14 Mar2023
By Michael Rose
AACTE expressed its support for President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget, which calls for strong investments in education that will help address the critical shortage of educators in our nation’s schools as well as help millions of students achieve their academic dreams.
The nation faces an unprecedented challenge hiring and retaining well-qualified and diverse educators to lead our classrooms. This shortage has been exacerbated by the pandemic, stagnant wages, and difficult work environments. The president’s budget proposal seeks to address many of these challenges. AACTE urges Congress to fund these priorities at the highest possible levels.
14 Mar2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
On Thursday, the Biden-Harris Administration unveiled their FY2024 budget proposal. Under the request, the Department of Education would receive $90 billion in total discretionary funding — a $10.3 billion or 13.6% increase over the FY 2023 enacted level of funding provided for the Department of Education. In addition to the $90 billion in discretionary spending, the proposal also calls for new mandatory spending requests which include $600 billion over ten years for universal preschool and expanded support for childcare and $96 billion over ten years in new spending to double the maximum Pell grant by 2029, and $90 billion over ten years for a new free community college program. The budget request also includes $578 million in new funding to increase the number of counselors, school psychologists, and other health professionals in schools. This increase is spread among three programs: $428 million split between the School-Based Mental Services and Mental Health Services Professional Demonstration programs and $150 million within FIPSE for colleges to address student mental health needs.
13 Mar2023
By Kristi Evans
Northern Michigan University education assistant professor Kristen White is among collaborators from 10 partner universities and K12s — including Marquette Area Public Schools — to receive an award from the National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) to participate in its Family Engagement Educator Preparation Innovation Project. Only nine collaboratives were selected from a nationwide pool of 76 proposals to receive grants totaling more than $150,000.
The nine collaboratives will implement select components of the Educator Preparation Framework for Family and Community Partnerships, released by NAFSCE in December 2022, and engage in a learning community through June 2023. The grants will incubate new ideas, uncover how the framework sparks innovation to prepare educators for family and community engagement in diverse communities, and create a platform to share and disseminate ideas and knowledge.
07 Mar2023
By Campbell Atkins
Sam Houston State University was one of 12 Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to receive a portion of the U.S. Department of Education’s Augustus F. Hawkins Centers for Excellence Program grants, which aim to increase high-quality teacher preparation programs for teachers of color, strengthen the diversity of the teacher pipeline and address teacher shortages.
The program supports comprehensive, high-quality teacher preparation programs at MSIs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs). SHSU is categorized within MSI as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).
07 Mar2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
In February, the House Education and Workforce Committee held their first hearing: “American Education in Crisis.” During the chairwoman’s opening remarks, Virginia Foxx (R-NC) expressed her support for H.R.5 , more commonly referred to as “The Parent Bill of Rights.” The legislation was first introduced in the 117th Congress and would require K-12 school districts receiving federal funding to publicly post their curriculum and annually provide parents with a list of books in the school library, a breakdown of school expenditures, the ability to opt their child out of all data collection, and more. As anticipated, on Wednesday, House Republicans reintroduced the bill.
21 Feb2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
This week Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME), chair and vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced the Appropriations Subcommittees chairs, ranking members, and full rosters for the 118th Congress.
17 Feb2023
By AACTE
AACTE is pleased to announce that the following 10 member institutions are part of the inaugural class of grantees under the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program (Hawkins Program):
- Bowie State University (MD)
- California State University, Dominquez Hills
- Florida International University
- Metropolitan State University of Denver (CO)
- Northeastern State University (OK)
- Sam Houston State University (TX)
- University of Hawai’i
- University of Houston-Clear Lake (TX)
- University of Texas at El Paso
- William Paterson University of New Jersey
07 Feb2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Nearly a month into the 118th Congress, Democratic and Republican leadership are finalizing committee and subcommittee assignments. Senate Democrats announced committee assignments last week — including a few changes. In the Senate HELP and Appropriations committees, the changes from the last Congress are as follows: Senate Appropriations Committee —Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has retired, and Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) is now on the Committee. Senator Peters priorities include affordable higher education, student loan debt relief, funding for STEAM research, career technical education, and apprenticeship programs. Senate HELP Committee Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is no longer on the Committee, and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) has joined the HELP Committee. Republicans in the Senate have not yet finalized committee and subcommittee assignments. In the House, Republicans and Democrats have finalized rosters for all Appropriations subcommittees. Additionally, the final roster of all House Education and the Workforce Committee members has been finalized and can be found here.
17 Jan2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Early Saturday, after a historic 5-day, 15 ballot fight- with major concessions made to the so called “never Kevin” holdouts, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) secured his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Many analysts and DC insiders believe that the political theatre surrounding the Speaker vote foreshadows just how difficult it could be to govern in an exceedingly narrow Republican majority. However, in speaking with reporters Speaker McCarthy downplayed concerns, saying: “This is the great part … Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern.” I suppose only time will tell if the Speaker’s projection reigns true.
17 Jan2023
By Jessica Pope
Valdosta State University (VSU) has received $750,000 in federal funding to help address the need for more teachers across South Georgia, where classrooms are overcrowded and school districts struggle to recruit certified professionals ready to develop and inspire young learners.
VSU plans to use the funds to expand its rural teacher pipeline by providing scholarship and other support to paraprofessionals who wish to earn a Bachelor of Science in Education in Elementary Education through the university’s Online College for Career Advancement. Participating paraprofessional educators will be able to continue serving as vital members of their school’s support staff while earning their professional teaching credentials.
10 Jan2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Just before the holiday break, Members of Congress completed their final task as the 117th Congress — passing the FY2023 omnibus spending package. The bill provides a $3.2 billion increase over the FY2022 level of funding provided to the Department of Education, with several significant increases in programmatic funding to address the educator workforce.
10 Jan2023
By Michael Rose
The Biden-Harris Administration today announced a new proposal to reduce the cost of federal student loan payments, especially for low- and middle-income borrowers.
While AACTE is generally supportive of the proposal, which according to a fact sheet will make college more affordable for perspective educators, additional steps must be taken to address the nationwide shortage of highly qualified, diverse teachers in our classrooms. AACTE looks forward to working with the Administration, Congress and state officials to develop and implement policies that achieve these goals.
09 Jan2023
By Michael Rose
Following the outbreak of COVID-19, Congress passed several pieces of legislation to support the safe re-opening of schools and address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives and learning of students. Funds included in the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds played a critical role in helping achieve these and related goals.
03 Jan2023
By Texas State University College of Education
Texas State University’s teacher education program has been selected as a Raising Texas Teachers partner, a 10-year, $50 million statewide teacher workforce initiative supported by the Charles Butt Foundation.
“This recognition speaks to our university’s historic roots as a teacher’s college up to our role today in graduating more teachers fully prepared for the classroom than any other university in Texas,” said Michael O’Malley, dean of the College of Education at Texas State. “Working with the Charles Butt Foundation has been a transformative partnership for our teacher education program that benefits not only our students, but the children they will educate throughout their careers.”
Texas State joins 15 universities currently participating in partner teacher programs across the state.
20 Dec2022
By Michael Rose
Congress released the details of the annual spending agreement reached this week that will fund most of the federal government, including the Department of Education, for the remainder of the fiscal year.
By law, these bills should have been completed by September 30. However, due to disagreements over various spending and other legislative priorities between the two parties and the House and Senate, the government has been funded by a series of continuing resolutions, which financed the government at previously agreed upon levels.
