{"id":18616,"date":"2024-03-07T16:10:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T23:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/?p=18616"},"modified":"2024-03-07T16:24:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T23:24:31","slug":"aacte-talks-policy-march-7-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/2024\/03\/07\/aacte-talks-policy-march-7-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"AACTE Talks Policy, March 7, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

AAC Talks Policy – Washington Update: From the President & CEO<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Congress<\/h4>\n

Appropriations Update\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations negotiations continue among House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders and staff. Congress passed a fourth Continuing Resolution (CR) to temporarily avoid a government shutdown, extending government funding for some federal programs until March 8 and March 22 for others, including education programs. \u00a0Congress has also reached an agreement on spending for six of the FY 2024 appropriations bills and plans to vote on a package of bills this week. The so-called \u201cminibus\u201d would include funding for military construction, agriculture, commerce, energy, interior, and transportation, housing, and urban development. Explanatory materials and bill text\u00a0are available online<\/a><\/strong>. Appropriators continue to negotiate on the remaining six bills, which include Labor-HHS-Education. As soon as we have concrete information on FY 2024 funding for key programs benefiting educator preparation, we will alert members.<\/p>\n

Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The House was scheduled to consider the\u00a0Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act<\/a><\/strong>, but leadership pulled the bill from the schedule due to widespread opposition to the funding mechanism for the legislation. The bill would expand Pell Grant eligibility for qualifying students enrolled in short-term training programs and pay for the expansion by requiring certain private, nonprofit IHEs subject to the endowment tax to reimburse the Department of Education for unpaid student loans, including loans forgiven under various loan forgiveness programs. It is not clear if or when the House will consider the legislation.<\/p>\n

Senator Mitch McConnell to Step Down from Leadership\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced his decision to step down as Senate Republican Leader following the November elections. The top choices to succeed McConnell are Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). The other possible candidates are Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tom Cotton (R-AK), and Rick Scott (R-FL). We also anticipate former President Trump wanting to influence the election of the next GOP leader. Senate Republicans are favored to flip control of the Senate.<\/p>\n

\n

The Administration<\/h4>\n

New Federal Regulations for Programs Leading to Professional Licensure or Certification\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have described these new regulations taking effect on July 1, 2024 in previous newsletters. AACTE is working on an extensive Frequently Asked Questions document to assist members in planning for these new requirements and will be sending it to everyone receiving this newsletter in the next several days. Anyone with questions after reviewing the FAQ should contact Jacqueline King (jking@aacte.org<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for National Apprenticeship Program\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The deadline to submit comments on the Department of Labor\u2019s sweeping set of\u00a0proposed regulations<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0governing all aspects of the National Apprenticeship program is Monday, March 18. AACTE has co-chaired a multi-organization working group that will submit detailed comments.<\/p>\n

FAFSA Update\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As previously reported in this newsletter, there has been a significant delay in processing the FAFSA, resulting in disruptions to campus financial aid processes. The Department announced it will begin deploying support from the Office of Federal Student Aid to lower-resourced colleges as part of its FAFSA College Support Strategy. These personnel will conduct need assessments and provide dedicated help to schools that are preparing for, and processing student aid offer packages.<\/p>\n

Congress also made changes to the FAFSA in the most recent CR to clarify the manner in which the Department calculates the maximum award. This change means that some students will qualify for smaller Pell grants than they would have under the Department’s original interpretation of the underlying formula. Next year, fewer students will have access to the Pell Grant, and many students who do receive the Pell Grant will receive less financial assistance. House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC-05) defended the resolution claiming that unchecked expansion would cripple the Pell Grant program.<\/p>\n

Learn more about\u00a0Better FASFA on the Department’s website.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

State Policy Update<\/h4>\n
EPP-Censoring Bill Passes in Florida, Sent to Governor\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
By Tyler Pointer, AACTE Director of Communications & PR<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
State lawmakers in Florida have now passed a controversial measure HB 1291<\/a><\/strong>\/SB 1372<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that would prohibit the state’s educator preparation programs (EPPs) from teaching theories on systemic racism and “identity politics.”<\/div>\n
The bill, which has now made its way to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk, would prevent EPPs from “distorting significant historical events\u2026 including a curriculum or instruction that teaches identity politics” or “violates the Florida Educational Equity Act.”
\nIt will further censor teaching \u201ctheories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.\u201d<\/div>\n
The legislation is the latest direct attack on higher education institutions in the state after DeSantis\u00a0signed a bill last year banning diversity, equity, and inclusion<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0efforts at public institutions.<\/div>\n
A House analysis of the measure said there are 57 “initial” teacher preparation programs in Florida at 10 state universities, 19 state colleges, and 28 private colleges and universities that this legislation would affect.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AAC Talks Policy – Washington Update: From the President & CEO Congress Appropriations Update\u00a0 Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations negotiations continue among House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders and staff. Congress passed a fourth Continuing Resolution (CR) to temporarily avoid a government shutdown, extending government funding for some federal programs until March 8 and March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-of-interest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18616"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18619,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18616\/revisions\/18619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}