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Legislative Update: ED Proposes New Gainful Employment Rule While Debt Limit Impasse Continues

Friday, May 19th, 2023

This week top congressional leaders continued to try and find consensus on the need to raise the nation’s statutory borrowing authority, while lawmakers in the House examined recent congressional budget requests from the Biden administration for the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Elsewhere, ED has proposed new rules for certain postsecondary programs and new priorities for competitive grants for Career Technical Education (CTE). 

Debt Limit Deadline Nears 

For the last few weeks, congressional leaders and President Biden have been intensely debating whether and how to raise the nation’s statutory borrowing authority, known informally as the debt limit or debt ceiling. Current forecasts estimate that the federal government will breach this borrowing authority—which is intended to pay for debts Congress has already incurred—in early June. Failure to raise the debt limit would have catastrophic consequences for the nation’s economy. This week, lawmakers continued to meet and negotiate but have made little progress.

More recently, these discussions have been limited to senior staff representing the Biden administration and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy—a development that has been widely viewed to mean that these discussions are narrowing a potential set of issues that could compose a compromise. These issues reportedly include a number of Republican priorities including permitting reform, work requirements for social safety net programs and, of particular note for the CTE community, potential caps on the overall size of the federal budget for the next several years. As shared previously, House Republicans are insisting on concessions from Democrats on these topics in exchange for raising the debt limit. As of this writing, these discussions remain extremely fluid.

Advance CTE is closely monitoring this situation and related developments, particularly for the potential impacts it may have on CTE and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V). 

Secretary Cardona Testifies in the House

On Tuesday, May 16, the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing examining the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) federal fiscal year 2024 (FY24) budget request and related priorities. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona testified before the panel regarding a wide range of topics including recently proposed Title IX rules, critical race theory, parent’s rights and many other hot-button education issues. While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle disagreed on many of these issues, the need to reform postsecondary financial aid policies– primarily by expanding federal Pell Grant eligibility for shorter-term, high-quality postsecondary CTE programs– was a rare area of agreement which was also echoed by Secretary Cardona. Advance CTE has also long championed legislation that would achieve this. 

During the hearing, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) highlighted a recent visit he and Secretary Cardona made to a local CTE high school noting that “. . . they are turning away hundreds of kids who would love to take advantage of the benefit of career and technical education” due to a lack of capacity and related resources. Rep. Courtney highlighted the importance of formula funding for Perkins V, which he noted the administration has proposed to increase by $43 million in FY24. Despite this encouraging aspect of the President’s budget request, ED has also requested $200 million in funding for the creation of a new competitive grant program. Advance CTE and partners have previously shared concerns regarding this proposal, which ED estimates would only serve 32 programs in total, particularly given growing demand for CTE programs across the country. An archived webcast of the hearing, including opening statements, can be found here.

ED Outlines Priorities for Perkins I&M Grants

On Monday, ED published proposed priorities for Perkins V’s Innovation and Modernization (I&M) grant program. Last year, Congress provided an additional $25 million for Perkins V’s I&M account to advance innovative approaches to delivering CTE programs. The priorities proposed by the Department include career advisement and counseling, dual and concurrent enrollment, work-based learning and industry-recognized credentials. These priorities align with ED’s wider “Career Connected High Schools” initiative, which is conceived using these same priority areas. As mentioned elsewhere, ED has been seeking an additional $200 million for this initiative in the ongoing FY24 appropriations process. ED is inviting feedback on these priorities for the next 30 days. More information can be accessed here.

ED Proposes New Gainful Employment Rule 

Earlier today, ED proposed a new and highly-anticipated “gainful employment” (GE) rule as part of a wider package of other postsecondary regulations recently negotiated by the department and other stakeholders last year. The regulations would apply to certain postsecondary career education programs and determine their eligibility for federal student financial aid from Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) based on programs meeting certain performance standards related to graduates’ earnings and ability to pay back student loans. Earlier iterations of this rule were first proposed by the Obama administration over a decade ago and finalized in 2014 which were later rescinded by the Trump administration a few years later after a series of legal challenges. 

