Education Resolutions (Los Angeles, 6/25/07)

LEGISLATION

Weekly Update – March 7, 2008

Higher Education Conference Negotiations Postponed Until After March Recess

The Higher Education Act reauthorization bill will not come to the floor in either chamber until after the March recess. Members have been informally negotiating the House (HR4137) and Senate (S1642) bills since the House passed its measure on February 7 on a 354-58 vote. The Senate passed its higher education legislation 95-0 on July 24 of last year.

The underlying law (PL 105-244) has not been fully renewed for 10 years. Because of the delay in reaching a compromise, Congress will be required to pass another extension of the law, as the latest extension (PL 110-109), which is the third in this Congress, expires on March 31.

The lead Senate sponsor, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Senator Ted Kennedy (MA), said on Wednesday, March 5, that he and House counterpart, House Education and Labor Committee George Miller (CA), hope to have compromise legislation ready sometime after the two-week recess at the end of March.

Weekly Update – February 29, 2008

Pre-Conference Begins on the Higher Education Act Reauthorization

Staff members on the Senate and House Education committees have begun “pre-conference” discussions on reconciling their versions of the Higher Education Act reauthorization bills. According to Staff, it is expected to be a “month-long-plus” Conference and will probably not be finished before the latest extension of the act expires March 29. Their goal is to complete the conference in April.

The bills have some significant differences with cost being one of the most striking. The House legislation authorizes over $40 billion more than the Senate version - $53.6 billion over five years for the Senate measure and $97.4 billion for the House. In addition, the House measure calls for a much larger increase in the maximum-authorized Pell Grant, from the current $4,300 to $9,000 in the House bill compared to only $6,300 in the Senate bill. The Pell Grant increase accounts for $67 billion of the House bill's cost.

Weekly Update – February 15, 2008

Negotiations on Higher Education Reauthorization to Begin Soon

It is anticipated that staff from the House Education and Labor and the Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committees will soon begin discussions prior to a Conference Committee to resolve the differences between their Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization bills. A Conference Committee is expected to meet in the next 6-8 weeks.

The current HEA extension expires on March 31, 2008.

Weekly Update – February 8, 2008

House Passes Higher Education Act Reauthorization

On Thursday, February 8, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved (354-58) legislation to renew the Higher Education Act of 1965, the primary laws governing colleges, universities, and federal student aid. The College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137) sets higher education policy for the next five years.

Specifically the legislation:

Contains a $20 billion increase in federal student aid, the largest boost since the G.I. Bill of 1944, according to House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (CA); Authorizes the maximum level for the Pell Grant to $9,000 a year from the current school year award of about $4,300; Simplifies the federal financial aid process for students; Includes measures requiring colleges to disclose their relationships with lenders and banning banks that issue federally backed loans from giving gifts and entering into profit-sharing agreements with colleges; and Requires textbook publishers to disclose the price of books when they sell them to teachers and ends a practice in which publishers sell books and supplemental materials together, which can drive up costs for students. The bill will now head to Conference with the Senate.

Weekly Update – February 1, 2008

House Higher Education Vote to Take Place Next Week

According to the House Education and Labor Committee, the House is expected to vote on Thursday, February 7 on the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137), the comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The legislation would set higher education policy for the next five years and address such issues as rising college costs, lender/financial aid professional relationships, simplification of the financial aid application process, and loan forgiveness for national need occupations, among others.

The last major action was completed by the Committee on November 14, 2007. The House Committee on Rules is slated to meet to report out a rule on the bill next Wednesday, with the full chamber set to vote the following day. If approved, a House-Senate conference committee will have to work out differences between HR 4137 and the Senate version (S 1642) passed by a 95-0 vote on July 24, 2007.

Weekly Update – January 4, 2008

Higher Education Amendments Become Law

On December 21, 2007 the President signed S. 2371 to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make technical corrections regarding untaxed income and benefits, Income-Based Repayment for married borrowers filing separately and Teach Grants.

A comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act was not completed during the first session of the 110th Congress and is expected to be on the agenda in the second session.

Weekly Update – November 16, 2007

The House Education and Labor Committee Approved Higher Education Act Renewal

On Thursday, November 15, the House Education and Labor Committee unanimously approved a five-year comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the primary federal law expanding college access for low and middle-income students. The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (H.R. 4137) would reform and strengthen the nation’s higher education programs to ensure that they operate in the best interests of students and families.

The bill is likely to go to the House floor shortly after the Thanksgiving break. The Senate passed its version by a 95-0 vote in July. This bill would complement the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 that was signed into law on September 27, which slashed subsidies to lenders such as Sallie Mae, in order to boost the funds available for student aid. This legislation strengthens those previously approved provisions to avoid further conflicts of interest in the student loan industry.

The bill would increase the maximum authorized Pell grant for low-income college students to $9,000 per year, from $5,800, and would allow the grants to be used year-round. In addition, the legislation would address the rising cost of college by encouraging colleges to limit price increases, ensuring that states maintain their commitments to higher education funding, and providing students and families with consumer friendly information on college pricing and the factors driving tuition increases.

The legislation would also streamline the federal student financial aid application process; make textbook costs more manageable for students; strengthen college readiness programs; increase college aid and support programs for veterans and military families; improve safety on college campuses and help schools recover and rebuild after a disaster; ensure equal college opportunities and fair learning environments for students with disabilities; and strengthen our nation’s workforce and economic competitiveness by boosting science, technology, and foreign language educational opportunities.

Weekly Update - October 26, 2007

House Passes another Higher Education Act Extension

On Tuesday, October 22 the House approved “The Third Higher Education Extension Act of 2007” which provides for an unrevised six-month extension of the Higher Education Act through April 30, 2008. The move marks the ninth temporary extension of HEA since 2003.

Weekly Update - October 5, 2007

House Republicans Introduce Higher Education Legislation

On October 4, 2007 House Education and Labor Committee Republicans introduced H.R. 3746, the College Access and Opportunity Act, that builds upon reforms proposed by Republicans in recent years to expand college access, accountability, and affordability.

The College Access and Opportunity Act seeks to achieve Republican goals to empower higher education consumers; create common sense reforms of student financial aid programs to better serve changing student populations; and address the issue of rising college costs.

More specifically, the legislation aims to give consumers more information about what they’re paying for; establishes a college affordability comparison to help put the cost increases into perspective; protects students from financial aid conflicts of interest; makes accrediting agencies more accountable; and makes transfer of credit policies public.

In addition, it will strengthen Pell Grants; simplify the financial aid process; ensure fair treatment of institutions of higher education; strengthen federal college access programs; and support minority serving institutions.

In order to strengthen financial aid opportunities, this measure will ensure fair loan terms for parents and graduate students; create a one-stop financial aid website; and target loan forgiveness to priority fields.

Weekly Update - September 28, 2007

Bush Signs College Cost Reduction Act into Law

On Thursday, September 27, President Bush signed legislation overhauling federal student loan programs that will give needy students more help in paying for college.

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which becomes effective Monday, October 1, reduces subsidies to lenders, redirects that money to allow more than $20 billion in additional grants and loans to students, and eases the repayment process for students over the next five years. It is the largest increase in federal financial help for students since the G.I. Bill.

Congress overwhelmingly backed a compromise version of the student-aid legislation earlier this month. The House approved it 292-97; the Senate vote was 79-12. All lawmakers who voted against the bill were Republicans.

The bill is the lone reconciliation measure called for under the fiscal 2008 budget resolution (S Con Res 21), which allows members to tap into funds from federal entitlement programs and use them to expand spending on discretionary programs as long as they agree to put some of the money toward deficit reduction. This procedural maneuver was included in the budget resolution to protect it from a Senate filibuster, which would have required 60 votes to overcome.

