Tight Budgets & Election Politics

Status of FY 2013 Budget and Education Legislation

March 30, 2012

Welcome

•  Ellen Fern, Senior Vice President, Washington Partners, LLC

•  John Segota, Associate Executive Director for Public Policy & Professional Relations, TESOL International Association

Agenda

•  Department of Education

•  Congress –  Congressional  Leadership  and  Commi1ee  Membership  –  Issues  

•  Federal FY 2013 Budget –  Process  –  Overview  of  Themes  

•  Congressional Education Agenda –  ESEA  –  WIA  –  Dream  Act  

Department of Education Leadership

  Office  of  the  Undersecretary  –  Martha  Kanter  Oversees  policies,  programs  and  acDviDes  related  to  vocaDonal  and  adult  educaDon,  postsecondary  educaDon  and  college  aid.      

–  Office  of  VocaDonal  and  Adult  EducaDon       Dr.  Brenda  Dann-­‐Messier,  Assistant  Secretary    

–  Office  of  Community  Colleges  •  Frank  Chong  Ed.D.,  Deputy  Assistant  Secretary  

–  Division  of  Adult  EducaDon  and  Literacy  (DAEL)   Cheryl  Keenan,  Director  

Congress – Democratic MajorityU.S. Senate Leadership

•  Majority Leader – Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) 51:47:2

•  Minority Leader – Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

•  Appropriations Committee •  Chairman  –  Senator  Daniel  Inouye  (D-­‐HI)  •  LHHS  Subcommi1ee  Chairman  –  Senator  Tom  Harkin  (D-­‐IA)  

•  Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee

•  Chairman  –  Senator  Tom  Harkin(D-­‐IA)  •  Judiciary Committee

•  Chairman  –  Senator  Pat  Leahy  (D-­‐VT)  

Congress – Republican MajorityU.S. House Leadership

  Republican Majority – Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) 242:190 (3 vacancies)   Minority Leader – Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)   Appropriations Committee

  Chairman - Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY)   LHHS Subcommittee Chairman – Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT)

  Education and Workforce Committee   Chairman – Rep. John Kline (R-MN)

  Judiciary Committee   Chairman – Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)

DC Environmental Assessment

•  Partisanship has impacted all debate and legislative schedule.

•  Unprecedented dysfunction in the legislative process.

•  Issue landscape changing rapidly – has evolved from stimulus, job creation, war in Afghanistan and financial reform to huge emphasis on the deficit and 2012 elections.

•  Super Committee failed. Sequestration to go into effect January 2, 2013.

Overview of President’s FY 2013 Budget Request

Budget Process

•  Annual timeline –  State  of  the  Union  –  PresidenDal  budget  request  release  –  Congressional  budget  resoluDon  –  Annual  appropriaDons  process  –  Floor  debate  –  PresidenDal  approval  

President’s FY2013 Budget Proposal

•  An Economy Built to Last.

•  Overall budget requests $3.8 trillion in discretionary spending.

•  Adheres to the Budget Control Act spending limits, although it ignores sequestration.

President’s FY2013 Budget Proposal

•  Four Pillars:

1.  EducaDon  and  Skills  for  the  American  Workforce  

2.  InnovaDon  and  Manufacturing  3.  Clean  Energy  4.  Infrastructure  

Education and Skills for theAmerican Workforce

•  Department of Education (ED) requested $69.8 billion. – $1.7  billion  or  2.5  percent  increase  from  FY2012  – Largest  increase  in  funding  of  any  non-­‐security  agency  

Education and Skills for theAmerican Workforce

•  ED Proposal Has Five Core Areas:

1.  Increasing  College  Affordability  and  Quality  2.  ElevaDng  the  Teaching  Profession  3.  Aligning  Job  Training  and  EducaDon  Programs  

with  Workforce  Demands  4.  ProtecDng  Formula  Programs  for  At-­‐Risk  

PopulaDons  5.  ConDnue  on  the  Path  of  Reform  and  InnovaDon    

Increasing College Affordability and Quality

• $1 billion in Race to the Top for states to improve postsecondary education.