This newly proposed GE rule would require certain postsecondary programs to demonstrate that at least half of their graduates earn higher wages than a typical high school graduate in their state within a three-year period. The rule would also apply a debt-to-earnings ratio, similar to previous versions of GE rules, which would require a graduate’s debt to amount to no more than eight percent of a graduate’s overall earnings and no more than 20 percent of their discretionary income. Programs would be evaluated using both of these performance measures and those that fail to meet these thresholds twice within three years, would lose access to federal student aid funding derived from HEA. Based on this current timeline, ED is likely to promulgate a final GE rule by November 1, 2023, which could take effect July 1, 2024.

In addition, ED is also proposing supplementary data collections from all postsecondary institutions and programs, including those not covered by GE, to develop a new website providing learners and families with more information regarding these programs. This proposal is related to a recent request for information from ED earlier this year regarding the potential creation of a list of “low financial value” postsecondary programs. The regulatory package also includes changes to existing ability-to-benefit rules, which govern how learners without a high school diploma can qualify for federal student aid as they pursue postsecondary education. Currently, this rules package is open for public review and feedback until June 20, 2023. 

Steve Voytek, Policy Advisor 

By Jodi Langellotti in Public Policy
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Leveraging Federal and State Talent Pipeline Investments to Achieve a CTE Without Limits

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021

In March 2021, Advance CTE, with the support of over 40 national organizations, released Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits). The shared vision challenges local, state and national CTE practitioners to boldly close equity gaps in educational outcomes and workforce readiness and leverage Career Technical Education (CTE) as a catalyst for ensuring that each learner can achieve success in the career of their choice. 

Advance CTE released Leveraging Federal Investments to Advance a Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education. This new implementation resource will help state CTE leaders fully realize the ability to design a cohesive, flexible and responsive career preparation ecosystem that works across state systems for the full continuum of learners and is aligned to federal and state talent pipeline investments and overall strategies.

Some states have lead the charge in providing promising practices that strategically connect the five vision principles and existing allowable activities under the following funding streams:

PRINCIPLE 3: Each Learner Skillfully Navigates Their Own Career Journey 

The Washington state Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board created Career Bridge as Washington’s one-stop source for career and education planning. With the collaboration of multiple state agencies and supported by braided funding, the site allows the full continuum of learners to explore careers, view job trends and find education.

PRINCIPLE 4: Each Learner’s Skills Are Counted, Valued and Portable

Two- and four-year faculty and administrators from across Colorado came together in 2018 to propose changes to the Credit for Prior Learning policy established in 2015 that guaranteed acceptance of credits earned through Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams and course challenge options when a learner transferred. This group advocated for the inclusion of Prior Learning Assessments such as the College Level Examination Program, DANTES Subject Standardized Tests and portfolio reviews in the transfer agreement. For more information and additional state examples check out, Developing Credit for Prior Learning Policies to Support Postsecondary Attainment for Every Learner. 

Leveraging and focusing the combined influence of the assets provided through the above funding streams will increase a state’s ability to provide the full continuum of learners access to equitable, skills-based education and preparation for the ever-evolving future of work. View more action steps and exemplars by reading the full implementation brief here. 

Brittany Cannady, Senior Associate Digital Media

By admin in CTE Without Limits, Legislation, Resources
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College Affordability Act Released

Wednesday, October 16th, 2019

On October 15, the House Committee on Education and Labor introduced the College Affordability Act (H.R. 4674), the House Democrats’ long-awaited legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA).

Some of the major initiatives of the bill include:

Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) intends this to be a comprehensive reauthorization, in contrast to the recent “mini” HEA reauthorization proposal, The Student Aid Improvement Act, introduced by Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN).

Advance CTE staff will continue to monitor changing developments with this proposal and related legislation. Advance CTE’s full recommendations for HEA reauthorization can be found here. 

