Survival of the Fittest

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1 Survival of the Fittest Status of Federal Education Legislation Julia Martin, Esq. Spring Forum 2015 Agenda Congressional Priorities ESEA Higher Education Perkins Early Education Child Nutrition 2 Congressional Priorities 3 1

Simplify tax code Reduce spending by revising entitlement programs and

Regulatory reforms Education reforms 4 What are education priorities?

school access Reducing college costs FAST Act reintroduced on 2 nd day

forming K-12 education by: (mostly part of H.R.

over use of federal funds Increasing school choice options 5 Where does

2 What s Next? Joint op-ed from Boehner/McConnell in November lists priorities as: Simplify tax code Reduce spending by revising entitlement programs and other drivers of debt Legal reforms, including medical malpractice Regulatory reforms Education reforms 4 What are education priorities? Reform federal involvement in education through: Expanding charter school access Reducing college costs FAST Act reintroduced on 2 nd day of new Congress Reforming K-12 education by: (mostly part of H.R. 5) Revamping teacher evaluations Giving States/districts more control over use of federal funds Increasing school choice options 5 Where does education fit in? How to determine what is a priority? Time Legislation Bill number Overall in Congress, education not a top priority Instead, focus is on: Must-pass legislation Vote-generating legislation Emergent crises (or crises ) 6 2

3 ESEA 7 ESEA Progress For House/Senate Committees, ESEA is reauthorization priority #1 Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Discussion draft released, hearings began mid-january Alexander-Murray bill released in early April, markup in mid- April House Committee on Education and the Workforce Student Success Act (H.R. 5) introduced early February, approved by Committee February 11 th No hearings building on debate in 113 th Congress 8 Problems on House Floor Set for vote last week of February, but bill was pulled from schedule before final vote Vote scheduled for same day as Homeland Security funding bill Objections from conservative Republican groups: Not enough of a departure from NCLB Too tolerant of Common Core Not enough flexibility for States/districts too prescriptive Did not allow Title I portability funds to be used at private schools 9 3

Remaining Hurdles Busy House/Senate schedule Other legislative priorities Democratic opposition From within Congress

funding/portability Republican opposition Opposition from conservative Reps., action groups 10 Where to go from here?

version with any House amendments, sends to President for signature House and Senate meet in conference to work out

signature Both options complicated by House problems in passing bill 11 Likely Contents of ESEA Reauthorization What

specific college- and careerready standards Instead: leaves standards and assessments up to States Race to the Top

4 Remaining Hurdles Busy House/Senate schedule Other legislative priorities Democratic opposition From within Congress and from President/administration Concerns about walking back accountability/ civil rights Concerns about funding/portability Republican opposition Opposition from conservative Reps., action groups 10 Where to go from here? Two choices (assuming Senate Passes bill): House passes Senate bill (or vice versa) Then Senate passes revised version with any House amendments, sends to President for signature House and Senate meet in conference to work out differences between bills Final compromise legislation must be passed by House and Senate, then sent to President for signature Both options complicated by House problems in passing bill 11 Likely Contents of ESEA Reauthorization What s Definitely Out AYP Instead: States design and implement plans for intervention and improvement Requirement to adopt specific college- and careerready standards Instead: leaves standards and assessments up to States Race to the Top (and i3) Instead: focus on formula funding (and budget-cutting) Teacher evaluations, HQT Instead: focus on State licensure/training/pd 12 4

Likely Contents of ESEA Reauthorization What s Definitely In Title I structure,

Limitation on Secretarial waiver, decisionmaking authority Funding flexibility

supplant (but some changes) Maintenance of effort (may change?

limit total appropriations to FY 2015 levels Senate bill as introduced allows

as negative Assessments Senate draft included potential for allowing grade-span

White House pushback, support from Democratic and Republican leadership for

House bill would allow States to set up systems where Title I funding follows

groups highly critical In House floor debate, conservatives ask for even more

5 Likely Contents of ESEA Reauthorization What s Definitely In Title I structure, formula Charter school grants Focus on States with laws more open to charters Limitation on Secretarial waiver, decisionmaking authority Funding flexibility between Titles II and IV Consolidation of some programs/titles Supplement, not supplant (but some changes) Maintenance of effort (may change?) 13 ESEA Flashpoints Appropriations House bill, Senate discussion draft would limit total appropriations to FY 2015 levels Senate bill as introduced allows such sums as necessary White House veto threat mentioned limitation on funding as negative Assessments Senate draft included potential for allowing grade-span assessments Pressure from parent and other advocacy groups to lessen testing White House pushback, support from Democratic and Republican leadership for current requirement 14 accountability ESEA Flashpoints Title I Portability House bill would allow States to set up systems where Title I funding follows lowincome student to school of their choice White House, left-leaning advocacy groups highly critical In House floor debate, conservatives ask for even more on portability (funding for private schools) Senate bill as introduced has no portability Introduced as amendment 15 5

Higher Education 16 House and Senate Committee Action House Committee on Education and the Workforce Held multiple hearings in 113 th

Congress 17 House and Senate Committee Action Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) released white papers on

accountability to government stakeholders and taxpayers.

