CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

DC Digest: November 3-10

It was a relatively quiet week on the federal education policy front, with the House on recess and no major Committee activity. The House returns this week though, and Washington will be celebrating National Apprenticeship Week, so there is likely more activity in the future! In the meantime:

• Progress on Education Appropriations: With the current November 21 funding deadline looming, congressional leaders have taken positive steps to ensure the government remains funded while working toward a longer term Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 solution. On Tuesday, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) met to discuss the path forward. Also, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that the House is likely to introduce a new short-term CR that extends funding to December 20 to give lawmakers more time to come to consensus on funding the 12 appropriations bills for FY 2020.

• World Standards Week on the “Workforce of the Future”: On November 7, the American National Standards Institute hosted a conference on Building an Effective Workforce for the Future, which ACTE attended. During the day, there were two keynote speakers and four panel sessions which covered challenges to meet the workforce needs of the future and how education and trainings are going to have to adapt to meet those needs.
  
  
• National Day of Action for ESSA Title IV: On November 6, ACTE joined other national associations and advocates for a National Day of Action to support awareness of and funding for Title IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act, Student Success and Academic Enhancement Grants, which can be used for career development activities and other parts of a “well-rounded” education. You can view our tweet and others that were part of the campaign!
  
  
• Federal STEM Investments Reviewed: On November 8, the Trump Administration reported on $540 million dollars that has been allocated to support STEM education to expand opportunities in the STEM workforce. This is part of the five-year federal STEM education strategic plan in which all Americans will have access to lifelong STEM education, as well as to make America a leader in the STEM field.
  
  

Department Announces Final Regulations on Accreditation and Distance Education

On October 31, The U.S. Department of Education (USED) published the 519-page final accreditation and state authorization distance education regulations, which were the product of a yearlong negotiated rulemaking process between USED and higher education stakeholders. According to the Department’s press release, these regulations, which are a part of Secretary Betsy DeVos’ “Rethink Higher Education” agenda, are designed to “expand educational options for students, lower the cost of education post-high school, and ensure occupationally-focused education meets current workforce needs.”

Along with the regulatory changes, the final regulations included a summary of the few hundred public comments the Department received, along with their responses to the comments. Some of the regulatory changes most relevant to CTE include:

• Allows accreditors to have separate faculty standards for instructors teaching courses within dual or concurrent enrollment programs, or career and technical education courses, if the instructors, “in the agency’s judgement,” are qualified to teach by either their education or work experience. The department contends that an agency should not have to choose between setting rigorous standards for faculty that may be appropriate, for example, at comprehensive or research institutions, and allowing other kinds of institutions to hire the faculty that will provide students with the best opportunities possible.
• Provides a three-year grace period that accreditors can propose in order to allow programs to comply with the accreditor’s faculty standards for dual or concurrent enrollment. This grace period is able to be extended. 
• Allows agencies to have separate standards regarding an institution’s process for approving curriculum with the goal of better aligning certain programs with specific industry or occupational demands. These separate curriculum standards, which are intended to give employers and industry a stronger voice in curriculum development, can include using recommendations from industry advisory boards that employers who hire program graduates participate on; including employers who make hiring decisions in a given field or occupation in the approval process; or aligning the curriculum with widely-recognized industry standards, credentialing, or other occupational registration or licensure. The Department argues that a traditional faculty governance process for approving curriculum, while widely used, is not the only governance process currently in use by institutions or allowed by the HEA, and in some instances it may be inappropriate to give faculty a stronger voice than employers.
• Includes a requirement that institutions disclose to students whether their educational programs meet the requirements for licensure across States. This will allows students to know if their investment in an educational program will lead to the career the student intends to pursue.

The regulations will go into effect on July 1, 2020. The Department’s press release can be found here and final regulations can be found here.

Additionally, the Department has recently announced that they will be publishing proposed rules on distance education and innovation, TEACH grants and faith-based institutions shortly. ACTE will continue to monitor the Department’s actions and update the Policy Watch Blog accordingly.