Weekly Update – September 7, 2007

Congressional Leaders Finalize Student Aid Conference Negotiations

Both the House and the Senate are expected today to adopt the conference report accompanying the College Cost Reduction Act (HR 2669) that would cut about $20 billion from student loan lender subsidies and use the funds to increase aid to college students and reduce student loan interest rates.

Congressional leaders reached an agreement on the compromise legislation on Wednesday that essentially splits the difference between the House and Senate bills, taking elements of both. The College Cost Reduction Act reduces rates on student loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over four years, and authorizes roughly $11 billion in new funding to raise the maximum amount for Pell Grants for low-income students. The legislation also includes $750 million in deficit reduction as mandated by the 2008 budget resolution.

On Thursday, September 6, President Bush withdrew his threat to veto the legislation, explaining that the compromise bill responded to his call to “significantly increase funding for Pell Grants.”

Weekly Update - August 3, 2007

House and Senate Agree on Conference Report for America Competes Act

On Thursday, August 2, Congress approved broad legislation to promote math and science skills and develop the technology needed to compete in the global economy.

The House-Senate compromise combines elements of five bills already passed by the House creating programs to encourage people to study and teach math and science, support high-risk technology research and increase funds for the National Science Foundation and other science-based agencies.

The House voted 367-57 in favor of the conference report on HR 2272, “America COMPETES Act,” while the Senate approved the bill on a voice vote.

The bill calls for spending $33.6 billion over the next three years for science, technology, engineering and mathematics research and education programs across four federal agencies.

President Bush has expressed concerns about the legislation’s funding levels and priorities, but is expected to sign it.

The Higher Education Act is Temporarily Extended

On Thursday, August 2, President Bush signed S. 1868, the “Second Higher Education Extension Act of 2007,” which extends programs under Higher Education Act of 1965 through October 31, 2007, into law.

Weekly Update – July 27, 2007

Senate Passes Higher Education Reauthorization with Bi-Partisan Consensus

On Tuesday, July 24, the Senate approved legislation to renew the primary laws governing colleges, universities, and federal student aid. The Higher Education Amendments of 2007 (S 1642) would -among many other things - raise the maximum Pell Grant to $6,300, simplify the process to apply for federal financial aid, restrict the relationships between lenders and colleges, and increase scrutiny of colleges that raise tuitions sharply. Demonstrating a rare bi-partisan consensus, the Senate passed the legislation by an overwhelming 95-0 margin.

According to House Education and Labor Committee Chairman, George Miller (CA) this bill includes critical provisions that the House has already passed in the Student Loan Sunshine Act, including those to address corrupt practices within the student loan industry. The House has yet to consider its own comprehensive legislation to strengthen and renew the Higher Education Act (PL 105-244).

The bill now awaits conference with the House. After the vote, Senator Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, suggested that there is an “outside chance” that Congress could finish a conference on both the higher-education reauthorization and student loan industry bills before the August recess. The Senate’s action later in the day, however, indicated otherwise when they passed legislation to temporarily extend the current law for three additional months, through October 31. The current extension (PL 110-44) is set to expire on July 31.

Weekly Update – July 20, 2007

Senate Passes Bill to Boost Student Aid

Early Friday morning, the Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to bolster college financial aid by about $18 billion by cutting federal subsidies to lenders.

The Higher Education Access Act of 2007 (S. 1762), approved by a 78-18 margin, would cut interest rates for student borrowers, provide loan forgiveness for graduates pursuing certain public-service careers, and cap loan repayment installments at 15 percent of monthly income.

In addition, would increase funding to low income Pell Grant recipients. The annual maximum level for Pell grants would go up in stages to $5,400 a year by 2011 from the current $4,310 maximum.

To pay for the proposal, lawmakers would cut roughly $18 billion in federal subsidies to banks that issue government-backed student loans. The measure would include $950 million in deficit reduction. Budget rules mandate that $750 million of the savings to go toward reducing the federal deficit.

The House passed its companion legislation (H.R. 2669) last week and the measure will now move to conference.