Meredith Hills, Policy Associate and Sam Dunietz, Senior Associate for Federal Policy

By admin in Legislation, Uncategorized
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The Outlook For Higher Education Reform in the 116th Congress

Tuesday, February 12th, 2019

Last week, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) shared their agendas for higher education reform, providing insight into what may be in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA).

On Monday, February 4, Senator Alexander spoke about HEA reauthorization at the American Enterprise Institute. He announced three proposals for updating HEA:

1) Simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

2) Streamline the options to repay student loans

3) Create a new accountability system for colleges to report whether borrowers are able to repay loans

Senator Alexander also discussed his support for competency-based education and expanding Pell Grant eligibility to include summer programs, as well as giving currently and previously incarcerated individuals access to Pell.

There have been multiple proposals in the Senate that touch upon these three ideas and Senator Alexander plans to work with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee, and the rest of the committee to introduce one inclusive piece of legislation this spring so that the full Senate and House of Representatives are able to pass reauthorization by the new year. You can find the video, transcript and summary of Senator Alexander’s remarks here.

Later in the week, at Inside Higher Ed’s event on Higher Ed in the New Congress on Thursday, February 7, Senator Alexander underscored his three proposals. Representative Scott spoke as well, ensuring that HEA reauthorization will be an opportunity for comprehensive higher education reform. Some of the priorities for Representative Scott include:

Representative Scott reminded the audience that although increased college enrollment is important, increased completion rates are what demonstrate success. He also discussed how HEA must address the rising cost of college in its measures to make college more affordable.  

Both expressed commitment to reauthorizing HEA in a bipartisan manner.

Meredith Hills, Policy Associate

By admin in Uncategorized
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HEA in Practice: Title III HSI STEM Articulation Grant

Wednesday, January 30th, 2019

Title III of the Higher Education Act (HEA) is the main source of institutional level funding in HEA, primarily supporting minority-serving colleges. Title III authorizes the Hispanic Serving Institutions Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics and Articulation Program (HSI STEM). An institution is categorized as an HSI if at least 25 percent of the full time undergraduate students are Latino. As of the 2016-2017 school year, HSIs include 65 percent of Latino undergraduate students and 15 percent of colleges and universities across the country, and these number will continue to increase.

This piece of HEA has two goals: the first is to increase attainment of STEM degrees and the second is to create a model transfer and articulation agreement for STEM degrees between two- and four-year institutions. Appropriations for this program are mandatory through FY2019. Funding can be utilized for purposes such as:

A great example of how this has been implemented is the Laredo Community College in Texas, which developed its STEM Articulation and Summer Bridge program through the HSI STEM grant. The STEM articulation program supports learners interested in STEM in both the college enrollment process, as well as successfully navigating the two to four year transfer. This program includes a Summer Bridge component, which provides incoming college students with advisement on everything from what to expect academically to the interpersonal skills that will be required. Learners in this program graduated at twice the rate of the college’s overall graduation rate.

Meredith Hills, Policy Associate

By admin in Uncategorized
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HEA in Practice: UVM’s TRIO Upward Bound Program

Friday, January 4th, 2019

The Higher Education Act (HEA) authorizes the Federal TRIO Programs (TRIO), with the purpose of supporting learners at the secondary level in achieving a postsecondary education. TRIO encompasses six programs targeted for low-income learners, first generation college students and learners with disabilities to excel from middle school through postsecondary enrollment. One program included in TRIO is Upward Bound, which supports low-income and first generation high school students through high school graduation, college enrollment and college completion. In the fall of 2018, the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance published a report that reviewed 200 Upward Bound programs across the country and came to the conclusion that such programs increase the number of colleges students applied to and led students to apply to more selective institutions.

Upward Bound has over 950 programs across the country. In Vermont, the University of Vermont’s (UVM) TRIO Upward Bound program (UVM Upward Bound) has found success. Through UVM Upward Bound, the university coordinates with Burlington High School and Winooski High School to support students in grades nine through twelve in progressing through secondary and postsecondary education. The program includes 63 students and works with the school counselors and teachers of both high schools to provide services such as college and career preparation. Additionally, the six-week summer program (held at the UVM campus) gives high school seniors the chance to plan for the college application process and write their application essays. The summer program also brings students to visit colleges outside of the state.