DC Digest: October 27-November 2

The biggest education news this week on Capitol Hill was the House Education and Labor Committee’s marathon mark-up of its Higher Education Act reauthorization bill, which lasted for three days! You can read more about that markup on the blog at https://ctepolicywatch.acteonline.org/2019/11/democrats-pass-hea-reauthorization-proposal-out-of-house-committee.html.

In other news:

• Work on Education Appropriations Remains Stalled: On October 31, the Senate rejected a procedural motion that would have allowed for debate to start on the four-bill minibus, H.R. 2740 (116), that includes the Fiscal year (FY) 2020 funding for the Department of Education. The vote, 51-41, failed to reach the 60 vote threshold needed to advance. Democrats voted against motion on the grounds that their Republican colleagues did not engage them when they set the overall spending levels, which were much lower for education than the House bill.
  
  
• Regulations on Accreditation and Distant Education Finalized: On November 1, Secretary DeVos released the final accreditation and state authorization distance education regulations. These regulations, a part of the broader “rethink higher education” agenda, are aimed to “expand educational options for students, holistically lower the cost of education post-high school, and ensure occupationally-focused education meets current workforce needs,” according to the Secretary, but have been met with some concern. Check back on the CTE Policy Watch Blog soon for a more detailed summary.
  
  
• Senate CTE Caucus Briefing: On October 31, the Senate CTE Caucus, in partnership with the National Skills Coalition (NSC), hosted a briefing on the importance of aligning Perkins V and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and how they can work together to drive economic success. Organizations who participated on the panel include: the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), Advance CTE, Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation (Rural LISC) and NSC.
  
  
• Nation’s Report Card Results Released: Significant attention in DC was placed on the release of the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results, which were released on October 30. While these results are not specific to CTE, as they are based on assessments in fourth and eighth graders’ reading and math scores, they do have implications for educational policy overall. Unfortunately, the overall news was not positive. The results for reading were lower for both grades compared to 2017, and the results for math were one point higher in fourth-grade students and one point lower for eighth-grade students compared to 2017. Department of Education Secretary DeVos said in a press release that the results were “devastating” and proposed support for school choice initiatives to help counteract the results.

New Resources for Perkins V Implementation

The resources below can help states and locals as they work to implement changes in Perkins V!

Employer Engagement Cheat Sheet: ACTE recently partnered with Advance CTE and Business Leaders United to release a “cheat sheet” to help employers navigate new opportunities for engagement at the state and local level under Perkins V. Use the four-page fact sheet, “Cheat Sheet: Opportunities for Employer Involvement in CTE” with current or potential business partners to spark discussions about future activities!

Resource on Data Disaggregation for Public Reporting: Perkins V places renewed emphasis on the public reporting and use of disaggregated student performance data at both the state and local levels. The Data Quality Campaign recently released a tool, “Disaggregated Data: Not Just a Box Checking Exercise,” with tips for presenting disaggregated data in meaningful ways. While primarily targeted toward implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the information can be applied to Perkins reporting as well.

Perkins V Implementation Meeting Wrap-up: Curious about how states are working through the process to develop their state plans? ACTE joined Advance CTE, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), and the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) in hosting a set of collaborative meetings around state plan development. You can read more about this fall’s meetings at http://blog.careertech.org/?p=15932.

Democrats Pass HEA Reauthorization Proposal Out of House Committee

Never the dull moment on Capitol Hill, on October 29 the House Education & Labor Committee began a mark-up on H.R. 4674, the College Affordability Act (CAA). The proposal, the House Democrats’ Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization bill, has many similarities to the Aim Higher Act that Committee Democrats introduced last Congress. After three days of debate and amendments, the CAA was approved favorably out of Committee on a party-line vote. While all Democrats voted for the proposal, Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC) issued a strongly-worded statement in response, saying that “[t]his partisan legislation will contribute to exploding college costs, exacerbate our nation’s skills gap, and allow failing programs to go unchecked. This approach will force students to spend more to learn less.”