• $55 million First in the World Fund. (like i3 grant program)

• Development of College Scorecard and Financial Aid Shopping Sheet.

Elevating the Teaching Profession

•  $5 billion in one-time funds for states and districts targeted at all aspects of the teacher profession.

•  25 percent set-aside in Title II for Effective Teachers and Leaders state grant funds.

Aligning Job Training andEducation with Workforce

•  $8 billion over three years in Community College to Career Fund.

•  $1 billion over three years to expand Career Academies.

Continue on the Path of Reform and Innovation

•  $850 million for Race to the Top (increase of $301 million from FY2012).

•  $150 million for i3 – new round. •  $100 million for Promise Neighborhoods

(increase of $40 million).

FY2013 Budget: Programs of Interest

Department of Education FY2012 Final President’s FY2013 Request

English Learner Education (Title III)

$732.1 $732.1

Assessing Achievement $389.2 $389.2

Adult Basic and Literacy Education

$595 $595

National Leadership Activities (Adult Ed)

$11.3 $11.3

EL/Civics (Adult Ed) $74.7 $74.7

Overall Philosophy at ED

•  At the core, Race to the Top [and other competitive grants] are about spurring reform; especially at a time of tight budgets, when we need to make every dollar count . . . formula funds alone cannot drive the transformational reforms our system needs.”

-­‐  Secretary  Arne  Duncan  

•  Congress has eliminated funding for 49 programs from FY2010-FY2012. – Savings  of  $1.2  billion  

•  President proposes 21 additional program eliminations and consolidations.

Budget Control Act

•  What is it? –  Passed  in  August  of  2011  –  Allocated  spending  caps  that  will  lower  deficit  by  $1.2  trillion  over  ten  years  

–  Spending  caps—FY2013  =  $1.047  trillion  in  discreDonary  spending  

–  FY2013—$536  billion  security/$501  billion  non  security  –  Super  commi1ee  failure  triggered  sequestraDon  –  January  2013    

Caps and Cuts

•  Sequestration triggers automatic cuts for each of the nine years FY13-21.

•  For FY2013 – fixed percentage of across-the-board cuts projected at 9.1 percent (OMB key player in this process).

•  FY2014 to 2021 – No across-the-board cuts but the discretionary cap is lowered further.

•  Estimated at a $4 billion cut in FY2013 to ED programs.

End Game

•  Congress Decides –  Budget  resoluDon  

•  House  Budget  Commi1ee  Chairman  Paul  Ryan’s  (R-­‐WI)  budget  –  Cuts  $19  billion  in  discreDonary  spending  from  BCA    

•  Senate  will  sDck  with  BCA  cap  for  FY2013   Everyone ignoring sequestration.  Hearings going on now to prepare for

appropriations process.  A continuing resolution—or “CR” is the

likely outcome until after the November elections.

Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary

Education Act

ESEA Reauthorization: Senate

•  Senate – Waivers  prompted  acDon  – BiparDsan  bill  – Passed  out  of  Commi1ee  on  biparDsan  vote  in  October  

– Unlikely  to  be  on  the  floor  

Highlights of Senate Bill

•  Consensus bill – product of compromise and negotiation

•  Career and college readiness standards

•  Closing loophole on comparability

•  Providing incentives to improve teacher and principal quality

•  Focus on bottom 5% of low-performing schools

Differs from Current Law

•  Standards – Requires  states  demonstrate  college  and  career  ready  standards    and  create  assessments  in  reading,  math  and  science.  

– NO  requirement  to  join  Common  Core  Standards  IniDaDve.  

•  Accountability –  Same  tesDng  but  eliminates  AYP.  

–  DisaggregaDon  of  data  NO  achievement  targets  

Differs from Current Law

•  Teachers – Let’s  states  decide  how  to  evaluate  teachers.  – Requires  states  that  receive  TIF  grants  to  crak  evaluaDons  based  at  least  in  part  on  student  growth.  

