Sequestration on education. Sequestration remains the greatest concern for education funding in the immediate future. State school board leaders went on the offensive last week to highlight the threat to education. Education funding has not been the focus of fiscal cliff discussions and is largely swept into the larger picture when discussing sequestration. The administration estimates an 8% to 9% cut across the board if sequestration goes into effect, which would mean a $4 billion reduction in education spending. Deborah Rigsby of the National School Board Association said that public education systems would be forced into larger class sizes, fewer course offerings, four-day school weeks, fewer extracurricular activities, less access to intervention programs and teacher layoffs. Schools do not function on the federal fiscal calendar, allowing them to defer cuts to programs until the 2013-14 school year, but officials say they are already planning for those budgets and 2013 funding will affect their schools. A July report by the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee said that sequestration would mean a $2.7 billion cut in federal funding in FY2013 for Title I grants for low-income school districts, special education state grants and Head Start.  

Few education initiatives likely as administration defends policy. The reelection of President Obama has education enthusiasts buzzing about the outlook for the next four years, but insiders think education policy might be in for lurching progress in Obama's second term in office. The most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was No Child Left Behind (NCLB) under President Bush, and schools have fallen way off those standards. An aide to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pointed out that those standards were not intended to last 10 years and ESEA was overdue for reauthorization. The Obama administration has been unable to find consensus on reauthorization and instead has chosen a path that allows the administration to influence new standards without congressionally approved reauthorization. The Department of Education (DOE), under Obama, has approved waivers to states that proposed alternative standards. The waivers excuse those states from the standards of NCLB, but only if new standards are found satisfactory to the federal government. The DOE has encouraged the adoption of common core standards although other standards have met approval. While this approach first seemed temporarily necessary to address encroaching deadlines, it has become the totality of the administration's approach during the first term. It is now possible that these waivers and deadlines could dominate education policy debate during Obama's second term. Many lawmakers are calling for the reauthorization of ESEA and had hopes that could happen in Obama's second term. For now, the administration will need to focus on defending the changes it has already made, and on the looming deadlines it approved for states. It will also have its hands full working for continued to support of federal financial aid and research funding during a time of budget cuts. A recent American Enterprise Institute forum gave a gloomy forecast for progress. A recent article by Inside Higher Ed was similarly pessimistic.

As a member of New England Council, we publish the DC Shuttle each week featuring higher ed news from Washington. This edition is drawn from the Council's Weekly Washington Report Higher Education Update, of Nov. 19, 2012.

Founded in 1925, the New England Council is a nonpartisan alliance of businesses, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations throughout New England formed to promote economic growth and a high quality of life in the New England region. The Council's mission is to identify and support federal public policies and articulate the voice of its membership regionally and nationally on important issues facing New England. For more information, please visit: www.newenglandcouncil.com.

Following the release of a Private Student Loans Report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on July 20, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection held a hearing Tuesday to address ballooning private student loan debt. Democrats on the Committee suggested regulation of the private student loan market was necessary and even said they would consider one of the report's recommendations allowing student borrowers to discharge debt in bankruptcy. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) has introduced the Fairness for Struggling Students Act (S. 1102) that would allow borrowers to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy, but Republicans on the Committee expressed concern with that idea and with new regulations. Also in the wake of the CFPB report, the Department of Education released a "shopping sheet" on Tuesday that the Obama Administration developed with help from the CFPB. The "shopping sheet" is a model financial aid letter that the administration believes will increase transparency in the student loan process. The letter is intended to "help students understand the type and amount of aid they qualify for and easily compare aid packages offered by different institutions," according to the Education Department. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he hoped pressure from students, parents and peer institutions would push colleges to adopt the standardized financial aid letter but added that he anticipated resistance from many schools.

On July 22, it was reported that the New Hampshire Board of Education plans to submit a waiver application to the Department of Education for an exemption from the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). According to New Hampshire Deputy Commissioner of Education Paul Leather, the state would submit an application during the third round of submissions, due in September, with the hope of having it enacted for the next school year. Though the state Board of Education had issued a statement in February saying it did not intend to apply for a waiver, Leather explained that subsequent discussions with federal officials led New Hampshire to believe there would be flexibility regarding the provisions of a waiver. Federal waiver requirements stipulate that approved applications will include teacher evaluations applicable to all districts. In New Hampshire, teacher accountability systems are determined by each district. The newly reported proposal would allow New Hampshire to establish recommended guidelines for teacher evaluations that would not need to be implemented.

As a member of New England Council, we publish the DC Shuttle each week featuring higher ed news from Washington. This edition is drawn from the Council's Weekly Washington Report Higher Education Update, of July 30, 2012.

Founded in 1925, the New England Council is a nonpartisan alliance of businesses, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations throughout New England formed to promote economic growth and a high quality of life in the New England region. The Council's mission is to identify and support federal public policies and articulate the voice of its membership regionally and nationally on important issues facing New England. For more information, please visit: www.newenglandcouncil.com.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) scheduled a final hearing on legislative language to reauthorize the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education law for Tuesday, Nov. 8. Educators and administrators are expected to testify to the burdensome requirements of the NCLB law, which the new legislation is intended to ameliorate. Although the HELP Committee voted 15 to 7 to approve the bill on Oct. 20, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argued that members had not had sufficient time to vet the bill before it heads to the Senate floor. Committee Chair and legislation author Tom Harkin (D-IA) agreed to hold an additional hearing on the legislation, the first HELP Committee hearing on the subject in 2011. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised to present the bill for a Senate vote as soon as possible, but with much work still to be done on provisions from President Obama's jobs bill proposal and the anticipated proposal from the deficit reduction Super Committee, it is uncertain whether Congress will be able to complete work on the NCLB reauthorization before the end of the year. If they do not, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is poised to offer waivers from the law's stringent requirements to states, in exchange for their implementing certain of the administration's priority reforms. Read the draft of the NCLB reform legislation as submitted to the HELP Committee on Oct. 17.

According to a report that the Project on Student Debt released Thursday, student borrowers who received four-year degrees in 2010 left school with an average of $25,250 in student loan debt. Of all the New England states, Massachusetts is the only one not in the top 10 states with the highest average student debt. New Hampshire is the highest, with an average of $31,048 in debt at graduation among students who took out loans.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was released on Tuesday, reporting math and reading proficiency levels for fourth- and eighth-grade students across the country. Math scores continued on a 20-year trend of improvement, but increases in reading scores were slight (eighth graders) or stagnant (fourth graders). David Driscoll, chair of the National Assessment Governing Board and former education commissioner for Massachusetts, noted that math scores were more directly tied to classroom instruction, whereas "reading instruction is a shared responsibility," with a significant portion of learning taking place in the context of other subject areas or outside school. Overall, about 40% of students scored "proficient" in math, and about one-third scored "proficient" in reading. Hispanic and African-American students' scores continue to improve, although the achievement gap with white students has proved difficult to mitigate. Massachusetts students scored the highest for reading and math in both grade levels, with Vermont and New Hampshire also in the top 10 for both fourth- and eighth-graders. Connecticut students also averaged in the top 10 for reading.

From the New England Council's Weekly Washington Report Higher Education Update, Nov. 7, 2011. NEBHE is a member of the Council and publishes this column each week.

Founded in 1925, the New England Council is a nonpartisan alliance of businesses, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations throughout New England formed to promote economic growth and a high quality of life in the New England region. The Council's mission is to identify and support federal public policies and articulate the voice of its membership regionally and nationally on important issues facing New England. For more information, please visit www.newenglandcouncil.com.