Legislative Activity Senate HELP Committee Will Mark Up ESEA Legislation on Tuesday Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) released a bipartisan compromise ESEA reauthorization bill last Wednesday. The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 is scheduled for markup on Tuesday. The Committee leaders … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Student Data Privacy Legislation to be Introduced This Week House Education and the Workforce Committee members Reps. Luke Messer (R-IN) and Jared Polis (D-CO) will introduce student data privacy legislation on Monday. The bill is largely based on the Student Privacy Pledge, formulated by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Software and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity ESEA Reauthorization on Hold in the House and Delayed in the Senate The House’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization bill, the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), failed to pass on the House floor in February and was not included on the House’s legislative agenda for the rest of March. While it … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Vote on ESEA Postponed to This Week The House will continue to consider its Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization bill – the Student Success Act (H.R. 5) – that was brought to the House floor last week. Last Thursday, House members began floor consideration of 44 amendments to the legislation— … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity ESEA Reauthorization Bill to be Considered on the House Floor this Week The education community continues to analyze H.R. 5, the Student Success Act, which the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved and reported to the House prior to the Congressional recess. Echoing the White House report criticizing H.R. 5 released last … Continue Reading
Legislative Update Student Data Privacy On Thursday, February 12, the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education will hold a hearing titled “How Emerging Technology Affects Student Privacy.” The hearing will feature a conversation about student data privacy and the Subcommittee will likely discuss the need for legislation, as … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Committee Passes the Strengthening Education through Research Act Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted via voice vote to approve the Strengthening Education through Research Act (SETRA/S. 320). The bill would reauthorize the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) to improve the federal education research structure and provide states … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Work Begins on ESEA Reauthorization Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) recently released his draft Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization bill – the Every Child Ready for College or Career Act of 2015. Last week, the Senate HELP Committee held its first hearing on ESEA … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity ESEA Reauthorization Bills to be Considered Soon House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) plan to make the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization their first priority in the 114th Congress. Last week, Chairman Alexander announced … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Campus Sexual Assault Legislation to Remain a Priority Next Congress This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on campus sexual assault to explore the roles and responsibilities of law enforcement in handling these types of cases. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are scheduled to testify at … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Vote on Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization Last week, the Senate voted 96-1 to move to consideration of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) reauthorization legislation (S. 1086). The Senate previously passed S. 1086 in March; the House then amended the bill and passed it in September. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Education Priorities for the 114th Congress After the Republicans took the Senate in last week’s mid-term elections, former Education Secretary Lamar Alexander (R-TN) will now be leading the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and we expect his education policies to align closely with House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Child Care and Development Block Grant Last Monday, the House passed a bipartisan Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) reauthorization bill by voice vote. The legislation represented a compromise between House and Senate leaders to reauthorize the CCDBG program for six years to provide funding to states for the child care costs … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Child Care and Development Block Grant Last week, leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and House Education and the Workforce Committee announced that they reached an agreement on the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). The compromise bill is based on the CCDBG reauthorization … Continue Reading
Regulatory Activity Online Skills Academy Last week, the Department of Education announced its collaboration with the Department of Labor to develop a $25 million grant competition for an Online Skills Academy. This platform would enable high-quality, free or low-cost pathways to degrees, certificates, or other employer-recognized credentials. In coordination with this effort, the Department will … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Education Legislation in the House This week, the House will consider several pieces of education legislation, including three bills that would reauthorize select sections of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The legislation that the House will be considering includes: Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project (H.R. 3136). This bill would update HEA to create … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House’s Legislative Agenda Today, the House will consider and likely pass the following pieces of legislation: The STEM Education Act (H.R. 5031). The bill would include “computer science” in the definition of “STEM education,” require the National Science Foundation (NSF) to offer competitive grants to support research and development of informal STEM learning, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Higher Education Act Draft Legislation Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) will release a package of Higher Education Act (HEA) proposals this week. The package will likely include legislation that allows the student-unit record system to track students’ performance once they enter the workforce after graduation, as well … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity College Affordability Initiatives After failing last week to secure enough votes to proceed to floor consideration of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) student loan reform legislation, the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act (S. 2432), Democratic Senators committed to continuing to raise the issue – eyeing a week in September to refocus on … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Action on Student Loan Debt Senate Democratic leaders will continue to press for a floor vote this week on legislation introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to refinance rates on high-interest and private student loans, after holding three events last week on the topic. Democrats are united on the measure, which they … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Budget Committee Report Last week, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) released a report which details her priorities for the federal budget over the next two years. Chairman Murray called on her colleagues to use the greater budget certainty provided for the next year as a result of the December 2013 … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Markey-Hatch Student Data Privacy Bill Sens. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) circulated a draft bill last week to amend and modernize the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). The bill is intended to increase protection for student information, especially data held by third parties, but has yet to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Charter School Legislation Last Friday, the House overwhelmingly passed (360-45) legislation to rewrite charter school law, with an emphasis on supporting state efforts to start, expand, and replicate high-performing charter schools. The bill’s sponsors in the House are hopeful that such a strong vote will encourage Senate action on charter school legislation. Despite … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity R & D Tax Credits On Wednesday, the House is scheduled to consider a bill (HR 4438) to permanently extend the research and development (R & D) tax credit while modifying the calculation method and the rate for the tax credit. As the temporary tax credit provision for qualified R & D expenses … Continue Reading