Update from Sarah Abernathy: House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations details and amendments, House FY 2018 budget resolution and misc. events. You'll note in the Events section below that I’m going to be talking about adult students as part of panel discussion next week on TRIO’s Educational Opportunity Centers, hosted by the TRIO Caucus. I’ve been asked to talk about challenges facing adult students generally — I have no expertise on TRIO or EOCs. But if anyone of you have some experience with adults who have come through the adult education system who were also served by EOCs, I’d love to chat with you. BTW, there is nothing revelatory in the draft report on the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill. Here’s what it says: Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants The Committee recommends $581,955,000 for Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants, which is the same as the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $96,106,000 above the fiscal year 2018 budget request. State formula grants, authorized under the AEFLA, support programs to enable all adults to acquire basic literacy skills, to enable those who so desire to complete secondary education, and to make available to adults the means to become more employable, productive, and responsible citizens. Adult Education National Leadership Activities The Committee recommends $13,712,000 for National Leadership Activities, which is the same as the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $26,000 above the fiscal year 2018 budget request. This program supports applied research, development, dissemination, evaluation, and program improvement efforts to strengthen the quality of adult education services. Jeff > > House FY 2018 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill > · Timeline - report released today, Committee markup tomorrow – The House Appropriations Committee will mark up its FY 2018 education funding bill tomorrow at a 9:30am meeting that also involves marking up the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill (which will likely go first) and approving the “interim” suballocations. Those are the spending totals the Committee has set for each bill, which normally would sum to the total the Committee had been allocated by the budget resolution. However, since Congress has not yet enacted a budget resolution for FY 2018, the Committee is proceeding using topline levels that are $5 billion below the sequester-level cap on nondefense discretionary (NDD) funding for FY 2018 and $72 billion above the defense cap set in law (note that Congress would have to include language changing the cap set in law by the Budget Control Act to enact defense spending above the cap level). This could be a long markup, with a lot of amendments offered. > > · Report with complete funding table – The Committee has published its draft report <https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/23920.pdf> on the Labor-HHS-Education bill, which explains the thinking behind the account totals in the bill text, and has the all-important complete funding table (text for Department of Education starts on page 106, and its funding table is on pages 208-221). I’ve updated the CEF tracking table, which is attached. Keep in mind that the Republican press release talks about the $66 billion in new discretionary funding the bill provides for the Department, but that total does not include the bill’s $3.3 billion rescission of previously appropriated funding for Pell grants. In an apples-to-apples comparison of the net discretionary funding impact on the Department of Education – the total new funding minus the Pell grant rescission in each year – this bill is $4.2 billion (6.2 percent) less than last year’s bill. If you do not count Pell grant funding at all, this bill provides $2.2 billion (4.8 percent) less than last year’s (I have to figure out why the Republican press release says it’s a $2.4 billion cut). > · Education amendments to be offered – We know of a number of education-related amendments that Committee Democrats are planning to offer, and there may be more. They are: > · Rep. Pocan (D-WI) on Pell grants – increase the maximum award for FY 2018 to $6,055, providing the $135 increase that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates is needed to keep pace with inflation. Without this amendment, the maximum grant in the bill is frozen at last year’s level. > · Rep. Ryan (D-OH) on education funding – reject all education cuts and restore funding to the 2017 enacted level. > · Rep. Price (D-NC) on funding for teachers – this amendment has four parts: 1) rejecting the elimination of the Title II-A teacher/school leader program (a $2.1 billion program); 2) rejecting the elimination of the School Leader Recruitment and Support program ($15 million); 3) rejecting the elimination of the Teacher Quality Partnerships ($43 million); and 4) rejecting the bill’s $23 million cut to the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) program. > · Rep. Price (D-NC) on foreign language studies – reject the bill’s $7 million cut to the Fulbright-Hayes program, which is the overseas program in international education and foreign language studies. > · Rep. Clark (D-MA) on early childhood – increase funding (don’t know for which programs). > · Rep. DeLauro (D-CT) on afterschool funding – reject the bill’s $192 million cut and restore funding to the 2017 enacted level. > · Possible amendment on literacy - reject the elimination of the $190 million comprehensive literacy program. > > House Budget Committee FY 2018 budget resolution > > · Republican budget resolution cuts NDD funding dramatically – The proposed budget resolution <https://budget.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/7-18-17-225-FY2018_Budget_Resolution_xml.pdf> cuts NDD for FY 2018 to $511 billion, which is the level that the House Appropriations allocated in its 12 bills and is $7.5 billion below the FY 2017 level and almost $5 billion below the already low sequester level set in law for FY 2018. The budget cuts NDD funding <https://budget.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Summary-Tables-1.pdf> $2 billion more for FY 2019, and then cuts it dramatically more each year through 2024, and then keeps it almost frozen. Over ten years, the budget cuts NDD funding by $1.3 trillion below the sequester level (the sequester ends in 2021; from 2022-2027, the comparison is to CBO’s baseline estimates of what is needed to keep pace with inflation). Defense funding is increased by $929 billion above its caps over the same ten-year period. > > · Education funding assumptions – Without seeing the break-out of mandatory and discretionary funding for each budget function it’s impossible to know what the budget intends for each area. However, the Committee published a blueprint, “Building a Better America: A Plan for Fiscal Responsibility <https://budget.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Building-a-Better-America-PDF-1.pdf>,” that lays out some goals and assumptions. It highlights career and technical education and the need for more choice and flexibility, calling for consolidation of duplicative job training programs and a streamlined approach and reform to reduce administrative costs. It highlights the need to “make the Pell grant program sustainable” with reforms that ensure that aid goes to the most needy, that students complete their programs in a timely manner, and that the program is financially stable. It asserts that the federal student loan program “crowds out private and other lenders that may have better products to meet borrowers’ needs.” It does not provide specifics on other higher education programs beyond saying that it wants to “simplify and streamline higher education programs and financing to protect students and taxpayers.” Past Republican budgets have assumed the elimination of all mandatory Pell grant funding, subsidized loans, and some student loan repayment options. > Events > · Tomorrow - TEACH In, Speak Out! - On Wednesday, July 19, AFT, members of Congress, community members and allies in Washington, D.C., are rallying to stand up for students and families. The event will take place on the East Lawn in front of the Capitol building at 1:30 pm. Speakers include AFT President Randi Weingarten, Leader Nancy Pelosi, Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and many others. I’ve attached an updated flyer. To RSVP and more details. <https://actionnetwork.org/events/teach-in-speak-out> > · July 26 – The TRIO Caucus is hosting a briefing on TRIO’s Educational Opportunity Centers, and one of the panelists is CEF’s vice President Jeff Carter. The briefing is Wednesday, July 26, from 2-3:30pm in 122 Cannon House Office Building. See the attached flyer for details, or visit here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1ejGGMxW3OOvvrjOXRVdMBP2xZQOcvi7UZ4VQCXe96o4k7w/viewform> to RSVP. >