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Posts Tagged ‘funding’

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Race to the Top Assessment Competition Announced

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education announced the availability of $350 million in Race to the Top funds to be used for the development of common assessments by consortia of states. The money will be awarded through two separate competitions, a Comprehensive Assessment System grant and a High School Course Assessment grant.

The Comprehensive Assessment Systems grants will provide funding to a consortia of at least 15 states for the development of new assessment systems that measure student knowledge and skills against a common set of college- and career-ready standards in mathematics and English language arts.

The High School Course Assessment grants provide funding to a consortia of at least 5 states for the development of new assessment programs that cover multiple high school courses (which may include courses in core academic subjects and career and technical education courses) and that include a process for certifying the rigor of the assessments in the assessment program and for ensuring that assessments of courses covering similar content have common expectations of rigor. [Emphasis added]. This grant also includes a competitive preference for applications that include CTE:

“To help improve outcomes in career and technical education, we are also establishing a second competitive preference priority for applications that include a high-quality plan to develop, within the grant period and with relevant business community participation and support, assessments for high school courses that comprise a rigorous course of study in career and technical education that is designed to prepare high school students for success on technical certification examinations or for postsecondary education or employment.”

You may recall that the President’s ESEA Blueprint also included plans that would allow states to invest formula funding in CTE assessments.

Grants will be awarded to consortia of states that create assessments that:

Applications are due on June 23, 2010 and winners will be announced in September.  See the Notice Inviting Applications for more information.  The Federal Register notice will be published on Friday April 9, 2010.

By admin in Public Policy
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NASDCTEc Spring Meeting: Perspectives from the Hill

Monday, April 5th, 2010

At last week’s Spring Meeting we heard from the following panelists about what is going on inside the Beltway regarding CTE, community colleges, college and career readiness, common standards, the President’s budget and ESEA:

Regarding the President’s ESEA Blueprint, Congress has concerns about competitive funding, consolidations, and the school turnaround models. They are also likely to look at current law and do what is realistic. There were also many unanswered questions from the Blueprint: How do states define CCR? How does CCSI fit in? When/how to do assessments?

There is an increased focus on high schools because of the emphasis from the Administration and the education community on college and career ready.  CTE has the ability to bring rigor and relevancy to this debate, and it has a track record of meeting students where they are. When asked why the college and career readiness discussion focuses mainly on academics, one panelist stated that Congress stays focused on English Language Arts and Mathematics because that is what is comfortable.

There was also some concern that the government should be funding existing, proven programs, rather than creating new ones.  Later, during the Q&A portion when the panel was asked why Perkins is frozen in the budget if there is so much focus on college and career readiness, one of the panelists pointed out that presidents and Congress prefer to create new programs. For this reason, it is important that there be Congressional champions of CTE who will fight for Perkins funding and make CTE a priority.

While Perkins is frozen in the budget, there is some additional funding for community colleges through the Trade Adjustment Assistance program.  Jill Biden is also hosting a community college summit in the fall, which CTE should make sure they are a part of.

By admin in Public Policy
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Delaware and Tennessee Awarded First Round Race to the Top Grants

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that Delaware and Tennessee won grants in the first phase of the Race to the Top competition.  Delaware will receive approximately $100 million and Tennessee will receive $500 million over the next four years to implement their reform plans.

The winning states included plans for plans such as tying teacher evaluation to student performance, charter schools and STEM. They also received approval of their applications from every school district in their states, and got support from nearly all of their teachers’ unions.

The Department will have about $3.4 billion available for the second phase of the Race to the Top competition.

By admin in Public Policy
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President Signs Reconciliation Bill at Community College

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Today, President Obama signed H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 at Northern Virginia Community College’s (NOVA) Alexandria campus. Dr. Jill Biden, the Second Lady and professor at NOVA introduced the President.

The new law invests $2 billion in new competitive career training grants, available to community colleges. The law also provides $36 billion over 10 years for Pell Grants, which will increase the maximum annual Pell Grant amount to $5,500 this year and to $5,975 by 2017.  There was also $2.55 billion available to historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions and $750 million for College Access Challenge Grants.

In his speech, President Obama said “We need to invest in our community colleges.  We need to invest in the future of this country.  We need to meet the goal I set last year and graduate more of our students than any other nation by the year 2020.”

President Obama also said, “And because community colleges like NOVA are so essential to a competitive workforce, I’ve asked your outstanding professor, Dr. Jill Biden…to host a summit on community colleges at the White House this fall.  And we’re going to bring everybody together, from educators to students, experts to business leaders.  We are going to bring everybody together to share innovative ideas about how we can help students earn degrees and credentials, and to forge private sector partnerships so we can better prepare America’s workforce and America’s workers to succeed in the 21st century.”

The White House released a fact sheet on the Community College and Career Training Grant program. President Obama’s and Dr. Biden’s remarks can also be found online.

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy
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Legislative Update: Reconciliation Bill, WIA Summer Youth Funding, Health Care Training Grants

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Reconciliation Passes, Awaits President’s Signature

The House passed the reconciliation bill last night by a 220-207 vote. The amendment bill, which included the fixes made to the Senate version of the bill, will now go to President Obama for his signature.  This bill includes $2 billion in funding through the Community College and Career Training Grant Program for community colleges to support education and training programs for dislocated workers and unemployed workers. The program will be competitive, but each state will be guaranteed .5% of the total funding, which totals $2.5 million per state.

Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act

This week the House passed the H.R. 4899, Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act by a vote of 239-175.  The bill would provide an additional $600 million to the states in Workforce Investment Act funding for youth activities, available exclusively to support summer jobs. While the bill still needs to go to the Senate for consideration, the WIA funding has the full support of the White House which issued a Statement of Administrative Policy stressing the importance of providing summer employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

Health Care Bill Includes Training Grants

The health care bill, H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, includes several grants to provide money for training in the health care field:

By admin in Legislation
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Obama Visits Georgia Technical College to Unveil $6 Billion Energy-Saving Proposal

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

President Barack Obama visited Savannah Technical College in Savannah, Georgia today where he toured the college and spoke to students participating in the Savannah YouthBuild program, which puts at-risk students through a combined GED/construction program. After the tour, the president announced a $6 billion proposal to help retrofit homes to save energy. The goal of the plan is to reduce energy usage by at least 20 percent.

Under the “Home Star” plan, homeowners would receive rebates of $1,000 or more to upgrade windows, doors heating, air conditioning, roofing and other household features. White House officials said that the administration hopes 2 million to 3 million homes will be retrofitted under the proposal. The proposal could potentially create thousands of jobs for unemployed workers hit hard by the recession. Obama wants the program included in a jobs package being drafted by Congress.

By admin in Public Policy
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ROI Programs Demonstrate Value, Await Funding

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

More than ever before government leaders are scrutinizing their investments and tying funding to programs that demonstrate a return on investment (ROI), even in the areas of education. A new flow of federal monies will be allocated selectively to programs that can or have the potential to provide the most bang for the buck. But before government leaders scour for new programs to invest in, a recent article on Forbes.com warns them not to overlook existing programs that have a history of delivering a positive return.

The article, Risking America’s Return on Investment, focuses on the effectiveness of federal TRIO programs, which are dedicated to assisting low-income students to succeed in college. However, the message can also apply to the many career technical education (CTE) programs under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which has helped serve the same student demographic and shares a range of success stories. Like TRIO, Perkins funding has remained stagnant for too many years.

Arnold L. Mitchem, President of the Council for Opportunity in Education and author of the article, praises leaders such as President Obama for supporting education funding and seeking a range of avenues for achieving ROI, but notes a risk.

“It’s a good and noble idea, but our country is at risk of having a negative ROI if it fails to invest in programs that have proven records of helping historically disadvantaged students succeed,” Mitchem said.

NASDCTEc recently published Return on Investment in CTE, which highlights programs in three states – Oklahoma, Tennessee and Washington – that have data indicating students in their programs earn higher wages than their non CTE peers, contribute more to their state in tax revenue, and have better postsecondary outcomes.

Quality CTE programs have a record of providing a ROI and it is only appropriate that government leaders consider the longstanding existing programs when shopping for worthy programs to fund.

By admin in Public Policy
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President Urges Investment in Skills and Education in State of Union Address

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

In a State of the Union address that focused mainly on the economy, President Obama outlined measures already taken by his administration – ARRA, bank bailouts, unemployment benefits – and those he wishes to undertake in the coming year to address the financial crisis.  In calling for a new jobs bill, the president said that jobs must be the number one focus of 2010.

As countries like China and Germany are revamping their economies and rebuilding their infrastructures, President Obama declared, “I do not accept second place for the United States of America.”  To that end, the president urged a greater investment in the skills and education of Americans.  Among the proposed and existing initiatives in that area:

Regarding the community college bill that has already passed the House, the president said: “Still, in this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families.”

As we told you yesterday, President Obama proposed freezing all non-security federal discretionary spending for three years as part of his plan to reduce the deficit.  He said the administration will invest in what the country needs and cut what we don’t need, promising to use his veto power if necessary.

By admin in Public Policy
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Return on Investment Advocacy Tool

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

State and federal policymakers are making tough decisions on where to direct scarce funding, but outcomes of some studies suggest that CTE is a wise choice if they are seeking a positive return on investment.

Check out our latest leave behind about the return on investment in CTE that we will use to inform legislators and their staff on the Hill about financial benefits to the government, the individual, and the economy.  You can access a copy of it here.  This leave behind highlights return on investment studies conducted in the three states — Oklahoma,  Tennessee, and Washington.

Please feel free to use this document to inform policymakers and legislators in your state about the benefits of CTE!

By admin in Advance CTE Resources, Publications
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White House To Propose Three-Year Non-Discretionary Spending Freeze

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

President Obama is expected to announce in tomorrow night’s State of the Union Address that he will propose in his fiscal year 2011 budget freezing all non-security federal discretionary spending for three years in an effort to reduce the $1.4 trillion deficit.

While details have not been released by the White House, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that all discretionary spending not related to the military, veterans, homeland security and international affairs will be subject to the freeze. The limits will not be imposed across the board, however. Some areas would see cuts while others, including education and job creation programs, may see increases. Such a freeze is estimated to save $250 billion over ten years.

The specific details of the proposed freeze will be officially unveiled on Monday, February 1 when the President publicly releases his fiscal year 2011 budget.

By admin in Public Policy
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