Tag Archives: federal

Education Stakeholders Forum – U.S. Department of Education

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On Monday, January 24, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time, the Department’s Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO) will host its first Education Stakeholders Forum of the new year.

The Secretary will outline the Department’s legislative and programmatic priorities for 2011, and senior officials will provide the latest information on the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program and a new initiative for sharing state data profiles.

As with previous forums, the meeting will take place at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. However, in an effort to make the information shared readily available, the Department will also be live streaming this forum.

Beginning at 9:00 a.m. that morning, anyone wishing to listen in to the forum proceedings can visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/education-department.

Federal Bill Introduced to Reduce Spending on Programs and Services

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This week, U.S. Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX) introduced the Cut Unsustainable and Top-heavy Spending (CUTS) Act to reduce federal spending by $153 billion over the next five years. The bill includes several provisions that would affect student aid, including:

  • Elimination of the administrative cost allowance (ACA) paid to schools for student aid administration to save $200 million over the next five years
  • Elimination of the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) Program to save $1 million over five years
  • Elimination of the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program to save $42 million over the next five years
  • Elimination of the Department of Education’s Legal Assistance Loan Repayment Program to save $5 million over the next five years.  

The Act is among several that have already been introduced in the U.S. House. Further action on this bill has yet to be scheduled.

TEACH Legislation Reintroduced in Congress

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This week U.S. Representative Baca (D-CA) reintroduced the Teacher Education Assistance Creating Hope (TEACH) for Our Future Act. 

The legislation is intended to provide all public elementary and high school teachers in the U.S. who have taught full time for five consecutive years the opportunity to receive $25,000 in student loan forgiveness.

New Chair of U.S. House Subcommittee on Higher Education Announced

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Yesterday, U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) announced that she will chair the higher education subcommittee.

Representative Foxx stated she was “excited to roll up my sleeves and work toward making our higher-education system even better while carefully stewarding taxpayer dollars.”

Representative Foxx also shared that she does not have an agenda yet but suggested she would not shield higher education prograrms from spending cuts and raised doubts regarding the need for community colleges to produce 5 million more graduates with degrees or certificates by 2020.

Representative Foxx was elected to Congress in 2004 after spending 10 years in the North Carolina Senate and several years as a professor and administrator at several North Carolina colleges. She also served as president of Mayland Community College in 1987.  She joined the education committee in Congress in 2005 and left in 2008 to serve on the rules committee.

Still No Federal Funding Bill; Continuing Resolution Seems to be the Answer

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With the end of the lame duck session nearing, Congress has yet to pass a final budget bill for FY2011. 

Currently, the federal government is being funded through a Continuing Resolution that is set to expire at midnight tomorrow (December 18).

Last week the U.S. House passed a new Continuing Resolution that would begin when the current resolution expires and extend funding for the federal government through the entire 2011 fiscal year and provide $5.7 billion to pay off the pending shortfall in the Pell Grant Program.

The U.S. Senate had hoped to take a different approach and pass an omnibus spending bill, which would have combined all twelve appropriations bills and included funding for the Pell Grant shortfall, but efforts to move this approach forward failed.

It is expected that the U.S. Senate will move forward, instead, with a short-term (i.e. 45-day) continuing resolution this weekend. The resolution would then have to go back to the U.S. House for passage.

Congress Passes Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act

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Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 (S. 3447).

The Act updates the original Post-9/11 GI Bill by addressing current implementation problems and making the policies more relevant to the needs of today’s veterans.

The final bill makes several changes to the current legislation.

  • Implements a benefit cap of $17,500 for beneficiaries who attend a private institution or an out-of-state institution.
  • Extends benefits to those in the National Guard and Reserve
  • Implements a “last-payer” provision which requires GI Benefits to be reduced by other aid that is specifically designated for the sole purpose of tuition and fees.
  • Excludes a “hold harmless” provision that would have protected veterans who are currently in the program.

The Act now goes to the President for his signature.

Education Tax Credits Extended

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Last night the U.S. House of Representatives passed the tax and unemployment benefit package – The Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010.  The U.S. Senate passed the bill earlier this week.

The Act includes several financial aid provisions for higher education.

  • An extension of the American Opportunity Tax Credit
  • An extension of the above-the-line tax deduction for qualified education expenses
  • An extension of the expanded Coverdell Education Savings Accounts
  • An extension of the expanded student loan interest deduction
  • An extension of the expanded exclusion for employer-provided educational assistance
  • An extension of the exclusion from income of amounts received under certain scholarship programs.

The Act now goes to the President for his signature.