Recently, UVM Upward Bound was given a supplemental grant from the U.S. Department of Education to improve Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) opportunities for applicable students. In the summer of 2017, UVM joined 50 Upward Bound colleges in putting in place a three year STEM program called Teaching through Technology (T3). This new grant will further support STEM for Upward Bound students by allowing new technology to be acquired as well as hiring additional instructors.

Across Vermont, public colleges are coordinating with secondary schools through TRIO to support all learners in a pathway from secondary to postsecondary achievement.

Meredith Hills, Policy Associate

By admin in Uncategorized
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Advance CTE Recommendations for HEA Reauthorization

Thursday, December 6th, 2018

The turnover to the 116th Congress provides a renewed opportunity for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA). There is agreement across both parties that higher education is a priority area, which could lead to a bipartisan approach to advance HEA reauthorization. In fact, since 1980, HEA has only been reauthorized when control across the House of Representatives, Senate and White House is shared between parties.

Advance CTE offers recommendations for the reauthorization of HEA under the following topics:

As the new Congress considers reauthorization, the major challenges facing the economy, most notably the skills shortage, must be central to these debates. Our higher education system must be more responsive to the evolving demands of an ever more competitive global economy. Too many employers report a shortage of qualified workers, while university and college graduates burdened with tremendous debt are unable to find work related to their fields of study. This calls for a major realignment of our nation’s higher education policies.

The upcoming reauthorization process will provide Congress a critically important opportunity to achieve this vision for investing in America’s workforce by ensuring affordable and accessible postsecondary opportunities for every learner.

Meredith Hills, Policy Associate

By admin in Uncategorized
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NASDCTEc Legislative Update: Congress Aims to Move Past No Child Left Behind as Funding Deadline Edges Closer Once More

Tuesday, November 24th, 2015

United States CapitalCongressional negotiators have announced an agreement on the long overdue reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)— the law formerly known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Due for reauthorization since 2007, lawmakers have struggled to find consensus for how to address NCLB’s most readily apparent flaws while honoring its long legislative legacy rooted in the civil rights movement.

As we shared earlier this summer, both the House  and the Senate passed respective bills to reauthorize ESEA. Since that time both Chambers have been working on a bipartisan and bicameral basis to develop a framework agreement that would serve as the basis for a compromise between the two proposals. Last week that framework was announced along with the creation of a formal conference committee— a move that has been exceptionally rare over the past decade.

ESEA conferees were announced last week and met twice before approving this framework (along with a few amendments) last Thursday by a margin of 39-1. A summary of this framework agreement— now known as the “Every Child Succeeds Act” or ESSA— can be found here.

It is important to note that this agreed upon framework must now be turned into a final bill and Congressional staff are now busy translating the aspects of this agreement into formal legislative text. That text must then be approved by both Chambers of Congress and signed into law by the President. The conference report and final text of ESSA is expected to be available on November 30th. The House is expected to consider the legislation shortly after this followed by the Senate. Lawmakers are aiming for final passage before the end of this December.

While the official legislative text has not been finalized, ESSA seeks to significantly roll-back the federal role in K-12 education by providing states broad authority (and flexibility) for how to implement the law. A broad overview of the agreement’s main contours can be found here.

NASDCTEc will provide a detailed analysis of ESSA’s CTE-related provisions of interest once it has been finalized and will continue to keep the CTE community abreast of this ongoing reauthorization effort.

Congress Passes Budget Agreement Providing Temporary Relief from Sequester Caps

As we shared previously, Congress passed and the President signed into law the “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015” (BBA) which provides $80 billion in sequester relief over the next two fiscal years by temporarily raising current limits on federal spending (known as sequester caps) through FY 2017 for both defense and non-defense discretionary programs.

The deal also suspends, but does not raise the nation’s “debt ceiling” through March 15, 2017 putting the twin issues of federal spending and the nation’s debt limit off until after the upcoming 2016 presidential election.

