October 14, 2022 - NSBA Weekly Update

Congressional Update

Congress Scheduled to Return to Washington in Mid-November
The Senate and House are currently only holding pro forma sessions until after the midterm elections. Legislators will return to Washington, D.C. to resume debate about the fiscal year 2023 appropriations process and other year-end priorities on November 14. NSBA expects the Lame Duck session to continue until at least December 16 when temporary federal funding legislation is scheduled to expire.

Administration Update

Department of Education Announces English Language Acquisition Awards
The Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) announced awards of almost $120 million over five years to 44 entities under the National Professional Development Program (NPD) to support educators of English learner students. The NPD program provides grants to eligible Institutions of Higher Education and public or private entities with relevant experience and capacity, in consortia with states or districts, to implement professional development activities that will improve instruction for English Learners.

Department of Education Provides Glimpse of Loan Forgiveness Process
The Department of Education released a preview of the "Student Debt Relief Application". The application period will run from October 2022 through Dec. 31, 2023. NSBA encourages school boards to closely follow the Department of Education's loan forgiveness process and serve as a source of information to teachers and other school district staff they may qualify to have their federal education loans cancelled.

NSBA Updates

Registration Is Open for NSBA's Advocacy Institute
Join your fellow advocates on Jan. 29-31 to discuss key developments in education policy and legislation and how you can make an impact when developing relationships with your representatives. The early bird savings deadline is Nov. 18. Click here for more information and to register.

School-Based Mental Health Grant Application Technical Assistance Webinar
The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education's Office of Safe and Supportive Schools (OSSS) is conducting an FY 2022 competition for the School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) grant program. To assist applicants who might have questions about the application process and grant procedures, OSSS, in partnership with the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 4 pm EDT. Applicants are encouraged to read through the entire application package before participating in this webinar. The application deadline is Nov. 3, 2022.

New Publications

• CoSN released a new resource for K-12 schools and districts seeking to address the need for advanced cybersecurity skill sets within their technology teams. The report was commissioned by the State Educational Technology Directors Association as part of association's Cybersecurity & Privacy Collaborative.
• ACT released data and their report titled "U.S. High School Class of 2022 Graduating Class Data".
• The Education Trust released a brief titled "How States Can Use American Rescue Plan Funding and Federal Grants to Support Teacher Diversity".
• The American Educational Research Association published a report titled "Fiscal Federalism and K–12 Education Funding: Policy Lessons From Two Educational Crises".
• Public Education Week released an article titled "Schools Need Billions More to Make Up for Lost Learning Time, Researchers Argue".