(Weekly Update – July 13, 2007)

House Passes College Financial-Aid Bill

On Wednesday, July 11, the House passed the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (HR 2669), which would bolster college financial aid by about $18 billion over the next five years and cut federal subsidies to lenders.

The bill is the lone reconciliation measure called for under the fiscal 2008 budget resolution (S Con Res 21), which allows members to tap into funds from federal entitlement programs and use them to expand spending on discretionary programs as long as they agree to put some of the money toward deficit reduction. This procedural maneuver was included in the budget resolution to protect it from a Senate filibuster, which would require 60 votes to overcome. The legislation, however, is still at risk as the Administration has threatened to pursue a Presidential veto. In the end, the final 273-149 vote falls shy of the two-thirds vote needed to override a veto.

Democrats have called the passage of the bill the “single largest effort to help students pay for college since the GI Bill.” The legislation, would increase Pell Grant scholarships by $500 over the next five years, cut interest rates on need-based loans in half, and allow forgiveness of loans for those in public service professions and provide for nearly $1 billion in deficit reduction.

House Education Committee Republican Ranking Member Howard “Buck” McKeon (CA) led yesterday’s Republican effort to scale back on entitlement spending and redirect a larger amount of reconciliation funds to increase Pell Grants. His amendment proposed a reduction in student loan subsidies to fund a Pell Grant increase of $350 for FY 2008 and $100 thereafter. It was defeated 239-181.

Over the next few weeks, attention will turn to the Senate’s companion legislation, the Higher Education Access Act of 2007. The lender subsidy cuts contained in the Senate bill are slightly lower than those approved in H.R. 2669. The chamber is expected to take up its reconciliation measure later this month; a conference will then be required.

(Weekly Update – July 3, 2007)

Legislation to Prepare Workers for 'Green Collar' Jobs to Fight Global Warming

On Wednesday, June 27, the House Education and Labor Committee passed The Green Jobs Act of 2007 (HR 2847), by a vote of 26 to 18. The bill, introduced by Congressman Hilda Solis (CA) and Congressman John Tierney (MA), authorizes up to $125 million in funding to establish national and state job training programs to help train American workers for jobs in the renewable energy and energy-efficiency industries.

The Green Jobs Act would also help identify and track the new jobs and skills needed to grow renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. Among other things, this effort would link research and development in the green industry to job standards and training curricula.

The new job training programs would create jobs to put workers on a path to financial self-sufficiency. Funding for the programs could be used to pay for occupational training, as well as for support services for workers entering the training program, such as child care. Priority for these training programs would be given to veterans, displaced workers, and at-risk youth.

(Los Angeles Annual Meeting - June 21-23, 2007)

House

On June 6, by a voice vote, the House of Representative passed a temporary extension of programs under the Higher Education Act of 1965. Section 2(a) of the Higher Education Extension Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-81) is amended by striking ‘June 30, 2007’ and inserting ‘October 31, 2007.’

The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. If enacted the extension gives Congress an additional four months to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

Senate

On June 14, eighteen of the twenty-one members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee sent a letter to Education Secretary Margaret Spellings in which they “respectfully” asked her to refrain from issuing any new regulations until Congress passes legislation to renew the Higher Education Act.

The U.S. Department of Education had planned to propose changes in federal regulations governing the higher education accreditation system by July, with the goal of having them take effect a year from now, before the Bush Administration ends. However, if the Department moves forward in this regard, it would be defying Congressional direction to do otherwise.

The letter from the bipartisan group of senators, who represent all but three Republicans on the Senate education panel, represents an upturn in Congressional pressure on department officials not to proceed with their plans to use the federal regulatory process to try and transform the higher education’s system of self-regulation. Those efforts, which grew from the work last year of the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education have been controversial among many accreditors and college officials, who have accused the Department of seeking changes that are not supported in underlying federal laws governing accreditation, which have not changed since 1998.

