Happy New Year everyone, I’m passing along today’s update from CEF. Enjoy! Jeff > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > Subject: Monday Update > Date: January 4, 2016 at 6:12:20 PM EST > To: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > > > > CEF UPDATES > > 1. 2016 Advocacy and Planning Retreat: This Friday, January 8 is the CEF Advocacy and Planning Retreat at the University of California building (1608 Rhode Island Ave. NW). Click here for the agenda <https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B19p6j32JwToWkVENUVGV190QkU>. It’s a full agenda with the meeting starting with breakfast at 8:45 AM. The meeting runs until 1:30 PM. CEF will also provide lunch! I’m still working on locking down our speaker. > > The major purpose of the annual retreat is for CEF committees to plan their activities and discuss strategies and tactics for the year. It’s important that folks attend so we have active participation of as many CEF members as possible in these planning activities. You can attend any of the committee meetings and sign up then to serve on a committee. You can also sign up in advance through this Google sheet <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tEZ-BUnajASRChJsNE_qkxj6alIA9hSlBxVbbl2ltcA/edit?usp=sharing> (note I fixed the link so people can now mark what committees they want to serve on). If your name is not listed, just add another row and mark what committees you want to serve on). > > For those who can’t attend in person, we’ll have our usual speaker phone and call-in number, but just for the initial portion of the meeting (until 10:15 am). We won’t have speaker phones for the breakout committee sessions. > > 2. CEF Membership Forms: All CEF members must submit a 2016 membership form to renew your membership in CEF. Please fill out the 2016 form <http://cef.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016-membership-packet.pdf> and email it back to Broderick Johnson <mailto:bjohnson@rabengroup.com> by February 15. Please fill out the entire form – we need the information for the 2016 CEF Directory. Once we get your form, you’ll receive an invoice for your dues from Danny Cabrera. > > 3. CEF Meeting Schedule and Meeting Spaces: Please click here for the 2016 meeting schedule <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19p6j32JwToM3RNenkxTEE2UjQ/view?usp=sharing> (subject to change based on Congressional actions). We’re looking for CEF members to host meetings. We need meeting spaces for every date after January 15. Please let me know if you can host a meeting. Unless otherwise noted, each one runs from 9 am until 11 am (we need access to the meeting room at 8:30). We need a speaker phone. CEF provides the breakfast, and ideally you provide the coffee (if you can't, CEF does). We need a room that can hold as many as 50 people. For the quarterly working meetings, we also need 3-4 separate meeting rooms/spaces between 10-11 am. > > 4. CEF 2016 Board: For the list of 2016 CEF Board members, click here <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19p6j32JwToa1EwTVBnNThmYm8/view?usp=sharing>. > > CONGRESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATION UPDATES > > 1. FY 2016 Appropriations: > a. The Department of Education has posted its FY 2016 funding table: FY 2016 Congressional Action (last updated 12/22/2015), in PDF [264KB] <http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget16/16action.pdf> and MS Excel [421KB] <http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget16/16action.xls>. Thankfully, their table matches the earlier CEF table that shows an aggregate increase in discretionary funding for ED of $1.71 billion (+1.74%). For ED discretionary excluding Pell grants, the total increase is the same $1.171 billion, but since that is compared to a smaller base, the percentage increase is 2.62%. Total discretionary funding for ED (excluding Pell grants) is still below the FY 2010 level prior to accounting for inflation. > > Note that this table now projects a smaller Pell grant maximum award, $5,845, than the $5.915 that had earlier been projected. So, the maximum award increase for the 2016-17 academic year will be just $70 (+1.21%). The table also projects a surplus in Pell funding for FY 2016 of $3.087 billion. > > b. Based on the final appropriations, I updated CEF’s funding history charts <http://cef.