CEC Policy Insider

Higher Education Act Bills in Play in the House and the Senate

To jump start the three-week work period in Congress, this week, House Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced the College Affordability Act, a partisan bill developed by the Democrats to comprehensively reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), which was last updated by Congress in 2008. Upon its introduction, Chair Scott said lawmakers across the political spectrum should be able to support a package that is "a necessary and sensible response to the challenges that students and families are facing every day.”

Among its many provisions, and of major interest to CEC, the draft bill includes:

• A major rewrite to Title II – which updates teacher preparation to focus on high-quality teacher induction and teacher residency programs including mentorship for [new] teacher candidates
• A focus on improving training and access to high-quality teachers and principals in rural areas, special education, English language, science, technology, engineering, math, and career and technical education
• Grant funding for states to develop ‘grow your own’ programs
• Requirements for alternative pathway and for-profit teacher training programs to report the same data as public institutions
• A modernization of Title IV student loan and lending programs with a goal of expanding federal aid to low-income families by increasing Pell Grants and tying them to inflation
• Creating greater access to postsecondary education for students with disabilities, including a CEC-supported requirement that would ensure students entering college with a documented need for accommodations [from high school] would receive those accommodations in college without further evaluation.

In response to the bill, Terry Hartle with the American Council on Education said the bill will “increase the cost of doing business for most institutions.”

In the Senate, a comprehensive HEA bill is not currently in play. However, S. 2557, the Student Aid Improvement Act of 2019, was introduced in late September by Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) of the Senate Health, Education and Labor Pensions (HELP) Committee. The bill includes a narrow suite of proposed changes to HEA that does not touch on Title II teacher preparation or teacher loan programs. Rather, the bill focuses on: making permanent the mandatory funding for minority-serving institutions and historically Black colleges and universities, which expired on September 20; simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); updating Pell by allowing students to use the grants at job training programs for high-demand fields; and a handful of other budget-neutral changes. Because the bill is not a comprehensive overhaul of the law, HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) has stated her opposition to the bill. Therefore, it is unclear if Chair Alexander can move this package through the Senate.

CEC’s Response

CEC’s Policy and Advocacy Officers have begun to meet with key Hill offices to discuss how CEC can best weigh in on both the substance of the HEA bills as well as the process - in keeping with current CEC positions and in alignment with CEC Divisions. The House bill in particular provides an opportunity to give feedback to Chair Scott prior to the mark-up in the House Education and Labor Committee this month. There is a bit of urgency behind this, as Chair Scott has indicated he would like the bill to go to the House floor for a vote before the end of the year. To help inform CEC’s input and learn more, the CEC CAN Network has been invited to join an upcoming webinar. Information and analysis of the HEA reauthorization bills will also be shared in future issues of Policy Insider as the process moves forward. 

DEC Launches Campaign for Early Childhood Funding Bill

Last week, CEC’s Division for Early Childhood successfully launched an online campaign in support of the Funding Early Childhood is the Right IDEA Act (H.R. 4107), a bill to restore full funding for young children with disabilities. While over 400 emails were sent through the “flood their inbox” campaign, Congress still needs to hear from you! Visit CEC’s Legislative Action Center (LAC) and ask your Representative to cosponsor the bill now. To learn more and send your email, visit the LAC today! 

Congress’s New Funding Deadline Adds Pressure to Fall Work Period

While we are now in the second week of Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, the federal government is operating under a continuing resolution (CR) which extends FY 2019 funding levels through November 21. The new deadline for Congress to agree to FY 2020 spending levels comes with some major challenges to resolve. This June, the House passed a Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill (Labor-H) which increases spending by 11.8 billion over the FY 2019 level. That bill funds the U.S. Department of Education, among other agencies. In September, the Senate released its Labor-H bill, which level-funds education programs at current levels but also takes $1.3 billion from previously appropriated funds that go to a Pell Grant account for future use, resulting in an overall cut to education spending. The House and Senate will now need to agree upon a single, negotiated bill for it to be signed into law. It remains unclear how those negotiations will unfold- education stakeholders in Washington, DC, including CEC will be keeping a close watch.

OSEP Responds to Questions About IDEA

The Office of Special Education (OSEP) within the U.S. Department of Education recently posted three letters in response to inquiries that fall within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The inquiries and responses include the following topics: processes for state complaint oversight; details about the development and implementation of a child’s IEP based on preschool placement; and best practices and legal obligations for IEP meetings for parents of transition-aged students with disabilities. An overview of each letter is below:

1. Letter to Zirkel, July 3, 2019. This letter responded to multiple questions about complaint procedures for state education agencies. Specifically, the letter responded to the process for resolution of state complaints and enforcement actions. The letter can be found here.
2. Letter to Rowland, September 9, 2019. This letter answers questions related to the development of an IEP and ability to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for preschool-aged children based on their placement in a specific preschool program, the Preschool for All Learners special day program in Los Angeles County, CA. It further responds to the inquiry about whether specific services, such as speech and language therapy, could be restricted solely based on the child’s placement in a certain education program. The letter can be found here.
3. Letter to Anonymous, September 9, 2019. This letter asks about whether it is lawful to prohibit a transition-aged student with a disability from participating in IEP team meetings and additional meetings that discuss the student’s testing results, evaluations or the student’s identified disability category. The letter also seeks clarity about whether parents and other IEP team members are legally entitled to assessment reports prior to team meetings where those results will be the topic of conversation. The letter can be found here.

National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations Launches New Resource

The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, released a new online resource for the implementation of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social and Emotional Competencies in Infants and Young Children (Pyramid Model). The resource, which is available to and geared toward states, districts, teachers, parents and other interested parties, provides information and other resources to improve social, emotional and behavioral outcomes for young children with developmental disabilities or delays. The early interventional tool aims to promote positive disciplinary practices, family engagement, data-informed decision-making, inclusion and integration of infant and early childhood mental health consultation. To view the online resource, go here.