29 Jun2020
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Re-opening Schools During COVID-19: Will the Federal Government Help?
The topic of reopening schools is demanding attention at all levels of government—both for K-12 and higher education. The questions far outnumber the answers and the keywords seems to be flexibility and local decision-making. With governors, public health agencies, state and local school leaders, parents, and teachers all weighing in, the web of perspectives is complex. Finding a path to ensure public safety, equity and access to effective education is the challenge of the day. And finding the money to do what needs to be done—and in the midst of a polarizing election cycle—is looking like a herculean task.
This week, the House Committee on Education and Labor held its second hearing related to education and the pandemic, Inequities Exposed: How COVID-19 Widened Racial Inequities in Education, Health and the Workforce. In his testimony about education, John B. King Jr, president and CEO of the Education Trust, highlighted ongoing inequities in both K-12 and higher education and how COVID-19 has exacerbated them. He urged the federal government to act and recommended the following provisions for the next COVID-19 relief bill:
16 Jun2020
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Police Reform in the Wake of George Floyd’s Death: Is it Coming? How Will it Affect Schools?
The purview of state and local government police reform is rapidly moving into the realm of the federal government. House Democrats have acted quickly, introducing a sweeping bill, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 with 200 sponsors. Republicans in both the House and Senate are feeling the pressure and discussions are underway, albeit for a far more limited approach. The White House is sending mixed messages, on the one hand calling for reform and on the other, calling for law and order.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is taking the lead for Republicans in the Senate and has been in conversation with the White House. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a top Trump ally in the House, said he will release his own plan shortly. Senate proposals appear to feature the improvement of federal data collection on the use of force and no-knock warrants as well as police training. White House spokespersons said that ending qualified immunity, which protects police officers from civil lawsuits, was a nonstarter.
09 Jun2020
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Educators Step Up for Racial Justice
Educators are responding to the killing of George Floyd and the racism it highlights by stepping up with a variety of initiatives and a renewed sense of urgency. Both the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Public Schools have cut their ties with the Minneapolis Police Department.
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is urging school leaders to address racial disparities in discipline policies and the use of resource officers in response to the George Floyd killing and subsequent events.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 400 other organizations, including both teachers’ unions, issued a letter calling on Congress to pass police reform legislation. They urge changes in areas including the use of force, policy accountability, racial profiling, militarization, data collection, and training.
28 May2020
By Deborah Koolbeck
The U.S. Department of Education (Department) released its Notice of Intent to Apply (NIA) for the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) Grant Program through the Federal Register. (Please note that the full details of the application are included in the NIA.) For Fiscal Year 2020, the TQP grant program received a $7 million dollar increase from the Congress, raising the program to a $50.1 million funding level. (Thank you to all who advocate with AACTE in support of this program and increasing its funding!)
The TQP program is the only federal initiative dedicated to strengthening and transforming educator preparation at institutions of higher education while meeting the workforce needs of partner high-need schools and school districts. Designed for either undergraduate or graduate programs, teacher candidates will be prepared to teach in high-need fields and serve in high-need schools. For the graduate level TQP programs, grantees develop teacher residency programs. Grantees are required to provide at least 2 years of induction for program graduates and provide professional development to faculty and staff at the schools where the graduates are teaching.
26 May2020
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
How Will the Senate Respond to the House Passed $3 Trillion HEROES Act?
Last week the House passed its follow up to the $2 trillion CARES Act by adopting the HEROES Act— the next COVID-19 relief bill. The Senate does not appear to be in a hurry to act and has clearly articulated different priorities from those in the HEROES Act.
Educators and their congressional allies are weighing in for a strong infusion of cash for education in the next bill. In the House, Reps. Tlaib (D-MI), Hayes (D-CT) and Pressley (D-MA) are circulating a letter to their colleagues that requests $305 billion be targeted to K-12 education in the next COVID-19 bill. In comparison, the HEROES Act targets $58 billion to K-12 education. Many education organizations are supporting their request, including the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and AASA: The School Superintendents Association.
On the higher education side, almost 80 education organizations have requested that the maximum for the Pell Grant be doubled, anticipating that students will be facing unprecedented struggles when starting the new academic year and beyond.
21 May2020
By Deborah Koolbeck
The U.S. Department of Education has released a call for peer reviewers for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Effective Educator Development (EED) Division for upcoming Fiscal Year 2020 grant cycles. The following programs grant competitions are seeking reviewers:
- Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program (TQP)
- Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED)
- Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program (TSL)
The Department is looking for reviewers from various professions and background, preferably with education background and experience in various areas including (but not limited to) PK-12 teaching, preparing teachers, teacher residency programs, social and emotional learning, and preparing STEM teachers. Please see the Department’s 2020 Call for Peer Reviewers for all areas of experience and other requirements including availability, tools, and expected quality of review.
18 May2020
AACTE Responds to COVID-19
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Speaker Pelosi Unveils Next COVID-19 Relief Bill with a $3 Trillion Price Tag
The House of Representatives is in town and scheduled to vote late today on the next COVID-19 relief bill—dubbed the HEROES Act. Considered by many to be a messaging bill and the wish list of Speaker Pelosi (D-CA), it is not expected to receive Republican support. Even so, a number of progressive Democrats believe it does not have enough relief and may vote no. Likewise, there may well be a few Republicans who cross over to support it.
The 1815 page bill includes almost $1 trillion to support state and local governments and another $100 billion for education. Key features include the following:
14 May2020
By Deborah Koolbeck
On May 6, 2020, the U.S Department of Education, under the leadership of Secretary Betsy DeVos, released the final rule for the Title IX regulations—also known as the final regulation. Built from the law that prohibits sexual discrimination at federally funded institutions, this update to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) has been contentious since the process started in November 2018. AACTE joined nearly 60 organizations on a letter led by the American Council on Education pointing out challenges and questions with the proposal during the public comment period in January 2019. Overall, the Department received over 124,000 public comments that were reviewed prior to the determination of the final rule.