Currently the federal government is operating on a “continuing appropriations resolution” (CR) which temporarily extended FY 2015 funding levels into the current 2016 federal fiscal year which began on October 1st of this year. This CR expires on December 11th, 2015 and Congress must act before that time to pass funding legislation to avert another government shutdown.

Although the BBA agreement provides an overall increase for how much funding is available to Congressional appropriators for federal Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017, those same lawmakers must still pass separate legislation designating specific dollar amounts for individual agencies and departments which administer federal programs such as the Carl D. Perkins Act (Perkins).

That process is currently underway and ahead of it NASDCTEc and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) sent a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees urging them to restore Perkins funding to at least pre-sequestration levels or $1.123 billion for the law’s basic state grant program.

As a reminder Perkins derives its funding from the Labor-HHS-ED appropriations bill whose subcommittee has been given an overall allocation of $161.69 billion—a $5 billion increase over the FY 2015 level. That extra $5 billion in the FY 2016 Labor-HHS-ED 302(b) allocation must now be divided up among many programs, including Perkins, that are all competing for a portion of these newly available funds.

In an effort to ensure that Perkins funding is restored through this process, please be sure to contact your member of Congress to remind them about the importance of investing in CTE.  As the federal appropriations process continues and the December 11th deadline draws closer, be sure to check back here for more updates on Perkins funding.

Postsecondary CTE Bills Introduced in the House

Earlier this month two separate proposals to boost federal financial aid support for postsecondary CTE programs were introduced in the House.

The first of these, known as the Jumpstarting our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act, was introduced by Reps. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) and Brenda Lawrence (D-MI). The JOBS Act is a companion bill to an earlier Senate proposal sponsored by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). The legislation aims to change current program edibility requirements for the federal Pell grant program to serve more students who are enrolled in qualifying shorter-term postsecondary CTE programs.

The CTE Opportunity Act, another companion bill to an earlier Senate proposal, was recently introduced by Reps. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Ryan Costello (R-PA). House CTE Caucus co-Chairs Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Jim Langevin (D-RI) also cosponsored this bill which would increase access to federal financial aid available under Title IV of the Higher Education Act for qualifying shorter-term postsecondary CTE programs. Read more about the legislation here.

NASDCTEc supported both of these proposals and looks forward to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act where this policy recommendation and many more can be fully realized.

Odds & Ends

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Manager 

By Steve Voytek in Legislation, News, Public Policy
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NASDCTEc Legislative Update: Focus Shifts to Higher Ed as ESEA Work Continues Amid Duncan Retirement

Friday, October 16th, 2015

United States CapitalA lot has happened over the past few weeks on Capitol Hill, particularly with regards to Congressional efforts to reauthorize key pieces of legislation for K-12 and postsecondary education. With fall in full swing, we wanted to take a moment to re-cap all of the activity over the past few weeks as we look ahead for what the rest of the year has in store for the Career Technical Education (CTE) community. Below is Part II in a two-part series of autumnal legislative updates.

Senate CTE Caucus Highlights Importance of CTE within HEA

Late last month, the Senate Career Technical Education (CTE) Caucus hosted a briefing for congressional staff titled “Postsecondary Pathways to Success: Strengthening Career and Technical Education in the Higher Education Act.” John Cech, Deputy Commissioner for Academic and Student Affairs for the Montana University System who is also a NASDCTEc member and State CTE Director for Montana, participated in this briefing.

John’s remarks grounded the panel’s discussion with a sense of relevancy and urgency saying, in part, “. . . the basic infrastructure of our society depends largely on our nation’s ability to produce new graduates at the two-year college level, in addition to the university degrees that are the traditional focus of the national postsecondary dialogue.”

The panel had four overarching recommendations for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) which would infuse the law with a much-needed focus on CTE:

Duncan Makes for the Exit as ESEA Work Continues

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that he will resign from his post at the end of the year. Duncan is the longest serving cabinet member in the Obama Administration and came into the position after serving as CEO of Chicago Public Schools for seven years.

