On August 24, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Secretary Duncan will participate in the first-ever #AskArne Twitter Town Hall.
Veteran education journalist John Merrow will moderate the event, which will also be broadcast live on the Department’s USTREAM channel at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/education-department.
Twitter users can submit questions to the Secretary using the hashtag #AskArne.
Today the Washington House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee held a work session that focused on the impacts of the biennial budget and tuition policy changes to higher education.
Representatives from each of the public, baccalureate institutions and the community and technical colleges testified to the impact of the 2011-13 biennial budget on their students and institutions and the policy changes each institution adopted with regard to tuition.
Members of the Committee asked several questions with regard to the impact on financial aid with the passage of the budget and House Bill 1795. In addition, some members noted the sea change that has taken place as a result of HB 1795 and asked the institutions to provide feedback to policymakers as the various policies are implemented on campus.
The Committee also heard from experts regarding the impact of budget reductions on K-12, the latest high school graduate rate metrics, and efforts with regard to the transition between high school and college.
In July the National Governors Association (NGA) met to dialogue on a variety of issues facing states, including the role of higher education in global competitiveness.
A key part of the conversation with regard to higher education focused on a report introduced by Governor Gregoire, as part of her NGA Chair’s initiative Complete to Compete, that focuses on restructuring state higher education accountability systems. The report, From Information to Action: Revamping Higher Education Accountability Systems, makes the case that states should include efficiency and effectiveness metrics in their accountability systems to help answer for key policy questions.
The report goes on to suggest that several policy options are available to make better use of accountability measures, including bugeting, funding, and regulation.
Late Sunday congressional leaders appeared to have reached a deal to increase the nation’s debt ceiling. Though the impacts to higher education may not be the worst-case scenarios feared among advocates, as details come clear it is apparent that the plan leaves much long-term uncertainty for higher education.
Impacts to Financial Aid
In a fact sheet provided by the White House, funding for Pell Grants was protected. The plan “provides specific protection in the discretionary budget to ensure that there will be sufficient funding for the President’s historic investment in Pell Grants without undermining other critical investments.” Prior plans from both the Senate and the House would have directly appropriated funding for the Pell Grants in FY 12 and 13.
Despite the preservation of the Pell Grant, the deal does reduce some higher education benefits. Among the changes is the elimination of the interest subsidy for graduate student loans and the elimination of repayment incentives for federal student loans.
The Plan- Impact to Higher Education
The plan gives President Obama the authority to increase the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion. The plan immediately enacts discretionary spending caps for 10-years for nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction to be balanced between defense and non-defense spending.
In addition a bipartisan committee is established to identify an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. The Committee is required to put their recommendations into legislation by November 23, 2011 and Congress is required to vote on the recommendations by December 23, 2011. If the Committee fails an enforcement mechanism will trigger spending reductions beginning in 2013 to be a fifty-fifty split between domestic (i.e. discretionary spending and some entitlement programs) and defense spending. Social security, medicare beneficiaries, and low-income programs are protected from further reductions.
It still remains unclear exactly what discretionary spending would fall under the reductions if the enforcement mechanism is used. Further discretionary reductions could impact several key higher education programs, including Perkins Loans, the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant and TRIO programs. As the details come to light, what is known is that higher education will be competing for a slice of an increasingly smaller federal pie.
After two years since the passage of legisation to examine and potentially modify how teachers are paid in Washington, the Compensation Technical Working Group convened for the first time this week.
The Compensation Technical Working Group, a fifteen member group, was established in HB 2261 in 2009 and modified through HB 2776 in 2010. The focus of the group is to examine the current enhanced salary allocation model (SAM) for teachers and compensation issues related to classified staff and administrators.
The Work Group is charged with recommending details of an enhanced model that aligns state expectations for educator development and certification with the compensation system and providing an implementation schedule. The law requires the Work Group to make recommendations on several issues, including:
The Work Group faces a demanding schedule over the next 18-months. The recommendations and report of the Work Group are due to the Governor and Legislature by December 1, 2012.
A bill signing ceremony has been scheduled – Wednesday, June 15- to act on the operating and capital budget bills and all remaining policy bills that have not been signed to date.
Among the bills to be signed by the Governor is the 2011-13 operating budget (HB 1087), and the two bills that comprised the capital budget (HB 1497- capital budget and HB 2020 – bond authorization bill). In addition the Governor will consider action on the compensation reduction bill (SB 5860), legislation to create the Department of Enterprise Services (SB 5931), and a bill that makes several changes to Higher Education Retirement Plans and retire-rehire practices at higher education institutions (HB 1981).
Yesterday two of Washington’s major private employers – Microsoft and Boeing – each gave $25 million to start the Washinton Opportunity Scholarship program.
The program was established under legislation signed by Governor Gregoire on Monday.
House Bill 2088 creates an endowment for students pursuing a baccalaureate degree in a high demand field.
The Opportunity Scholarship Program and the Opportunity Expansion Program to mitigate the impact of tuition increases, increase the number of baccalaureate degrees in high employer demand and other programs, and invest in programs and students to meet market demand fields of study while filling middle-income jobs with a sufficient supply of skilled workers.