Among the many reasons Committee Democrats offered in support of the bill, Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) stated that the legislation would actually lower the cost of college, improve the quality of higher education and expand opportunity for students of all backgrounds to succeed. ACTE previously published a summary of the nearly 1,200 page bill on the CTE Policy Watch blog and highlighted the provisions that most impact the CTE community.

There were a number amendments offered and adopted at the markup. Some of those include:

• An amendment by Rep. Bradley Bryne (R-AL), with a sub-amendment by Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) would expand the use of Title III funds to include the development, improvement, alignment and integration of post-secondary CTE programs. Title III is intended to provide support for less-advantaged institutions that primarily serve low-income and historically under-represented populations in higher education. Institutions that qualify for Title III funds include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), American Indian and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNHs), Predominately Black Institutions (PBIs), and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs).
• Under the America’s College Promise Federal-State Partnership proposal, the federal government requires that states and tribes only provide funds to community colleges for the purpose of waiving all tuition and fees for eligible students. Then, if states can demonstrate they have met the demand for the program and have funds leftover, the proposal allows for a number of additional uses of funds. An amendment by Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) would add an additional allowable use of funds to permit states to collaborate with industry or sector partnerships in an effort to expand the capacity of high-quality job training programs.
• An amendment by Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), with a sub-amendment by Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) would require a state or tribe in their application to the Secretary to consider how to build capacity in CTE programs in order to receive federal funding under the America’s College Promise Federal-State Partnership proposal.
• Rep. DeSaulnier (D-CA) introduced an amendment that would give priority to grant applicants for teacher preparation programs that demonstrate a commitment to recruiting candidates with cultural and community ties to the students they would be teaching.

The Capitol Hill tea leaves don’t seem to indicate that the bill will be brought up for a full vote on the House floor anytime soon. While Chairman Scott has expressed interest in having the legislation passed out of the House before the December recess, House leadership has not indicated when, or even if, it will be scheduled for debate. Immediate priorities include impeachment proceedings, a prescription drug bill, the National Defense Authorization Act and perhaps a continuing resolution (CR) ahead of the current CR’s scheduled expiration on November 21, leaving little time for focus on HEA reauthorization.

Signs might point to a slowdown in HEA action, however, as is often the case in Washington, the landscape can quickly change. With a bill passed out of Committee in the House and a package of proposals recently offered by Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in the Senate, there certainly is a chance that things could pick up. You can follow the latest updates on HEA news, along with other CTE-related policy issues, on the CTE Policy Watch blog.

 

New Study on Effects of CTE

Male students who attend a Connecticut technical high school have shown to have higher graduation rates, improved wage-earning potential, higher attendance rates in 9th grade and higher 10th grade test scores, a new study from the CTE Research Network reports. These findings are based on data collected from the admission system of the sixteen technical high schools within the Connecticut Technical High School System, combined with other state data systems. Data was collected and analyzed on approximately 57,000 8th graders who applied to the oversubscribed system of high schools for school years 2006-07 through 2013-14. Using a quasi-experimental design, student outcomes were compared for those students just above the admission threshold and those just below the admission threshold.

The research shows that male students attending these technical high schools are about 10 percent more likely to graduate from high school. While these students are also 8 percentage points less likely to attend college; the researchers’ findings, as well as the findings from other studies, suggest that the negative effects on college attendance fade over time.

Other findings for male students who attend technical high schools include an increase in earnings by approximately 31 percent quarterly, and more quarters spent working (likely in part due to lower postsecondary attendance). Shorter term outcomes were also impacted, with improved attendance and test scores. Increases in both can improve high school graduation rates and potential future earnings, so may be predictive of those outcomes. Outcome gains were larger when the schools students would have attended offered fewer CTE courses.

While data was analyzed on female students as well, results were not statistically significant.

This study was funded by the Institute for Education Sciences.

