ensure that service members, veterans, and their families have fair access to their Federal education benefits. The new measures include a pilot program to help service members make informed educational choices, a data-sharing agreement to improve transparency and access to information on service member and veteran student outcome measures, including debt levels and student default rates, and the development of a legislative proposal that would ensure that veterans who use the GI Bill for credentialing and licensing tests are fairly charged.
November 11, 2016
USED Announces Highest-Rated i3 Applications: USED announced the highest-rated applications for the 2016 Investing in Innovation (i3) competition. USED will award $103 million to launch and expand evidence-based practices to support educators and improve students’ academic experiences. The grants will be awarded to 15 programs in 10 states.
November 9, 2016
USED’s Office for Civil Rights Announces Agreement with NY School District Regarding Students with Disabilities: USED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has entered into a resolution agreement with a school district in New York (NY) to address problems concerning serving the district’s over 4,000 students with disabilities. As part of the agreement, the district will ensure that students are placed in a regular educational environment unless it is demonstrated that the student cannot be successfully educated in that environment, even with the use of supplementary aids and services.
November 4, 2016
Publications
IES Releases Study on Utah High School Dropouts Who Returned to School: The Institute of Education Sciences’ (IES) Regional Education Laboratory West released a study on the characteristics and education outcomes of Utah high school dropouts who have later returned to school. The study finds that students with certain demographic characteristics were more likely to drop out and less likely to reenroll, such as Black students and English learners.
November 10, 2016
IES Releases Report on Employment and Enrollment Status of Baccalaureate Degree Recipients: IES released a report on the employment and enrollment status of baccalaureate degree recipients one year after graduation. The report includes web tables and analysis of data collected in the first follow-up surveys of three administrations of the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B).
November 3, 2016