Harkin introduces ESEA reauthorization. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced a bill (S. 1094) that would update the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), making changes to the previous reauthorization, known as No Child Left Behind. The 2001 No Child Left Behind law expired in 2007. Harkin's bill is designed to give school districts more flexibility in creating personalized student accountability systems and evaluation systems for teachers and principals and in intervening to improve failing schools. The legislation also includes language that would require states to expand early childhood education initiatives, such as guidelines for what children should know and be able to do prior to kindergarten entry to reduce gaps in school readiness, as well as incentives for states to provide full-day kindergarten if they don't already. The bill largely mirrors legislation approved during the previous Congress by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Harkin chairs. While No Child Left Behind was criticized for being strict and standardized, its data-collection provisions have been met with some praise and are expanded in this bill. Harkin's bill would require school districts to continue separating student achievement data across subgroups to highlight any potential disparities and expand the categories to include gender and English proficiency. The bill also includes a provision that would alter the way funding is dispersed for the Title 1 program for school districts that serve low-income students. The provision would ensure that local and state resources per pupil for Title 1 schools are equal to or greater than the average combined local and state funds per pupil in non-Title 1 schools. The Obama administration's waiver program has freed 37 states and the District of Columbia from many of the requirements in the current No Child Left Behind law's accountability system. Harkin's bill takes that into consideration by allowing a state to continue to use its Education Department-approved accountability system. Unlike last year's bill, the bill Harkin introduced Tuesday includes language requiring states and local school districts to develop their own teacher-evaluation system. The bill would write into law the Obama administration's signature competitive education grant program, Race to the Top, which was created with funding from the economic stimulus program and has been funded by appropriators since then, though it has never been written into law. It also writes into law another competitive grant program, Investing in Innovation, created with stimulus funding. The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is scheduled to markup Harkin's proposal on Tuesday. Among others, Senators Christopher Murphy (D-CT), Bernard Sanders (D-VT) Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have signed on to cosponsor the bill.

Alexander and Kline introduce ESEA reauthorization. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, introduced an alternative proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known in its current form as No Child Left Behind. The bill (S. 1101) would give states and local school districts more control over how they spend federal education dollars by consolidating the law's various programs into two large block grants. House Education and the Workforce Chair John Kline (R-MN) introduced similar legislation (H.R. 5) in the House, which would consolidate most funding into one block grant, and scheduled a June 19 markup. The proposals would eliminate the current accountability system and allow states to develop their own academic standards and assessments.

STEM education hearing. The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology held a hearing on STEM education policy. Lawmakers agreed that the government should be doing more to promote STEM education. The Obama administration has proposed reorganizing 226 programs at a dozen agencies as way to better target $3 billion worth of STEM education investments. The proposal, contained in the administration's 2014 budget request, would concentrate resources at three agencies; the Department of Education for elementary and secondary school programs, the National Science Foundation (NSF) for undergraduate and graduate programs, and the Smithsonian Institution for informal and public science activities. In opposition to the president's proposal, lawmakers from both parties also agreed on concerns related to the proposal, including the reduced funding for STEM education programs at NASA, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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 June 10, 2013.

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.

Democrats have expressed concern that the bill lacks a path for high-skilled immigrants' family members to receive green cards.  Under the STEM Jobs Act, spouses and children of STEM graduates would have their wait time to move to the U.S. reduced to one year. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) lauded the legislation, saying "Our commitment to foreign STEM graduates is a commitment to job creation. We need to bet on students who bet on America." Democrats further criticized the legislation, citing a lack of language ensuring unused STEM visas can be rolled over, as currently there are fewer STEM graduates than the allotted number of visas.  The NEC recently advocated in support of increasing the number of permanent resident "green cards" available to foreign-born graduates with advanced STEM degrees.

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 Dec. 3, 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.

On May 16, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for a Competitive Workforce released a report on ways to foster innovation in higher education, particularly among for-profit institutions. The report encourages colleges to "embrace private sector-led innovation to transform learning, dramatically lower costs, or improve overall institutional productivity." In order to reach President Obama's goal of having the most educated population in the world by 2020, the report argues, institutions of higher education should collaborate with organizations and businesses "outside the education establishment" to incorporate new ideas and technologies. It also warned that progress in the higher education arena could be "stifled through restrictive regulations on e-learning, discouraged through funding that fails to reward quality and outcomes, or simply thwarted by complacency within traditional intuitions." Among the named restrictive regulations were the "gainful employment" rules on for-profit colleges proposed by the Education Department. The rules, which would withdraw federal funding from programs at for-profit colleges whose graduates were having difficulty repaying their student loan debt, have been heavily criticized by industry advocates and some members of Congress. Other pending rules concerning accreditation procedures and recruiting practices were also criticized in the report for potentially stifling progress in higher education. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce held a forum discussing innovation and regulation in the for-profit sector to coincide with the release of the report. Scrutiny of for-profit colleges has been increasing since last year. The state of Massachusetts recently sent a request for information on recruitment and financial practices to several major for-profit colleges, including the University of Phoenix, which is the largest in the country.

The YouthBuild workforce development program will receive almost $76 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Labor to help at-risk youth earn high school degrees and receive job training in the construction and clean-energy fields. The funds will be distributed to programs throughout the country, with the following amounts going to New England programs:
-    Maine: LearningWorks will receive $1.08 million
-    Massachusetts: Training Resources of America Inc. will receive $808,200
-    Rhode Island: The Providence Plan will receive $1.1 million
-    Vermont: ReSOURCE will receive $1.02 million

From the New England Council's Weekly Washington Report Higher Education Update, May 23, 2011. NEBHE is a member of the Council and will publish this column each week.

Founded in 1925, the New England Council is a non-partisan 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.