DC Digest: October 20-27

Most of the education attention in Washington was on the Higher Education Act this week, as work moved forward in the House on the reauthorization of that bill. The House Education and Labor Committee has scheduled a mark-up of the legislation introduced earlier this month for October 29. We will provide additional coverage as the bill moves forward! In other news:

• Bills Introduced to Support Working Students: Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Representative Ami Bera (D-CA) introduced the Working Students Act(S. 2655/ H.R. 4787) in their respective chambers. The legislation increases the amount of money that working students can earn before those earnings are counted against them when accessing need-based federal financial aid. ACTE endorsed the bills and was quoted in Baldwin’s press release.
• President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Created:On October 22, President Trump established a council to provide guidance on science, technology, education and innovative policy. The council will also be responsible for informing the public on relevant public policy on the economy, the American worker, national and homeland security and other topics. The council will be composed of 16 appointed members.
• Aspen Institute Highlighted Opportunity in America:On October 27, the Aspen Institute hosted an afternoon of discussions on opportunity in the United States. The three panels, which ACTE attended, included discussions on measuring opportunity, access and inclusion, and the business role in developing economic opportunity. Read more.

DC Digest: October 13-19

After a two-week-long break, Congress has returned and will be back in session until November 21 to, among other things, try and pass a spending bill for Fiscal Year 2020. The current continuing resolution expires then and an agreement for moving forward has yet to be reached. Visit ACTE’s Action Center for a message you can send to Congress to support CTE funding as discussions continue. Also last week:

• House HEA Reauthorization Bill Reintroduced: On October 15, House Democrats introduced their proposed bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, which include several topics relating to CTE. Read more in-depth coverage on the CTE Policy Watch blog.
  
  
• Department of Labor Released WIOA Youth Program Resources: The Department of Labor released additional technical assistance resources for WIOA youth programs. These resources include Requests for Proposals, monitoring (and here) and individual service strategies (hereand here).
  
  
• Brookings Institution Focused on Equity: Last Tuesday, the Brookings Institution hosted a “Girl’s Education Research and Policy Symposium: Learning across a lifetime,” which ACTE attended. The event included panels on girls’ opportunities in STEM and CTE leading to more girls entering into the workforce world-wide. Read more.

House Democrats Release Higher Ed Reauthorization Bill

On October 15, House Democrats released their proposed comprehensive bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The legislation, titled the “College Affordability Act,” is more than 1,100 pages long. Below you will find some highlights within the bill that are most relevant for CTE stakeholders.

Data Transparency
The proposal includes one of ACTE’s top priorities, which is to strike the student-level unit record data ban, that was implemented in the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. This provision would now allow for data to be matched at the federal level to improve reporting on outcomes like graduate earnings, loan repayments, graduation rates and more. The bill incorporates the College Transparency Act (S. 800/ H.R. 1766), virtually verbatim.

Pell Grants
The bill would expand Pell Grant eligibility to certain eligible short-term job training programs offered at institutions of higher education. Short-term Pell has been a top priority of ACTE’s, though the language largely differs from the JOBS Act (S. 839/ H.R. 3497), which ACTE has endorsed. In order for a program to qualify under this proposal, it must fall between 150-600 clock hours over an instructional period of 8-15 weeks; provide training that is aligned with high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand occupations in the area the training is provided; and provide academic content that meet the hiring requirements of potential employers and satisfy educational prerequisite requirements for professional licenses or certifications. There are other additional requirements that restrict participation, including articulation agreements to ensure all credit or noncredit coursework completed can be used to meet certification or degree program requirements; that annual earnings of graduates, no later than six months after graduation, must be greater than the average or median annual earnings paid to people with just high school diplomas; that gainful employment requirements are met; and that programs must be part of a career pathway, among other things. Further, programs are only eligible for three-year periods, where they then need to again receive approval from the Secretary. This is in an attempt to ensure that programs remain relevant to the needs of the local and state economies. Additionally, the bill requires that program data is collected annually and sent to the Secretary, and that within three years after enactment, the Secretary submits a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the programs receiving Pell funding. In another section of the larger bill, it includes additional accountability measures that impact short-term programs by requiring accrediting agencies be “recognized” accreditors by the Secretary.

