Congress Passes Bill to Stabilize Student Loan Market

On May 1, H.R. 5715, the “Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act” was cleared to be signed into law by the President. As reported in our April 22 Legislative Update, the House originally approved the bill 383-27 on April 17.

The Senate made minor changes and approved the bill by unanimous consent on April 30. The changes included adding provisions to chan­nel any savings from the bill to Academic Competitiveness and SMART Grants in order to decrease students’ reliance on high-cost non-federal loans and allow 100,000 more students to qualify for as much as $4,000 more per year in grant aid. The changes would also sunset the “lender of last resort schools” authority of the Education secretary at the end of the 2008-09 school year. This provision allows the Education secretary to designate entire schools as lender of last-resort schools if many students at such schools are having trouble obtaining loans.

To avoid a lengthy conference process negotiating differences, the Senate-amended bill was then sent back to the House for final approval, and was passed 388-21 on May 1. The final legislation will raise federal loan limits for undergraduates by $2,000 and make it easier for parents to take out low-cost federal loans for their children under the PLUS loan program.

In other Higher Education Act news, Congress has cleared the fifth extension of the law, S. 2929, this year as work continues on the comprehensive reauthorization. The law technically expired on April 30, but the extension would last until May 31. Congress still hopes to complete the final reauthorization by that time, but work could continue into the summer.

For more details and the latest updates, visit ACTE’s Higher Education Act Reauthorization Web page.

Bush Administration Proposes NCLB Regulations; Public Meetings to Follow

On April 22, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) proposed new regulations for Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act intended to build on state accountability systems that have been developed since NCLB was signed into law. The proposed regulations are focused on the areas of assessment, accountability, supplemental educational services (SES) and public school choice.

The Secretary’s action follows comments she has made indicating she would take action on NCLB if Congress did not move to reauthorize the law this year, and a tour of states where she discussed moving the Bush Administration NCLB agenda forward.

Rep. George Miller, Chair of the Education and Labor Committee in the House of Representatives, has indicated mixed reaction to the Secretary’s announcement stating “What the Bush administration proposed today is a series of piecemeal changes to a law that really needs a comprehensive overhaul. Some of the proposed changes, like requiring a uniform graduation rate, are long overdue; other proposed changes are unhelpful.”

Senate Democrats, including Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Sen. Edward Kennedy appear happier with the proposals, although they indicate some of the issues will need to be reviewed during reauthorization of the law.

A week after the release of the newly proposed regulations in the Federal Register, Secretary Spellings announced a series of public meetings to be held around the country to discuss the proposed changes. The meetings will seek comments from the public.

Generally, ACTE is supportive of the proposed regulations which put into action many of the recommendations that have been made by ACTE and other organizations over the past few years since NCLB was passed into law. ACTE will release a series of talking points this week to help CTE educators better understand the regulations in relation to ACTE’s NCLB recommendations released last year.

House Education and Labor Committee Considers School Construction Bill

On April 30, the House Education and Labor Committee passed a bill, H.R. 3021, by a vote of 28-19 to help ensure that school buildings serve as safe and healthy learning environments. If enacted, the 21st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act would:

• Provide schools with access to funding for modernization, renovation and repair projects.
• Encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools.
• Provide additional aid to Gulf Coast schools still recovering from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

A fact sheet and press release are available on the Committee’s Web site. The bill must now continue through the legislative process to the full House.