The text of the Senators’ letter and a list of signers can be seen in Appendix III. The members of the Senate panel who did not sign the letter were Republican Senators Orrin Hatch (UT), Wayne Allard (CO), and Tom Coburn (OK).

On Wednesday, June 20, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a markup of the Higher Education Access Reconciliation Act and the Higher Education Amendments of 2007.

College Cost Reduction Act of 2007

On June 14, on a 30 to 16 vote, the House Education and Labor Committee passed the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669). Drafted by Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee George Miller (CA), the legislation would increase the maximum Pell Grant by $100 per year for five years, cap student loan payments to a manageable percentage, cut interest rates in half and cancel a student's debt after twenty years of repayment.

The bill would cut roughly $19 billion from lender and guarantor fees and redirect these funds to student aid. Republican committee members stated that the Democrat’s proposal was “extracting too much blood” from lenders.

Ranking Member Howard (Buck) McKeon (CA) offered substitute legislation that would have cut lender and guarantor payments by roughly $13.8 billion and redirected those funds to Pell grants. Additionally, his legislation would have corrected current law to equalize Direct Loan and FFEL PLUS loan rates at 7.9 percent, invested $12 billion in Pell grants to increase the maximum grant by $350 in 2008, provided approximately $2 billion for deficit reduction and created no new entitlement spending. His proposal was not approved by the Committee.

No Child Left Behind Act Reauthorization

President Bush and Congressional leaders from both parties continue to express their desire to reauthorize the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act before the August congressional recess. The present goal of both Committees is to mark up a reauthorization overhaul bill this summer. The House and Senate Education Committees have been actively holding hearings on NCLB this spring, and a draft bill is expected to start the negotiations in earnest sometime in June.

Among other provisions, the proposal will likely include changing Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) to a growth model and make it more flexible, amending the accountability model and rethinking assessments; redefining and clarifying teacher quality, and the assignment of highly qualified teachers to high-poverty schools; assessing English language learners and students with disabilities; resolving inequities among state standards and proficiency cut offs; revising the language concerning supplemental educational services and choice; rethinking the flexible use of funds and even the Title I formula; differentiating sanctions given the various level of needs schools have and forms of transformation; and addressing the controversy over whether there is too much emphasis on reading and math at the expense of other subjects or whether it is an issue of time on a subject versus courses taken.

Conventional wisdom holds that the spending bills will dominate the fall Congressional session, so if Congress fails to reauthorize NCLB before the August recess the process is likely to be pushed into 2008 or beyond.

(Weekly Update – June 16)

House Education and Labor Committee Passes College Cost Reduction Act

In response to the rising cost of higher education and the controversy surrounding the student loan industry, a bill under consideration in the House could reduce student loan interest rates, cut lender profits and forgive $5,000 in student loans for graduates who enter a social service profession.

On June 14, on a 30 to 16 vote, the House Education and Labor Committee passed the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669). Drafted by Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee George Miller (CA), the legislation would increase the maximum Pell Grant by $100 per year for five years, cap student loan payments to a manageable percentage, cut interest rates in half and cancel a student's debt after twenty years of repayment.

Ranking Member Howard (Buck) McKeon (CA) offered substitute legislation that would have cut lender and guarantor payments by roughly $13.8 billion and redirected those funds to Pell grants. Additionally, his legislation would have corrected current law to equalize Direct Loan and FFEL PLUS loan rates at 7.9 percent, invested $12 billion in Pell grants to increase the maximum grant by $350 in 2008, provided approximately $2 billion for deficit reduction and created no new entitlement spending. His proposal was not approved by the Committee.

(Weekly Update – June 8, 2007)

The Higher Education Act is Temporarily Extended

On June 6, by a voice vote, the House of Representative passed a temporary extension of the programs under the Higher Education Act of 1965. Section 2(a) of the Higher Education Extension Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-81) is amended by striking 'June 30, 2007' and inserting 'October 31, 2007'.

The extension gives Congress an additional four months to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

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