The bill would also increase the number of semesters that a student can use Pell grants from 12 to 14, and increase the maximum Pell Grant award by $500, which would be $6,695 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, and an estimated $8,305 by FY 2029.

Free Community College
The proposal provides access to free community college, which would include both tuition and fees, through partnerships between the federal and state governments. Generally, the federal government would pay 75% of the average resident community college tuition and fees, beginning in the 2021-2022 academic year. Increases in payments for tuition/fees would be allowed, but could not exceed the lesser of the consumer price index or 3%. To receive a grant, community colleges cannot charge eligible students any tuition or fees after receiving payments from federal/state sources. There are additional requirements, like that associate degrees by public institutions in the state be fully transferable and credit the first two years of a related baccalaureate program at public four-year institutions in the state, and a state maintenance of effort. Notably, any leftover funds can be used to, among other things, expand the “scope and capacity of high-quality academic and occupational skills training programs at community colleges.” While funding for the program would still need to go through the appropriations process, the bill authorizes nearly $3.5 billion in funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, which increases to nearly $16.3 billion by FY 2030.

Student Success Fund for Community Colleges
The bill creates a grant program worth $500 million annually for community colleges to largely focus on improving student outcomes, including improvements in transfer and/or completion rates, through evidence-based institutional reforms and innovative practices.

Federal Work-Study
There were two major changes to the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program in this proposal. First, the bill changes the funding structure so that FWS no longer prioritizes institutions based on how long they have been participating in the program. Now, funding will be based on the number of low-income students at the institution and the unmet need of said students. Secondly, the bill creates a “Work-Based Learning Opportunities” pilot grant program, with the goal to align students’ work-study opportunities with local and regional economies. Additionally, this proposal would require the grantees to include career coaching and counseling services to students, and to provide opportunities for students to meet with employers in the fields related to their work-study employment.

New Perkins Funding
The bill would authorize $181 million annually for FYs 2021-2026 to strengthen postsecondary CTE programs.

Student Loans
The bill makes a number of revisions to student loans, including expanding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and shortening the total loan forgiveness time for teachers.

Dual Enrollment/ Early College High School
The bill includes “Jumpstart to College Grant Provisions,” which authorizes a competitive grant for six years at $250 million annually for institutions of higher education to partner with local education agencies to support the development of dual enrollment and early college high school programs that primarily serve low-income students. 

Democrats on the House Committee on Education and Labor, which has jurisdiction over the bill, also released a number of fact sheets related to the College Affordability Act, which you can find below:

• Fact Sheet: Meeting the Demand for Skilled Workers
• Fact Sheet: Improving the Quality of Higher Education
• Fact Sheet: Tackling Student Loan Debt
• Fact Sheet: Advancing Equity
• Fact Sheet: Lowering the Cost of College

Current Funding for Major ED Programs Below 2011 (Inflation-Adjusted) Levels

Recent analysis conducted by the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) shows that current Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 funding levels for six of the largest Education Department programs are either at or below their inflation-adjusted FY 2011 levels. FY 2011 was chosen as a baseline for this analysis because it was the Department of Education’s highest total discretionary funding level prior to FY 2018. Even with the proposed substantial funding increase given to these programs in the House FY 2020 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill, many still fall short of their FY 2011 levels.

These programs include:

• Perkins CTE state grants
• Title I state grants
• IDEA Part B state grants
• Impact Aid
• Title II – Supporting Effective Instruction state grants; and
• 21^st Century Community Learning Centers

Further, the total budget, both current and FY 2020 proposed, for the Department of Education is below the FY 2011 levels. The chart (below) shows that even if funding had simply kept pace with inflation, and not included any additional increase in appropriations, funding would be significantly higher than it is currently for federal education programs.

With the growing skills-gap, and increased popularity and participation in CTE programs nationwide, an increase in funds for Perkins CTE State Grants is critical to ensure that students continue to receive high-quality CTE  programs that prepare them for college and career success upon graduation. Your advocacy on behalf of CTE funding is more important than ever, so we urge you to reach out to your elected officials and ask for an increase in Perkins CTE State Grants in FY 2020.