•  Low-performing schools – For  bo1om  5%  of  schools  choice  of  8  intervenDons  based  on  SIG  regulaDons.  

– Bo1om  5%  of  high  schools  and  elem/middle  schools  AND  dropout  factories.  

Reaction from Administration

•  Appreciate effort but objects to elimination of mandatory teacher/principal evaluation requirements.

•  Critical of lack of required performance targets for subgroups.

Reaction from Stakeholders

•  Support from Chiefs, administrators and teacher organizations

•  Lack of support from civil rights groups, disability groups and business community. –  Lack  of  strong  accountability  measures.  –  Lack  of  performance  targets  for  subgroups.  –  Too  much  lek  up  to  States.  

ESEA Reauthorization: House

•  House of Representatives – Last  year  •  TerminaDon  bill  •  Charter  school  expansion  bill  •  Flexibility  bill  

– This  year  •  Student  Success  Act  •  Encouraging  InnovaDon  and  EffecDve  Teachers  Act  •  Both  approved  February  28  on  party  line  votes  •  Might  make  it  to  the  floor  

ESEA Overview of Proposed Changes

•  House bill merges Title III into subpart Title I. •  Professional development for teachers of ELLs,

is not maintained as a national priority. •  House bill eliminates HQT requirements. •  House bill requires SEA/LEAs to develop

teacher evaluation systems; Senate only requires it for those applying for competitive grants.

•  House bill includes significant expansion of funding flexibility.

Reaction from Stakeholders

•  Support from Chiefs and administrators.

•  Lack of support from TESOL, civil rights groups, disability groups and business community. – Merging  Title  III  into  Title  I  –  Lack  of  strong  accountability  measures.  –  Lack  of  performance  targets  for  subgroups.  –  Too  much  lek  up  to  States.  

ED’s ESEA Agenda

•  “We can’t wait” •  Waivers –  States  must  adopt  and  have  a  plan  to  implement  college  and  career-­‐ready  standards  

–  States  must  create  comprehensive  systems  of  teacher  and  principal  development,  evaluaDon  and  support  that  include  factors  beyond  test  scores  

–  States  no  longer  have  to  meet  2014    targets  but  must  set  new  performance    targets  for  improving  achievement  and    closing  achievement  gaps  

Waivers

•  11 states applied in the first round –  Approved  in  February  –  Colorado,  Florida,  Georgia,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Massachuse1s,  

Minnesota,  New  Jersey,  Oklahoma,  and  Tennessee….and,  New  Mexico  

•  26 states and DC applied in second round –  Alabama,  Alaska,  California,  Hawaii,  Maine,  Montana,  Nevada,  

New  Hampshire,  North  Dakota,  Pennsylvania,  Texas,  West  Virginia,  and  Wyoming  siqng  out  

•  Third round of applications due September 6 •  http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility/requests

Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act

•  Long overdue – hasn’t been reauthorized since 1998. – Title  II  –  Adult  Educa*on  and  Family  Literacy  Act  .  

•  Senate HELP Committee drafted bipartisan draft. – Never  introduced.  

•  House – Democrats  introduced  Workforce  Investment  Act  of  2012  •  Authorizes  ELL/Civics  Program  •  Increased  investment  in  technology  and  digital  literacy  •  Supports  integrated  adult  ed  and  training  

The Dream Act - Status

•  Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) introduced in House – 80 cosponsors.

•  Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced in Senate – 34 cosponsors.

•  President has expressed support for bill in past.

•  Election year politics.

Outlook

•  What will get done? – Will  House  Republicans  introduce  WIA  bill?    – ESEA  or  Waivers?  – ElecDon  results  – Lame  Duck  

•  http://www.slideshare.net

•  http://www.tesol.org/AdvocacyDay2012 •  18-19 June 2012, Washington, DC