Congress Approves College Cost Reduction Act
Discussion Draft of NCLB Released, ACTE Submits Comments and Testifies
Social Security Offsets - Latest News
Congress Approves College Cost Reduction Act
On September 7th, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction Act (HR. 2669). In the Senate the Act was passed 79-12 with nine senators not voting. Please view the Senate vote. Later that same day, the House also passed the Act by a 292-97 vote. The roll call vote is available. It has now moved to President Bush’s desk waiting to be signed into public law.
Highlights of the bill include:
- Increasing Pell Grants- Congress will continue to fund Pell Grants with discretionary funds at the current level of $4,310 for the maximum award, however increases to the grants will be added starting in FY2008 with mandatory funds of $410 to give a maximum Pell Grant award a new total of $4,800. The Pell grant maximum award level will continue to increase over the next five years on the mandatory spending side to increase the total maximum award to a projected $5,400 in FY 2012. Typically all education programs are considered discretionary spending because the funding has to go through the appropriation process every fiscal year. Programs like Medicare are under mandatory funding. This is funding guaranteed at a certain level each year, eliminating the possibility of a cut or elimination in funding.
- TEACH Grants – These grants encourage future teachers to teach in a high-need subject (i.e. science, technology, engineering and math) in a high-need/low performing school. Undergraduate and graduate students pursuing an education degree could receive scholarships through the TEACH grants if he/she commits to teaching in these high-need schools for four years.
- Student loan forgiveness is provided in the bill for early childhood educators, school librarians, and public safety employees. Also, the Act allows military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan deferment on their student loan payments until they return home.
Due to the fact that H.R. 2669 is a budget reconciliation bill, any new projects that require funding must be offset by costs from other programs. To provide these offsets the Act will reduce lender subsidies by $20 billion in five years and invest $19 billion in the new projects listed above. The majority of the remaining billion dollars will be directed to helping to reduce the federal budget deficit.
Discussion Draft of NCLB Released, ACTE Submits Comments and Testifies
The reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has begun in full swing. At the end of August, the House Education and Labor Committee released Title I of the education act. This title focuses primarily on disadvantaged students, dropout rates, accountability provisions, and college and workforce readiness. ACTE submitted comments on the draft on September 4, 2007. A draft on the remaining titles of NCLB was released later that week, and ACTE is working hard to read through this draft and submit comments to the committee. The discussion drafts are available on the House Committee on Education and Labor’s Web site.
On Monday, September 10, 2007, ACTE Executive Director, Jan Bray, testified before the committee. She focused her comments on the workforce readiness and high school reform sections of the draft bill. Ms. Bray began her comments by addressing the Graduation Promise Fund, a fund that helps the schools with the highest drop out rates make the necessary improvements to ensure that students graduate.
She followed this by commending the committee on the language they added on postsecondary and workforce readiness. This language creates funding incentives for states and localities to align their curriculum with the skills that employers expect in today’s competitive workplace. Ms. Bray also encouraged the committee to add language to support academic and technical skills integration in high schools to provide relevance to core academics which could help retain at risk students in high schools.
Multiple indicators were addressed in the bill, and ACTE supports this measurement of student progress. ACTE believes that multiple indicators show student achievement more accurately than a single assessment.
There is concern in the Title I draft bill over the lack of language related to guidance and career development. ACTE urged the Committee to review this section to include more guidance on career exploration for students.
You can view Ms. Bray’s testimony.
It is expected that the completed No Child Left Behind Act will be introduced by the end of this month. ACTE is following this legislation very closely. Please review ACTE’s NCLB recommendations.
Social Security Offsets - Latest News
ACTE has been following the two Social Security Act amendments that negatively impact thousands of CTE educators. Although there has not been any movement on the Social Security Act, there is talk that the House Committee on Ways and Means may hold a hearing on the law late this year.
The amendments that negatively impact ACTE members are the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision. Both of these amendments have the potential to reduce or eliminate benefits that public employees or their spouses have earned and are expecting in retirement. Please visit ACTE’s background information.
ACTE is urging all members to visit the National Education Association’s action center to see if your Representative or Senator has agreed to cosponsor the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82/S. 206) which would repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Provision, ensuring that CTE educators receive the retirement benefits they are entitled.
ACTE is a member of the Coalition to Assure Retirement Equity (CARE) and is working closely with this group to track all movement of the Social Security Act and the Social Security Fairness Act. Please sign the National Education Association’s petition to support the Social Security Fairness Act. For additional information or any questions, please contact Jamie Baxter, Advocacy Associate.
