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.
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