After a series of fits and starts, Congress is nearing the finish line on passing the education jobs fund. Today, the Senate invoked cloture on an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill containing the education jobs fund. The amendment provides $10 billion for education jobs and $16.1 billion for federal Medicaid payments. The funding in this amendment would be fully paid for, and would reduce the deficit by $3 million over ten years and $1.371 billion over eleven years. While the amendment still needs to be passed, the cloture vote marked forward progress on the stalled amendment. If the 30 hours of post-cloture time is not yielded back, that vote will be around 5 pm tomorrow, and if the Senate passes the bill (only 51 votes are needed), it will have to go to the House for a vote. The House left for summer recess last week, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) just announced that the House will be called into session next week to pass the bill once the Senate completes action.
Posts Tagged ‘teachers’
Senate Moves Forward on Education Jobs Fund
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow Grants Available
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010The Office of Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education recently announced a notice inviting applications in the Federal Register for the Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow (TCT) program. The TCT program will award up to four discretionary grants  to institutions of higher education to build partnerships with eligible recipients that will develop and implement 2-or 3-year part-time master’s degree programs in STEM or critical foreign language education for teachers in order to enhance the teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical skills; or to develop and implement programs for professionals in STEM or critical foreign language education that lead to a master’s degree in teaching that results in teacher certification.
Eligible applicants must enter into a partnership that includes:
- The eligible recipient;
- A department within the eligible applicant that provides a program of study in STEM or a critical foreign language; and a school, department, or program of education within the eligible applicant, or a two year institution of higher education that has a teacher preparation offering or a dual enrollment program with the eligible applicant; or
- A department or school within the eligible applicant with a competency based degree program (in STEM or a critical foreign language) that includes teacher certification; and
- Not less than one high-need LEA and a public school or a consortium of public schools served by the agency. A partnership may include a nonprofit organization that has a demonstrated record of providing expertise or support to meet the purposes of this initiative.
Awards will range from $200,000–$250,000. The deadline to apply is July 30, 2010.
Legislative Update: America COMPETES Act, Education Jobs Bill
Friday, May 7th, 2010House Committee Approves America COMPETES Act
Last week the House Committee on Science and Technology marked up H.R. 5116, America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, and approved it by a vote of 29 to 8. Originally authorized in 2007, the reauthorized bill seeks to strengthen science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in order to maintain the United States’ global economic leadership. The bill would coordinate STEM programs across federal agencies and encourage more participation by females and underrepresented groups. The bill would also focus on the challenges faced by rural school districts, which often have less access to high speed Internet and lab resources.
The bill now goes to the full House for approval. Chairman Bart Gordon’s (TN) goal is to get the legislation through the House before the Memorial Day recess. Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation also held a hearing to consider the reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act.
The bill has been endorsed by several business leaders including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers.
Education Jobs Fund
Senator Tom Harkin told Congressional Quarterly May 4 that a Senate floor vote on S. 3206, Keep Our Educators Working Act of 2010, may come in the next few weeks, but “there is not a committed time for a vote.â€
The Education Commission of the States has put together a resource that provides a chart of the approximate amount of funding each state could receive under the education jobs fund and the approximate number of education jobs created or saved by the fund. Both of these charts break down the estimates by secondary and postsecondary distributions.Â