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ED-programs-funding-history-FY-16-omnibus.pdf>. This now contains graphs for ED totals and for 46 programs showing their funding for each year from FY 2002 through FY 2016. > > c. The Omnibus is now Public Law #114-113. > > d. Sequestration Reports: Both OMB and CBO have issued their sequestration reports for FY 2016. Both show that a post-session sequester due to appropriations exceeding the final FY 2016 discretionary spending caps is not needed. See: > · OMB’s Budget Enforcement Act (7-Day-After Reports) for H.R. 2029, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 <https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/legislative_reports/7_day_after/bea_report_PL_114-113_12302015.pdf>. This report “shows that enacted appropriations are over the Non‐Defense cap by $154 million. However, this excess is the result of scoring differences with CBO that are summarized in the accompanying tables of this report. Section 7 of the 2016 CAA includes a technical allowance that permits a cap adjustment for such estimating differences and this adjustment will be made in OMB's Final Sequestration Report for 2016. The adjustment in the Non‐Defense category is expected to be equal to the amount by which the budget authority exceeds the discretionary spending limit in that category because the entire overage is due to estimating differences with CBO.” > > · CBO’s Final Sequestration Report for Fiscal Year 2016 <https://www.cbo.gov/publication/51038> (“In CBO's estimation, such a sequestration will not be required for 2016.”) > > 2. FY 2017 Appropriations: There is some optimism that Congress might actually pass several individual appropriations bills this year or even all 12 (the last time that happened was 1994!). Since the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 set in place the FY 2017 caps for both defense and NDD, there should not be any fights over those top line numbers. > > According to CQ., “GOP lawmakers say Ryan has outlined to them an ambitious plan in which the House Budget Committee advances a budget resolution soon after the president submits his request in early February, paving the way for the first of the 12 fiscal 2017 spending bills to hit the floor in mid- to late-March. They say Ryan has also pledged to devote significant floor time to debating all dozen titles. That would mark the earliest-ever floor consideration in the modern budget era and, frankly, a lofty promise for a presidential election year.” Further, that Ryan “disclosed that he received assurances from Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, that the Nevada Democrat would not block fiscal 2017 spending bills from coming up for debate in the chamber.” > > However, according to The Hill, “Reid is already sending early warning signals. In a statement included in the Congressional Record, the Nevada Democrat warned Republicans against including “poison pill riders” that he said “would grind the process to a halt.” > > 3. NDD United “I Helped Raise the Caps” Reception: It’s set for Tuesday, January 26, 2016, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm in 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Please RSVP here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cuZZZ8bJMXQJamQwWc_Gm5VXwSxQRapmGAk7FnxOmxc/viewform?usp=send_form>! CEF is a cohost. > > 4. White House Education Campaigns: At the annual meeting, Kyle Lierman and Katherine Gallogly from the Domestic Policy Council discussed the various campaigns the White House is engaged in on education issues. As promised they sent me the names and links: > · Free Community College: www.headsupamerica.us <http://www.headsupamerica.us/> > · It’s on Us (Sexual assault): www.itsonus.org <http://www.itsonus.org/> > · Better Make Room: www.bettermakeroom.org <http://www.bettermakeroom.org/> “The Better Make Room movement is designed with one goal in mind: Getting young people to continue their education after high school. A supporting campaign for the First Lady’s Reach Higher initiative, Better Make Room elevates college students to the level of celebrities and says to the world, “These young people are about to do something great. We Better Make Room.”” > · Up Next: www.whatsupnext.us <http://www.whatsupnext.us/> “Up Next sends you simple text messages whenever you need that extra push to get important grown-up things done.” Sign up to get reminders about filling out your FAFSA form. Sign up to find out how you might qualify for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) federal loan repayment > · Early Education is www.investinus.org <http://www.investinus.org/> “Build a better nation with early childhood education” > > 5. Student Loan Repayments: On Dec. 17, ED announced <http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-announces-availability-additional-flexible-repayment-plan-help-borrowers-manage-their-student-loan-debt> that all Direct Loan borrowers may enroll in the Revised Pay As You Earn <https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/announcements/repaye> (REPAYE) Plan. REPAYE, an expansion of Pay As You Earn, <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/get-help-your-student-debt-arne-duncan?published=t> allows more student borrowers to limit the amount of their monthly federal student loan payments to 10 percent of their discretionary income. REPAYE, like PAYE, sets payments at no more than 10% of income. However, REPAYE—unlike PAYE— is available to Direct Loan borrowers regardless of when they took out their loans. > > 6. ESSA Updates: > a. On December 18, ED sent this Dear Colleague Letter on the Transition to ESSA <http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/transition-dcl.pdf> that covers Title I Assessment Peer Review, AMOs and AMAOs, General