|
|
|
|
November 1, 2021 — Lewis-Burke Associates LLC
|
|
Washington continued a rhythm of big announcements and little action this month as congressional leaders found legislative deals elusive. President Biden announced a trimmed $1.75 trillion Build Back Better reconciliation framework last week to fund Democrat’s social and climate priorities, including potentially significant investments in higher education and workforce development, as detailed below. While House leaders quickly followed the announcement by unveiling new reconciliation legislation, the votes for passage in the House and Senate are still trying to be secured. Held up with the reconciliation negotiations is a bipartisan infrastructure package that has passed the Senate and includes among the usual transportation funds, a large investment in broadband deployment and a reauthorization of the surface transportation programs at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The Senate Democrats also unveiled their nine remaining fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations bills, outlining the marks for funding of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and several research agencies. As summarized below, the Senate bill for education would provide robust increases over FY 2021 levels, but many education and workforce programs fall short of the proposed increases included in the House bill. The House and Senate appropriations leaders have until December 3 to negotiate and find spending agreements. If none can be reached in time, agencies will likely face another temporary funding stop gap into the new year.
On the executive action side, it has become clear that many higher education institutions will be impacted by President Biden’s September Executive Order on COVID protocols for contractors as federal agencies moved this past month to revise and enact new contracts and cooperative agreements to include vaccine requirements. At ED, the Biden team kicked off its first negotiated rulemaking sessions to revise Title IV financial aid policies such as student loan discharge, loan forgiveness, and expanding Pell for prison programs.
|
|
CONGRESSIONAL UPDATES AND NEWS
Slimmer Social Infrastructure Package with Education and Workforce Spending Introduced
After several months of negotiations with progressive and moderate Democrats in both the House and Senate, the Biden Administration has trimmed their initial proposal to spend trillions on initiatives like free community college, paid family leave, school construction and more, into a $1.75 trillion package with no free community college or paid family leave. This is a considerable cut from the original proposal, which was initially packaged together into a budget reconciliation bill with a $3.5 trillion price tag. Uncertainty still remains on whether the Build Back Better Act will satisfy both moderate and progressive Democrats and be able to be passed into law.
As a reminder, because the proposal is being considered through reconciliation, it only needs 50 votes to pass the Senate, instead of the usual 60 required to pass most bills. Education and workforce development provisions in the current reconciliation bill include:
- Funding to support an increase to the maximum Pell Grant award by $550 for students at public and private non-profit institutions of higher education. Eligibility for Title IV financial aid programs would be expanded to individuals with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status;
- $9 billion in funding for HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions to support need-based financial aid to low-income students and research and development infrastructure;
- More than $400 million for teacher preparation efforts; and
- $1 billion for Registered Apprenticeships at the Department of Labor, among other programs at DOL and ED.
Lewis-Burke’s full analysis of the Build Back Better Act can be found here.
Senate Appropriations Committee Proposes a Big Boost for ED
As proposed in the Senate fiscal year (FY) 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS-ED) appropriations bill, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is proposed to receive more than $98.4 billion in discretionary appropriations, which is $24.9 billion more than in FY 2021. While the total proposed funding number is $4.4 billion less than the President’s budget request and a majority of the programs within ED would also receive less funding compared to the House version of the bill, the Senate’s version still reflects many of the priorities of the Biden Administration, as it includes significant increases to programs such as Title I grants to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), the Pell Grant program, the TRIO programs, and programs for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Further details on these and other increases are included below.
- Pell Grant awards would receive a $400 discretionary increase over the current maximum award level, bringing the maximum individual award for the Pell Grant to $6,895 for the 2022-2023 school year, which reflects the budget request. Unlike the FY 2022 House bill, the Senate bill would not extend Pell Grant eligibility to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients;
- TRIO Programs would receive $1.28 billion, which is an increase of $185 million over current levels;
- Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) is proposed to receive $400 million, a $32 million increase over the FY 2021 enacted level;
- Reflecting President Biden’s priority to support Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the Senate bill would provide significant increases for institutional programs, including:
- Title V Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions (Developing HSIs) Program would receive $226 million.
- Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) would receive $187 million.
- Strengthening Asian American and Native American Pacific-Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) Program is proposed to receive $18.3 million.
- Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Program would receive $395 million;
- The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), ED’s education research arm, would receive $814.4 million, a $171.9 million increase above the FY 2021 enacted levels and $76.9 million over the budget request;
- The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) account would receive $293 million, a $198 million increase over the FY 2021 level; and
- Career and Technical Education (CTE) would receive $1.4 billion. $25 million would support CTE national programs, with $15 million set aside to support innovative equity-focused CTE programs at high schools and middle schools, including career pathway opportunities.
More details of funding levels within these programs and others can be found in the full analysis provided by Lewis-Burke.
DOL Sees Proposed Increases in Senate Appropriations Labor-H Bill
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) would receive $13.8 billion in discretionary funding in the Senate fiscal year (FY) 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill, an increase of $1.3 billion over the FY 2021 level. This funding would support $2.9 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) State grants. Other programs that would see funding increases compared to FY 2021 include:
- Registered Apprenticeships would receive $245 million, an increase of $60 million;
- Youth Build would receive $120 million, an increase of $24 million;
- Reentry Employment Opportunities would receive $125 million, an increase of $25 million;
- The Dislocated Worker Assistance program would receive $1.1 billion;
- The Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) program would receive $45 million with funding divided amongst the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), Delta Regional Authority (DRA), and Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC);
- The Workforce Data Quality Initiative would receive $6 million in funding.