The review and update of the regulations were initiated due to a response to guidance issued by the Obama Administration in 2011 leading to an increase in civil lawsuits, mostly from men who were accused of sexual misconduct alleging their rights were violated under the Title IX procedures. The updated regulations are purported to be fair to both the accuser and the accused.
11 May2020
AACTE Responds to COVID-19
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Senate Reconvenes in Person; House Next Week?
The Senate reconvened in person this week despite warnings from medical experts and despite the fact that the DC area remains a COVID-19 hot spot. In order to enable this convening without it violating emergency limitations on large gatherings, the Mayor of DC—Muriel Bowser—anointed members of Congress as “essential workers,” bringing them into the ranks of grocery store workers and front line health care personnel.
New to the Capitol were plexiglass shields, boxes of masks and hand sanitizer. COVID-19 testing for all Members was made available by President Trump, but in a rare bipartisan move declined by both House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY). They recommended that the tests be prioritized for front line workers.
04 May2020
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Senate to Reconvene May 4 as House Stays Home—Mostly
Congress has been on recess for a month leaving a scant few Members in town to hold down the fort. This week both the House and Senate announced they would return full force on May 4, but only a day later, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) retracted the announcement for the House saying the Capitol physician advised against it. Members are still regrouping from the whiplash announcement and retraction—assessing the political fallout—but relieved about the health risks had they returned.
Sen. McConnell (R-KY), Senate Majority Leader, has not backed down despite push back from several Senators, and the full Senate is scheduled to be in town May 4. They will likely be in town until May 22, recessing for Memorial Day. Many unanswered questions remain. Will staff be required to report to work? Will social distancing be enforced? What are the cleaning procedures for office spaces and the Capitol? Will masks and gloves be worn? We shall see.
03 May2020
By Jane E. West
A horizontal image of an empty primary school classroom. The setting is typically British.
In the last few weeks U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has put forward three initiatives intended to privatize the provision of public education. Given her long known and widely declared conviction that vouchers and related schemes to deliver public dollars into private hands are the panacea for all that ails education, this is not surprising. Watching her leap into the breach caused by the COVID-19 emergency is troubling, though not unexpected.
In her book, Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007), Naomi Kline describes the phenomenon of a crisis precipitating the redistribution of public dollars into the waiting hands of private players who offer a seemingly undeniable remedy. Years earlier, economist Milton Friedman popularized the notion that only a crisis produces real change, enabling reforms that were not previously thought possible. “When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable,” wrote Friedman in Capitalism and Freedom (1962, ix). Kline’s research led her to coin the term “disaster capitalism,” which she describes as “orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities.” (6)
27 Apr2020
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
This Week in COVID-19 Relief Funding
Today the President will sign the fourth COVID-19 relief bill. Passed by a voice vote in the Senate and a live vote in the House of 388-5, the bill adds $484 billion bill to COVID relief funding. Funds are to be distributed as follows:
- $321 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (small business fund which ran out of money last week
- $60 billion in economic disaster loans for small businesses
- $75 billion for emergency relief for hospitals
- $25 billion for more coronavirus testing
21 Apr2020
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Implementation of the $2 Trillion CARES Act: Where Do We Stand?
It’s hard to keep track of the swirl of information about federal efforts to address the pandemic in the education space. Here is my best shot at a high-level summary of where things stand:
- It’s been three weeks since the $2 trillion third package of funding (COVID-3 or the CARES Act) became law
- The bill includes the following and distribution to date is as noted:
- $13.5 billion for elementary and secondary education
- No announced process or timeline for distribution yet
- $14.25 billion for higher education
- $6.3 billion is being distributed to IHE’s for students who need emergency financial aid and have expenses related to the pandemic
- $3 billion for a Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund
- fund now available for distribution
17 Apr2020
By Deborah Koolbeck
On April 13, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education via the Federal Register announced that applications are available for the FY20 grant cycle of the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant program. With the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, this program was expanded to include institutions of higher education as participants in the program. The Department estimates that $22 million will be available for these 3-year grants.
The SEED grant program’s main goal is to increase the number of highly effective educators by supporting the implementation of evidence-based practices that prepare, develop, or enhance the skills of educators. This program is designed to encourage the use of rigorous evidence in selecting and implementing opportunities to support educator’s development across the continuum of their careers, including preparation, recruitment, evaluation, professional learning, and leadership development.
07 Apr2020
By Deborah Koolbeck
As the COVID-19 pandemic led the U.S. president to declare a national emergency, education stakeholders began immediate, direct advocacy with the Congress and the Administration, and will continue as federal and congressional actions to address the COVID pandemic unfold. AACTE continues to advocate for educator preparation on Fiscal Year 2021 funding, in particular, and emergency spending packages (often referred to as supplemental measures/bills) with both legislative branches.
When AACTE staff and members talk about advocacy, we talk about the power in the combined voices of stakeholders and partners. To that end, AACTE has joined other education organizations in augmenting the voices on key issues as they emerge with the Administration and the Congress. You can access these letters via the AACTE COVID-19 Resource Hub located under AACTE Advocacy: Letters to Congress, the Administration, or other Leaders. Such letters include one that addresses the release of the Title IX regulations and rapid deployment of the funding from the third stimulus package, the CARES Act.
This section of the COVID-19 Resource Hub will be updated as AACTE signs on to letters for actions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