ESEA Flexibility Update, Follow-Up Actions Required Under ESEA Flexibility Renewal, All Other Amendments to ESEA Flexibility Requests, Priority and Focus School Lists, and Supporting Educator Effectiveness. > b. On Dec. 22, ED sent this Dear Colleague letter on Assessment Requirements <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/ESEA%20DCL%20part%20rate_updated%2012%2020%2015%283%29.pdf> that is focuses on the 95% test participation requirement. Also see: Ed. Dept. to States: Even Under ESSA, You Need a Plan for High Opt-Out Rates <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2015/12/ed_dept_to_states_under_essa_need_plan_for_opt-Outs.html> (Politics K12) > c. ED has posted the slides <http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/essastwebinar12222015.pdf> from a December 21 and 22 webinar on ESSA. > > 7. AIR Briefing: CEF member The American Institutes for Research (AIR) will host a briefing, “States Leading Educator Evaluation Systems after ESSA,” which will explore how state and local leaders from the Midwest region are leveraging research partnerships to refine and strengthen their educator evaluation systems. > > Participants: Angela Minnici, director, Education Policy Center, AIR (Moderator); Steve Dibb, deputy commissioner, Minnesota Department of Education; Katie Rainey, director, Educator Effectiveness, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; Jamie Skjeveland, superintendent, Crosby-Ironton I.S.D. #182, Crosby MN; and Patricia Balana, alliance lead, Educator Effectiveness Research Alliance, Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest at AIR. > > Time and Location: Thursday, January 7, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.; 2261 Rayburn HOB. A light breakfast will be served. > To learn more and register, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/states-leading-educator-evaluation-systems-after-essa-registration-20042720316 <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/states-leading-educator-evaluation-systems-after-essa-registration-20042720316> > > > 8. NCES Releases New Data on Graduation Rates, Student Financial Aid, and Admissions: NCES today released Graduation Rates for Selected Cohorts, 2006-11; Student Financial Aid in Postsecondary Institutions, Academic Year 2013-14; and Admissions in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2014: First Look (Provisional Data) <http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2015181> > > According the report, “when the time period in which students were tracked for program completion was extended from within 100 percent of normal time to within 200 percent of normal time, graduation rates for undergraduates who were full-time, first-time students in 2010 increased from 18 percent to 36 percent at 2-year institutions and from 38 percent to 67 percent at less-than-2-year institutions. > > Other findings include: > > • Approximately 60 percent of full-time, first-time students at 4-year institutions in 2008 who were seeking a bachelor’s or equivalent degree completed a bachelor’s or equivalent degree within 6 years at the institution where they began their studies . > > • Among full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students awarded any grant aid, differences in average cost of attendance and net price of attendance for the 2013-14 academic year varied by institutional sector. For those attending public 4-year institutions, average cost was approximately $19,000 and net price was about $12,100; for those attending nonprofit 4-year institutions, average cost was roughly $37,300 and net price was about $21,400; and for those attending for-profit 4-year institutions, average cost was approximately $27,200 and net price was about $21,900. > > 9. Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-20 Countries: 2015: On December 31, NCES released this report <http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016100> that “draws on the information about education from the International Indicators of Education Systems (INES) project at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as international assessments ranging across the lifespan from grade 4 through adulthood. Topics covered include population and school enrollment, academic performance, contexts for learning, expenditure for education, and educational attainment and income. The G-20 countries, which are among the most economically developed, represent 85 percent of the world’s economy and two-thirds of its population, and are some of the United States’ largest economic partners. This report is the latest in a series that has been published since 2002. Previous reports focused on the G-8 countries. This is the first to focus on the G-20 countries.” > > > Joel Packer > CEF Executive Director > JPacker@cef.org <mailto:JPacker@cef.org> > 202-383-0083 > 202-255-0915 (cell) > www.cef.org <http://www.cef.org/> > www.Twitter.com/edfunding <http://www.twitter.com/edfunding> > NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS > 1341 G Street, NW > Fifth Floor > Washington, DC 20005 >