The Opportunity Scholarship Board is established to identify eligible education and training programs for purposes of the opportunity scholarship, select institutions of higher education to receive opportunity expansion awards, set fundraising goals, and solicit funds.
The Opportunity Scholarship Program will be funded by a combination of private and state moneys. The state match, which must be appropriated by the Legislature, is earned for private contributions made after the effective date and must be paid beginning the later of January 1, 2014, or the first year with state revenues 10 percent higher than those received in fiscal year 2008. The state match payments are capped at $50 million annually.
The Opportunity Expansion Program will be funded with voluntary contributions of high technology research and development tax credits.
Yesterday the Governor signed a suite of higher education related bills that will alter higher education in Washington over the next biennium.
The most dramatic changes to higher education come from House Bill 1795 signed into law by the Governor. In broad strokes the bill: (1) Provides tuition setting authority to the public, baccalaureate institutions in Washington for eight years and provides increased institutional financial aid to offset tuition increases; (2) Creates a consistent, uniform, and transparent performance measurement system; and (3) Tightens existing transfer policies and expands prior learning opportunities.
The bill, as passed by the Legislature, also provided regulatory relief for the institutions ranging from changes to procurement thresholds to the elimination of restrictions on equipment, travel, and meeting spaces. However, the Governor vetoed most of this section.
Another major change will come from the passage and signing into law of Senate Bill 5182. This bill eliminates the Higher Education Coordinating Board and creates the Council for Higher Education and the Office of Student Financial Assistance as of July 1, 2012.
To guide this restructuring effort a steering committee on higher education is created to establish the purpose, functions, and membership of the Council. The Steering Committee is chaired by the Governor or the Governor’s designee and includes four legislators and equal representation from higher education sectors in the state.
The Governor did veto a portion of Senate Bill 5182 that reflected a technical error. As the bill was drafted the effective date of the transfer of powers would occur prior to the creation of the new office of student financial assistance on July 1, 2012. The Governor vetoed this section of the bill with the acknowledgement that the new higher education steering committee will make recommendations concerning higher education governance prior to the 2012 legislative session and the expectation is that the transfers of authority will be considered as part of these recommendations.
Over the next year the Higher Education Coordinating Board will remain in place and focus on a narrower portfolio of work to reflect the reduction in funding for the agency.
The Governor also signed legislation that will alter the Committee which oversees Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program. Senate Bill 5749 makes the following changes:
Finally the Governor signed into law legislation that will create an endowment for students pursuing a baccalaureate degree in a high demand field.
House Bill 2088 creates the Opportunity Scholarship Program and the Opportunity Expansion Program to mitigate the impact of tuition increases, increase the number of baccalaureate degrees in high employer demand and other programs, and invest in programs and students to meet market demand fields of study while filling middle-income jobs with a sufficient supply of skilled workers.
The Opportunity Scholarship Board is established to identify eligible education and training programs for purposes of the opportunity scholarship, select institutions of higher education to receive opportunity expansion awards, set fundraising goals, and solicit funds.
Late this afternoon the Washington Senate passed legislation that would establish an endowment for students studying in high-demand fields.
HB 2088 creates the Opportunity Scholarship Program and the Opportunity Expansion Program to mitigate the impact of tuition increases, increase the number of baccalaureate degrees in high employer demand and other programs, and invest in programs and students to meet market demand fields of study while filling middleincome jobs with a sufficient supply of skilled workers.
House Bill 2088 now goes to the Governor.
This morning the Washington House passed a series of bills that together will implement the capital budget for the 2011-13 biennium.
State Debt Limit
With a vote of 79-14 the House passed legislation to reduce the state debt limit. Senate Bill 5181 requires the State Finance Committee to recommend a working debt limit for purposes of budget development for capital bond appropriations that is lower than the constitutional debt limit. The working debt limit must be updated periodically following the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council’s forecasts, and may be modified in response to extraordinary economic conditions.
The State Finance Committee may reduce or delay the issuance of bonds if an issuance would result in exceeding the recommended working debt limit. Finally, the Governor and the Legislature must develop capital bond budgets within the recommended working debt limit.
In addition the bill creates a Commission on State Debt to assist the Legislature in examining the kinds of debt incurred by the state, and the limits on the amount and use of debt.
The twelve-member Commission is chaired by the State Treasurer, and also includes the Director of the Office of Financial Management, four legislative members, and six independent members.
Bond Bill
With a vote of 84-10, the House passed legislation (HB 2020) to provide $1.4 billion in new state general obligation bonds to support the 2011 Supplemental and 2011-13 Capital Budget. In addition the bill reduces 2011 Supplemental bond appropriations by $32 million.
Capital Budget
With a vote of 94-0, the House passed the 2011-13 capital budget (HB 1497). The 2011-13 Capital Budget authorizes $3.1 billion in new capital projects, of which $1.4 billion are financed with new state general obligation bonds.
All three bills now go to the Senate for further consideration.