July 27, 2018 - NSBA Weekly Update

Congress

Congress Approves Perkins Act Reauthorization

This week, Congress approved legislation to update the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act for the first time since 2006. The final measure for the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act is awaiting the President’s signature. The bill maintains the formula for allocating Perkins Act funding among states and also preserves the system for distributing funding within states. Local Perkins Act funding, allocated by states between secondary and postsecondary programs, accounts for 85 percent of the law’s total investments. Under this reauthorization, local funding recipients must submit applications to the state that are based on a comprehensive CTE needs assessment. Once enacted, the new law would become effective July 1, 2019. Additional details are below:

• Reauthorizes Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs through Fiscal Year 2024;
  
• Maintains the formula grant structure to states with the following funding authorizations proposed (Authorizations may not always reflect the actual appropriated funding allocations each fiscal year.);
  
  • FY2019 - $1,229,568,538
    
  • FY2020 - $1,246,782,498
    
  • FY2021 - $1,264,237,452
    
  • FY2022 - $1,281,936,777
    
  • FY2023 - $1,299,883,892
    
  • FY2024 - $1,318,082,266
    
• Purposes alignment with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for greater state/local flexibility to establish "high quality" programs and standards that are to also be commensurate with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act for coordinated programming and reporting;
• Requires disaggregated data reporting for student subgroups to help inform programmatic improvements for closing achievement gaps, similar to ESSA;
  
• Allows states the option to reset their baseline funding levels one time to comply with maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements so that MOE would be at least 95 percent of a state's fiscal effort per student, or 95 percent of a state’s aggregate CTE expenditures;
  
• Requires local applications to address several areas including plans to acclimate students to CTE/career exploration in earlier “middle grades,” effective academic and career counseling services, targeted services for at-risk students, and career readiness for students pursuing employment opportunities in non-traditional fields;
• Limits administrative costs to no more than five percent; and,
  
• Requires local grant recipients to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment with stakeholders every two years, that would cover areas such as the following – 
  • An “evaluation of the performance of the students served … including an evaluation of performance for special populations and each subgroup,”
    
  • Establishing an online portal for CTE students, including special populations, preparing for postsecondary career and technical education;
  • Description of how the grantees will improve recruitment, retention, and training of career and technical education teachers, faculty, specialized instructional support personnel, paraprofessionals, and career guidance and academic counselors,including individuals in groups underrepresented in such professions; and,
  • Description of progress toward implementation of equal access to high-quality career and technical education courses and programs of study for all students, including strategies to overcome barriers that result in lower rates of access to, or performance gaps in, the courses and programs for special populations (such as differentiated learning opportunities and evidence-based strategies for special populations).
    

NSBA’s statement regarding the final passage of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act is posted here. Leaders of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions thanked NSBA for its advocacy and support to reauthorize the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Next steps are focused on implementation and congressional oversight regarding performance goals and the comprehensive needs assessments that local grantees must conduct under the revised statute.

House Democrats Release Higher Education Act Proposal

At the beginning of the 115th Congress, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) would be one of their top education policy priorities. You may recall, that the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved H.R. 4508, the PROSPER Act to reauthorize the HEA; but, the measure has not been considered by the full House. NSBA opposes the PROSPER Act as it eliminates Title II and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program – each vital to teacher recruitment and retainment. NSBA continues to meet with congressional staff to advocate the importance of these programs. The Senate HELP Committee has yet to consider an HEA reauthorization this Congress.

 However, this week, House Democrats introduced H.R. 6543, the Aim Higher Act, an alternative HEA reauthorization package. The measure includes provisions that are important to school districts, including retaining and expanding investments in Title II teacher and school leader preparation; strengthened federal college access initiatives, and initiatives designed to support high school students working to earn postsecondary credits early. The legislation also retains Teach Grants and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. The bill will not be considered by the House this year, but it does provide insights about what the HEA process could look like in the House during the 116th Congress, if Democrats gain control of the House following the midterm elections. For further information, please see the bill summary and fact sheet.

Administration

NSBA Testifies Before Federal Commission on School Safety

During this week’s meeting of the Federal Commission on School Safety, NSBA’s Chief Legal Officer and interim Chief Advocacy Officer, Francisco Negron, Jr., provided insight on how informationsharing and accountability supports school officials’ commitment to eliminate disruptive behavior and violence and ensure that our schools are safe learning environments. The testimony also states that federal resources are vital to helping support and sustain school resource officers, school counseling, emergency preparedness and response training and locally determined programs that expand access to mental health services and support comprehensive “wraparound” services. Additionally, Wisconsin leaders spoke to the Commission about the importance of promoting collaboration between agencies and working with parents to ensure delivery of mental health supports. NSBA plans to continue its engagement with the Commission as it prepares to produce recommendations later this year. You can watch the broadcast of the Commission hearing here.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Four Grant Opportunities

The Department published four new discretionary grant opportunities this week. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services invited applications for three programs; and, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education invited applications for one program on school climate.

• The “Training and Information for Parents of Children with Disabilities – Technical Assistance for Parent Centers” will fund five cooperative agreements to establish and operate five technical assistance centers for parent centers across two focus areas: (1) A center for parent information and resources (CPIR) will focus on developing products for parent centers; and (2) Four regional parent training and technical assistance centers (PTAC) will focus on providing capacity-building technical assistance to the parent centers in their regions. This discretionary grant will be awarded to five recipients, ranging from $500,000 for the regional PTACs to $800,000 for the CPIR. Applications are due August 23, 2018. Further information can be found here.
  
• The “Technical Assistance and Dissemination to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities, School Safety National Activities, and Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) Grants Programs – National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports” will make one award as a comprehensive investment designed to enhance local and State efforts to improve school climate, conditions for learning, and access to and engagement in the instructional environment, with a focus on students with behavioral challenges, by implementing comprehensive positive behavioral interventions and supports frameworks. This discretionary grant will make one award comprised of separate funding for each of the three absolute priorities: $1,850,000 for Absolute Priority 1, $3,750,000 for Absolute Priority 2 (School Safety National Activities Program), and $750,000 for Absolute Priority 3 (SSAE Grants Program). Applications are due August 24, 2018. Further information is available here.
  
• The “Technical Assistance and Dissemination to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities – Center on Dispute Resolution” will fund a cooperative agreement to establish and operate a Center on Dispute Resolution, to improve the implementation of all of the dispute resolution practices required under IDEA, along with any optional early resolution strategies that may be available. This discretionary grant has $750,000 in estimated available funds. Applications are due August 24, 2018. More information is posted here.
  
• The “School Climate Transformation Grant Program – State Educational Agency Grants” provides competitive grants to state education agencies to develop, enhance, or expand statewide systems of support for, and technical assistance to, LEAs and schools implementing an evidence-based, multi-tiered behavioral framework for improving behavioral outcomes and learning conditions for all students. This discretionary grant has $8,000,000 in estimated available funds. Applications are due August 27, 2018. Further information can be found here.

Courtesy NSBA Federal Update - Week of July 27, 2018