Notes - NCL Policy Committee Meeting 8/5/15 Note-taker: Jeff Carter Those on the call yesterday, please feel free to post any corrections or additions. Action items in BOLD. Participants: Jeff Carter JoAnn Weinberger Peter Waite Judy Mortrude Michele Diecuch Heather Ritchie Jackie Taylor 1. Appropriations As most people know, the appropriation process has pretty much ground to a halt, and the question now is whether there will be a short-term CR in September or a larger budget deal. 2. Request for Comments on WIOA Performance Information Collection The departments of Labor and Education are soliciting comments concerning a collection of data that will be used to demonstrate that specified performance levels under the WIOA have been achieved. <http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=ETA-2015-0007 <http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=ETA-2015-0007>> Several coalition members mentioned they would likely sublet comments, and we agreed that the Coalition itself would not. However, we did feel that the Coalition would be useful vehicle for people to share comments. Any organization submitting comments are therefore encouraged to share with the group via our email discussion list. Note that the comment period closes on Sept. 21, 2015. 3. ESEA An ESEA reauthorization bill has cleared both the Senate and the House and a conference committee will start working on reconciling the two bills when everyone is back from summer recess. But both private and public reports are that discussions have already begun. NCL, when asked, has supported an assortment of proposed provisions and amendments during the ESEA reauthorization process this year, but we don’t have anyone tracking this, nor did anyone on the call have any specific recommendations regarding things we should be paying attention to as the conference gets underway. We only have one active member that we know of that that follows ESEA closely - NCFL - and they were not on the call yesterday. Jeff volunteered to followup with NCFL (possibly also Washington Partners, who works with NCFL) and also, if time permits, take a closer look at the bill regarding any provisions that might be relevant to our members. 4. HSE Tests General question here is who is the best source in terms of tracking what state is doing what? Answer remains unclear. We know both the state directors and David Rosen are tracking. Judy Mortrude mentioned paper they released in May that has this information — and a lot more — that that may be of interest: <http://www.clasp.org/resources-and-publications/publication-1/The-Changing-Landscape-of-High-School-Equivalency-in-the-U.S.-Final.pdf <http://www.clasp.org/resources-and-publications/publication-1/The-Changing-Landscape-of-High-School-Equivalency-in-the-U.S.-Final.pdf>> 5. AEFL Week An ad-hoc committee meeting was held today to discuss NCL activities. Meanwhile, Jeff is working with staff on the Hill on our resolution. 5. WIOA State Planning We agreed that the field on the ground needed to be more involved and aware of what is happening. A couple of specific needs were mentioned: a. Someone to track which states are doing unified vs. combined plans. b. Develop bullet points on the 2-4 most essential issues that folks in the field should know about, potentially advocate on, etc. CLASP is preparing something that is a bit like (b) above - a series of papers on state and local WIOA planning - one will include Title II, and will discuss Title II Representatives for Local Boards, Shared Assessment, and Integrated Education and Training. Meanwhile, Title II not receiving much in the way of guidance from OCTAE (compared to what Labor is providing for Title I programs) because (we’re told) Dept. of Education lawyers concerned about providing guidance before regs are out. 6. House Adult Literacy Caucus We had a brief discussion on the state of the caucus. It was agreed that we should try to rejuvenate it. There was general agreement that the budget situation here being what it is, it’s unlikely that any increased attention to our issue resulting from the caucus would have much of an impact in terms of budget advocacy, (which is where we have been most active as a coalition) — BUT, it was also agreed that the caucus plays a useful function as a vehicle for educating Congress about our issue(s). In May, Jeff spoke briefly with Rep. Roe’s staff about the need to get the caucus active again, and will reach out to Rep. Hinojosa’s staff this month (our contact in his office has moved on to another job).