John B. King Jr., who has been Deputy Secretary of Education since January of this year, will replace Duncan as the next Secretary of Education pending Senate approval.

Duncan’s tenure as the head of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), particularly the ESEA flexibility system granting waivers to states from many provisions contained in No Child Left Behind (NCLB), has been one of the main motivations behind Congressional activity to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) this year.

As we have shared previously, both Chambers of Congress were successful in passing rewrites of the law earlier this summer. Currently, lawmakers from the Senate and House Education Committees have been engaged in conference negotiations to reconcile the differences between the two bills. These discussions are still ongoing.

More recently, Democratic Senators Murphy (D-CT), Warren (D-MA), and Booker (D-NJ) hosted a roundtable discussion with Secretary Duncan and Deputy Secretary King focused on accountability issues within ESEA reauthorization. Holding states and local communities accountable for student achievement has been one of the most polarizing issues during the reauthorization process for ESEA and many Congressional Democrats, along with the White House, hope to strengthen such accountability provisions in a final bill when conference negotiations wrap-up.

Despite the progress being made in ESEA conference negotiations, a pathway forward for a bill containing stronger accountability requirements than what is currently in either the Senate or the House rewrites— something the Obama Administration and many Democrats would like to see— remains an uphill battle. As with much of the Congressional agenda this fall, the outcome of the race to replace Speaker Boehner will likely have a significant impact on ESEA’s chances of passage in the 114th Congress. As the Thomas B. Fordham Institute points out, ESEA’s chances are a hard “maybe” at this point.

Obama Administration Pushes Forward on a Number of Higher Ed Initiatives

Congressional efforts to reauthorize HEA are still ongoing and in lieu of a comprehensive proposal from Congress, the Obama Administration has continued to prioritize higher education issues. For instance the Office of Management and Budget, recently released the Admisntration’s final set of ‘Agency Priority Goals’ which outlines ED’s objective to increase the percentage of adults aged 25-34 who have an associate’s degree or higher to nearly 50 percent by 2017.

Late in September, ED also released much anticipated guidance for experimental sites who are pursuing innovative models of awarding federal financial aid for competency-based education (CBE) programs. These sites were first announced in 2014 as part of the experimental sites initiative authorized under HEA. The new “CBE Experiment Reference Guide” can be used both for the institutions and accrediting bodies participating in the initiative, as well as for institutions who might like to pursue CBE programs in the future. More information on the guidance can be found here. U.S. Undersecretary of Education Ted Mitchell has also announced that ED intends to expand this initiative by the end of the year.

Another round the experimental sites initiative was announced earlier this week. Named the “Educational Quality through Innovative Partnerships” (EQUIP) experiment, ED is currently soliciting applications to support partnerships between colleges and universities and “non-traditional” providers of education, such as shorter-term job training programs or Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Eligible programs would need to lead to a degree or certificate, articulate to academic credit, and be aligned to high-demand, high-growth economic sectors. More information on the announcement here.

Earlier this summer, the White House celebrated innovation within CTE and First Lady Michelle Obama announced that ED and her office’s “Reach Higher Initiative” would work together to launch a mobile app development challenge to create a user friendly tool for students to learn more about career pathways and other educational opportunities available to them. This month the First Lady officially launched the competition, making available $225,000. Applications are due no later than December 6, 2015—more information on the challenge can be found here and here.

Odds & Ends

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Manager

By Steve Voytek in Legislation, News, Public Policy
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NASDCTEc Legislative Update: A Pile of Work Awaits Congress in September as the CTE Presidential Scholars Program Continues to Take Shape

Tuesday, August 18th, 2015

United States CapitalThe annual Congressional August recess is in full swing, with most lawmakers and staff spending the time off in their districts and home states with constituents. This four week respite from the daily Congressional grind will be short-lived, as lawmakers will be faced with a tremendous amount of work upon their return to Capitol Hill. In addition to the fast approaching September 30th deadline to fund the federal government and programs, Congress will also have to raise the debt ceiling sometime later this fall, renew funding for public works and infrastructure projects, weigh in on the Administration’s Iran deal, successfully conference an Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) bill, and address a host of other outstanding issues all in the coming months.