6 Higher Education 16 House and Senate Committee Action House Committee on Education and the Workforce Held multiple hearings in 113 th Congress on HEA reauthorization Solicited input on various topics from stakeholders No legislation drafted No action to date in 114 th Congress 17 House and Senate Committee Action Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) released white papers on HEA suggesting policy changes and asking for input (due April 25 th ) Accreditation: Reform process to improve quality while providing accountability to government stakeholders and taxpayers. Streamline accreditation regulations to: Remove those unrelated to institutional quality Permit more flexibility and gradation in reviews (no pass-fail determinations) De-link accreditation from eligibility for federal student aid 6

House and Senate Committee Action Senate Committee white papers, continued: Accountability for student borrowing and college completion

extremely high default and/or low completion rates Suggests risk-sharing system that would require institutions to take responsibility for high

continued: Data transparency/consumer information Set policies that enable students and families to select the college or university that best

from creating new accountability metrics from federal data, or from requiring new metrics, without explicit authorization from Congress?

20 Likely Points of Contention Student loans/federal student aid Regulation of lenders, schools ED administration of loans/servicers Interest

7 House and Senate Committee Action Senate Committee white papers, continued: Accountability for student borrowing and college completion Market-based policies and practices to make institutions share in risk of lending to student borrowers Concerns about institutions with extremely high default and/or low completion rates Suggests risk-sharing system that would require institutions to take responsibility for high borrowing amounts, high cohort default rates, and high rates of fraud 19 House and Senate Committee Action Senate Committee white papers, continued: Data transparency/consumer information Set policies that enable students and families to select the college or university that best fits their needs Review types of data collected to determine whether still necessary and valid Reduce the burden on institutions Prohibit ED from creating new accountability metrics from federal data, or from requiring new metrics, without explicit authorization from Congress? New federal student unit record system? Exceptions to federal student privacy laws to allow additional data to be collected? 20 Likely Points of Contention Student loans/federal student aid Regulation of lenders, schools ED administration of loans/servicers Interest rates Streamlining institutional aid programs? For-profit schools Recruitment Loans Accreditation Gainful Employment regulations Scope of federal involvement State authorization 21 Student privacy 7

8 Perkins 22 Perkins Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act originally due for reauthorization in 2012 Bill introduced in Senate in June 2014 Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) Would reauthorize, promote alignment with other programs, workforce needs House Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) says Perkins will be next stop after ESEA Focus: aligning coursework to industry needs 23 Early Education 24 8

9 Early Education Administration s plan announced in President s 2014 State of the Union address $77 billion in subsidized universal pre-k for low/middle-income families over next decade Decreasing federal share of costs States receive funding for adopting certain quality standards Preschool Development Fund Appropriations special project in FY 2015, part of President s request for FY Early Ed in ESEA? General effort from Democrats to make pre-k contiguous with K-12 Sen. Murray, White House want to roll into ESEA reauthorization Sen. Alexander: Early education is important but -- Are current programs working optimally? Is this the time? Reauthorizing ESEA is hard enough Rep. Kline: Early education is important, but spending too much money each year on Head Start, CCDBG Before starting a new program, need to reevaluate current efforts 26 IDEA 27 9

10 IDEA No action to date Some technical tweaks to MOE penalty in appropriations bills Focus is on full funding of existing federal obligation Full funding = 40% of excess cost of educating students with disabilities Various bills to bring federal commitment up to that level But these initiatives stall because of cost Extremely unlikely to move before ESEA 28 Child Nutrition 29 Child Nutrition Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act Expires September 30, 2015 Law and regulations continue to be controversial because of new nutrition standards for school meals Each side has research/studies supporting points Administration vowed to veto FY 2015 appropriations bill that would have weakened standards Will be big fight in summer 2015! 30 10

Arguments on Child Nutrition School Nutrition Association (SNA), Congressional Republicans say standards are:

say standards are: Improving nutritional quality Expanding access 31 SNA Drama School Nutrition Association

testing/certification Acts as go-between with suppliers and school food authorities Change in leadership Under

files ethics complaint against former lobbyists Member petition against changes, are told by SNA that they are

any efforts subject to limitations on timing, priorities from House and Senate leadership Work on examining

11 Arguments on Child Nutrition School Nutrition Association (SNA), Congressional Republicans say standards are: Too expensive, too burdensome Lead to increased food waste, decreased participation White House, administration say standards are: Improving nutritional quality Expanding access 31 SNA Drama School Nutrition Association Multi-purpose organization Represents school nutrition professionals as lobbying group Offers industry testing/certification Acts as go-between with suppliers and school food authorities Change in leadership Under former President, organization supported new standards New President changes position, fires former lobbyists, files ethics complaint against former lobbyists Member petition against changes, are told by SNA that they are discrediting organization 32 Overall Focus continues to be on proposals that would revise large-scale bills But any efforts subject to limitations on timing, priorities from House and Senate leadership Work on examining needs, gathering input continues behind the scenes Legislators continue to introduce marker bills to set stage for future reauthorization 33 11

12 Disclaimer This presentation is intended solely to provide general information and does not constitute legal advice or a legal service. This presentation does not create a lawyer-client relationship with and, therefore, carries none of the protections under the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct. Attendance at this presentation, a later review of any printed or electronic materials, or any follow-up questions or communications arising out of this presentation with any attorney at does not create an attorneyclient relationship with. You should not take any action based upon any information in this presentation without first consulting legal counsel familiar with your particular circumstances

Julia Martin Brustein & Manasevit, PLLC

Julia Martin Brustein & Manasevit, PLLC Senate: 114 th Congress Democrats Republicans Independents 3 With Republicans in control of both chambers, stronger negotiating position against President on: Repeal/replacement