- The National Youth Employment Program would be established and funded at $25 million to serve disadvantaged youth through summer and year-round youth employment programs; and
- The new Veterans Clean Energy Training program would receive $10 million.
More details of funding levels within these programs and others can be found in the full analysis provided by Lewis-Burke.
Legislative Bills of Note
- S. 2976 (Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-AK)- Student Loan Repayment Freedom Act. This legislation would help ensure that repayment plans fit the needs of student loan borrowers by permitting the ability to switch from one income-based repayment plan to another without having to make a payment. The press release from Senator Murkowski can be found here.
- H.R. 5593 (Rep. Henry Johnson, D-GA)- Cybersecurity Opportunity Act. This legislation would direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to award grants to establish or expand cybersecurity education at institutions of higher education and require that at least 50% of those funding awards go to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and/or Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The full press release from Rep. Johnson can be found here.
- H.R. 5381 (Rep. Andy Kim, D-NJ)- FLAT Act. This legislation would direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on the front-loading of grant aid by institutions of higher education. The full press release from Rep. Kim can be found here.
- H.R. 5588 (Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-KY)- Net Price Calculator Improvement Act. This legislation would work to make Net Price Calculator tools more accessible and would require tuition, room and board, and other costs to be listed prominently on higher education institutions’ websites. The full press release from Rep. Guthrie can be found here.
|
|
|
ADMINISTRATION AND AGENCY UPDATES AND NEWS
Senate Continues DOL and ED Confirmations
The U.S. Senate continued to make progress on confirming President Biden’s nominees for the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Nominees for ED confirmed by the Senate on a voice vote (an expedited method of approving nominees) included Gwen Graham, to be Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs; Roberto Rodriguez, to be Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development; and Elizabeth Brown, to be General Counsel. Vice President Harris was needed to cast a tie-breaking vote to advance the nomination of Catherine Lhamon to be Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. This was due to concerns from Senate Republicans about her views on Title IX enforcement.
DOL nominee Jose Javier Rodriquez, who has been nominated to be an Assistant Secretary of Labor and lead the Employment and Training Administration, was not advanced by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. His failure to advance is likely due to opposition from Senate Republicans concerned about DOL’s oversight of COVID workplace safety measures. The HELP Committee did favorably advance the nomination for consideration by the full Senate of Amy Loyd to be Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education.
ED Continues to Make Progress on Public Service Loan Forgiveness Changes
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has made some notable changes regarding federal student aid this month. On October 4-8, ED held their first negotiated rulemaking session which focused on college affordability and student loans. These discussions included topics such as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, the adjudication process for borrower defense to repayment, and approaches to a new income-driven repayment plan (IDR). The Affordability and Student Loans Committee will meet another two times in November and December.
Following some of the sessions, on October 6, ED announced an overhaul to the PSLF program that will be implemented over the next year. Some of the policy changes include:
- Creating limited PSLF waivers to count all prior payments made by student borrowers toward PSLF;
- Reviewing denied PSLF applications and correcting errors to existing applications in PSLF processing;
- Improving outreach and communication with PSLF-eligible borrowers; and
- Simplifying the PSLF application process.
Through these policy changes, ED estimates that more than 550,000 student borrowers will see an increase in qualifying payments and roughly $4.56 billion in forgiveness for certain borrowers.
Lastly, On October 8, ED announced the creation of an Office of Enforcement within Federal Student Aid (FSA). This office, led by Kristen Donoghue, will support, and enforce actions against postsecondary institutions who participate in various federal student loans, grants, and work-study programs.
Open Funding Opportunities
Challenge.gov Offers Federal Engagement and Funding Opportunities
Challenge.gov is the official website for challenges and prize competitions sponsored by the U.S. government. The website allows federal agencies to post prize competitions open to the public to propose solutions for problems facing the United States. Deadlines, prize amounts, applications, and submission instructions vary by topic. Current challenges of note include:
EPA Releases RFA for Environmental Education Grant Program
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks grant applications to support environmental education projects that promote environmental awareness and stewardship and help provide people with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment. This grant program provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, and/or disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques. It is estimated that the EPA will award $2 to $3.5 million in grant funding, supporting more than 3,800 grants. All applications are due no later than December 6, 2021. More information can be found in the Request for Applications or by attending one of the webinars that the EPA periodically hosts on the grant program.
|
|
|
FACTS AND FIGURES: First Time Graduate Enrollment Increases but Not Amongst International Students
|
|
WHAT WE'RE READING
IES Releases Updates on Research Center Efforts to Increase Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
The Institute of Education Sciences gave updates on efforts to increase Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility through the release of Demographic and Institutional Data of Applicants to IES Grants. The full report can be found here, but some highlights include:
- “Gender (response rate of approximately 82%) - The majority of the principal investigators that applied for (62%) and received funding (59%) from IES identified as female.
- Race (response rate of approximately 75%) - The majority of principal investigators that applied for (78%) and received funding (88%) from IES identified as White, while 22% of applicants and 13% of awardees identified as non-White or multi-racial.
- Ethnicity (response rate of approximately 72%) - The majority of principal investigators that applied for (95%) and received funding (97%) identified as non-Hispanic.
- Disability (response rate of approximately 70%) - The majority of principal investigators that applied for (97%) and received funding (96%) identified as not having a disability.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