Ironically, the heavy workload this fall is a product of Congress’ own making—many of these issues were considered as recently as this year and were temporarily put aside as compromise proved to be too difficult. As a result, lawmakers will likely be grappling with many of the above issues simultaneously and the ones related to federal funding, such as the need to raise the debt ceiling and fund federal programs for FY 2016, will likely have resolutions that are closely intertwined. While a clear path forward is still far from certain, Congressional leadership will be weighing many different options. However, with only 10 legislative days left when they return, a “Continuing Appropriations Resolution” or CR—a temporary extension of current funding levels into the next federal fiscal year— is growing increasingly more likely.

Lying at the heart of this stalemate are Republicans and Democrats who remain at odds over the sequester caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA). These limits on federal spending, have hampered Congress’ ability to piece together the 12 appropriations bills necessary to fund the federal government. Without changes to the underlying BCA legislation, a move appropriators from both Parties say they want, finding compromise on FY 2016 funding has been extremely difficult.

With the upcoming ESEA conference between the House and the Senate scheduled to follow the current recess, this current impasse over funding will likely be significant hurdle for the conferees to overcome as this battle will likely play out before or during those talks.

NASDCTEc has continued its work on both of these fronts where we have encouraged lawmakers to retain the important CTE provisions found in both the House and Senate ESEA bills while separately calling for an end to the damaging sequester caps that have undercut the federal investment in CTE.

As Congress spends its time meeting with their constituents this month, NASDCTEc invites the wider CTE community to reach out to their members of Congress to reinforce importance of these two goals as the summer draws to an end. Be sure to check back here as things continue to develop.

The JOBS Act—Making Pell Work for Students

Prior to the August recess, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), co-chair of the Senate CTE Caucus and a long-time champion of CTE, introduced the Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act (S. 1900)—a bill that would extend Pell grant program eligibility to students enrolled in qualifying short-term training programs.

Under current law the Pell Grant program— like other federal financial aid available under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA)— is not available to students taking “noncredit courses.” Postsecondary CTE programs, which typically offer certifications or other postsecondary credentials, often fall under this category. Current Pell Grant program eligibility requirements have a minimum seat-time of 300 instruction hours over the course of at least 16 weeks. This frequently leaves out short-term postsecondary CTE programs which are essential to equipping students with the relevant skills needed for the 21st century economy— something that NASDCTEc encourages Congress to address during the reauthorization of HEA.

The JOBS Act seeks to address this issue by reducing those program length requirements by half, to at least 150 clock hours over a period of 8 weeks. In order to qualify, programs must be offered at a postsecondary institution, which would include area CTE centers and community colleges, lead towards the completion of a recognized postsecondary credential (as defined by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act), and be aligned to area workforce needs.

NASDCTEc was extremely pleased to support and endorse this legislation upon its introduction and remains hopeful that these ideas make their way into the wider reauthorization of HEA. Read more about the bill here.

Presidential Scholars Program Continues to Take Shape

As we shared a few months ago, President Obama signed an amendment to Executive Order 11155—a move that expanded the existing Presidential Scholars program to include up to 20 CTE students each year in the program.

The first year of this expansion will take place in the upcoming 2015-16 school year where the Chief State School Officers will nominate CTE scholars based on five criteria: academic rigor, technical competency, ingenuity / creativity, and the degree to which the student represents “the nation’s economic sectors and demographic characteristics.”

Student nominations are due from each Chief State School Officer by October 15, 2015 where the next step of the process will require additional application materials from selected students. By May 2016, the Commission on Presidential Scholars will announce the list of students to be honored at the White House in June.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) has encouraged State CTE Directors to engage with their State’s chief school officer ahead of the nomination process and to more widely disseminate the announcement. More detailed information can be obtained on OCTAE’s PCRN website and general information about the expansion can be found here.

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Manager 

By Steve Voytek in Legislation, News, Public Policy
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