Here’s Thursday’s CEF update. Appropriations process is in even more of a mess than it was earlier this week. Note item 8, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda's quadrennial Hispanic Public Policy Agenda. Among its many policy recommendations is a call for increasing federal investments in adult education and workforce development services for low-skilled, limited-English-proficient workers. In addition, in its section on immigration reform, NHLA recommends “increas[ing] funding to expand the availability of adult ESL and civics education so that those applying for naturalization can be prepared for the naturalization exam.” Are any of our D.C. are-based members interested in going to the CEF Budget Response briefing next week? Let me know if you plan on going, and make sure to RSVP. Jeff > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > Subject: Thursday update > Date: March 24, 2016 at 6:05:10 PM EDT > To: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > > > > > 1. No CEF Meeting Tomorrow: Due to the Congressional recess and Good Friday, there is no CEF meeting tomorrow. There is also no CEF meeting on April 1, since Congress is also on recess next week. Click here for the latest CEF  meeting schedule <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19p6j32JwTocWZfUHJ1TVJUVzQ/view?usp=sharing>. > > 2. CEF Budget Response – ROOM CHANGE! Due to circumstances beyond our control, the location for our Budget Response briefing has been changed. Instead of room HVC 201-A/B, we are now in the Congressional Meeting Room South (CVC 217). It’s on the lower level of the Capitol Visitor Center. See attached map. > > Please RSVP! <http://goo.gl/forms/rRHbjqXhXN> > > Thanks to those of you who signed up to deliver the budget response books and CEF directories on that day. All the deliveries have now been assigned! > > 3. CBO Updated Budget Projections: CBO today released its Updated Budget Projections: 2016 to 2026 <https://www.cbo.gov/publication/51384>. Not too much new since their January budget projections on the overall deficit projections. For discretionary, “The growth rate of total discretionary spending is less than half of the rate projected for the growth of nominal GDP. As a result, discretionary outlays would drop from 6.5 percent of GDP in 2016 to 5.2 percent in 2026—a smaller ratio than in any year since 1962 (the first year for which comparable data are available).” > > However, there is a change in student loans: “CBO increased its estimate of 2016 outlays for student loans by $10 billion, largely because the Department of Education is recording an upward revision to the subsidy costs of loans made in prior years. In addition, several technical updates led CBO to project an $18 billion (or 25 percent) net increase in outlays for student loans for the 2017–2026 period. Those updates, reflecting recent data, include an increase in the projected volume of income-based repayment plans, a reduction in the projected use of repayment plans that offer extended repayment terms, and an increase in estimates of the cost of administering the loan programs.” > > More importantly for CEF, CBO released its official Pell baseline <https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/51304-2016-03-PellGrant.pdf> and student loan baseline <https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/51310-2016-03-StudentLoan.pdf>. There is great news for Pell, in that CBO lowered its projected cost of the Pell program each year. Based on the new CBO baseline, our calculations now show that the Pell program will not face a funding shortfall (assuming Congress continues to provide the same level of discretionary spending each year) until FY 2015. See: CEF’s PELL GRANT PROGRAM FUNDING March 2016 <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19p6j32JwToTFR5V081RHlDS0E/view?usp=sharing>. > > For student loans, CBO's baseline shows that the Federal government will earn $43.8 billion between FY 2015 and FY 2016, after taking onto account the cost of loan administration. In FY 2017 the government will money from Unsubsidized Student Loans: Undergraduate ($2.28 billion), Unsubsidized Student Loans: Graduate ($5.1 billion); GradPLUS Student Loans ($1.7 billion) and Parent Loans ($4.07 billion). > > To see all of the CBO baseline projections go to: Baseline Projections for Selected Programs <https://www.cbo.gov/about/products/baseline-projections-selected-programs>. > > 4. FY 2017 Appropriations: Potentially further complicating and delaying action on appropriations are two new issues. First, House Republicans in their efforts to get to the needed 218 votes for passage of their Budget Resolution, are now considering “a mechanism that could make discretionary funding contingent on the enactment of cuts to mandatory program spending… While the details are still under discussion, the idea is to provide a guarantee that Congress would not spend at the full $1.07 trillion discretionary level permitted under the two-year budget deal (PL 114-74) unless some $30 billion in cuts to mandatory programs are enacted.” > > Doing this would lead to a disconnect between the House and Senate appropriations bills, if the House bills are written to the lower level of $1.04 trillion and can't spend the other $30 billion until $30 billion of mandatory cuts are enacted (which is very unlikely to happen). See: GOP Seeks Spending Cut Guarantee to Push Budget Forward <http://www.cq.com/doc/news-4858634?1&srcpage=news&srcsec=cqn> (CQ). > > The second issue is that today, over 70 Republicans sent a letter <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19p6j32JwToQW14SWUtcThiOFE/view?usp=sharing> to the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee calling for several labor policy riders. If these are indeed included, that will almost certainly result in Democrats opposing the Labor-HHS-ED bill. > > 5. FY 2017 Education Appropriations Dear Colleague Letters: If CEF folks send me final copies of Dear Colleague letters that have been submitted regarding funding for education and related programs, I will share them with our list. Attached are two House letters I have received, on IDEA and ESSA Title IV, Part A. > > 6. Advancing College Opportunity for Low-Income Students: The U.S. Department of Education today released a report, Fulfilling the Promise, Serving the Need: Advancing College Opportunity for Low-Income Students <http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/advancing-college-opportunity.pdf>, highlighting the efforts of colleges and universities to promote access, opportunity and success among low-income students, and identifying areas of much-needed improvement. In addition, also available is the data set supporting this report <http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/advancing-college-opportunity-data.xlsx>. > > 7. State of School Facilities: State of Our Schools: America's K–12 Facilities, <http://centerforgreenschools.org/state-our-schools> a joint publication of the 21st Century School Fund, the National Council on School Facilities and the U.S. Green Building Council, was released today. The report projects that going forward our nation will under-invest in school buildings by $46 billion annually. > > 8. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda: NHLA, a coalition of the nation's leading Latino advocacy organizations, released it quadrennial Hispanic Public Policy Agenda <https://nationalhispanicleadership.org/images/Agenda/NHLA_2016_Hispanic_Policy_Agenda.pdf> in late February. The agenda provides a comprehensive overview of policy concerns and priorities and includes a section on education that spans early childhood to higher education (pp. 36-41). > > 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 > >