The House of Representatives approved the Strengthening Education through Research Act (H.R. 4366) on Thursday night, with bipartisan support. The bill reauthorizes the Education Sciences Reform Act.
The measure will now head to the Senate.
Category: Higher Education
Senate Confirms Ted Mitchell
This afternoon, the Senate confirmed Ted Mitchell as the new Under Secretary of Education. Mitchell succeeds Martha Kanter, who stepped down in December to take a post at NYU. Mitchell has been President at the New School Venture Fund.
Mitchell was nominated in October of 2013. The nomination was approved unanimously by voice vote.
House to Vote on ESRA Reauthorization
The House is expected to consider H.R. 4366, the Strengthening Education through Research Act on Wednesday of this week. The legislation would reauthorize the Institute of Education Science, which is the research arm of the Department of Education.
Reauthorizing legislation of research agencies is typically noncontroversial, and surprisingly, that spirit has held true this year with the IES reauthorization — so far. The House is expected to pass the legislation as a Suspension bill, which requires 2/3rd of the House in the positive for the bill to pass.
This measure is one of several higher education reauthorization bills the Office of Federal has been tracking.
New Report on Trends in State Funding for Higher Education
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a study late last week about national trends in state funding allocations to public higher educational institutions. The report explains broad national trends in cost shifting of tuition from the state to the student. Overall, after counting for inflation, forty-eight states are still spending less per student in higher education than before the recession. Since the start of the recession, states have cut higher education funding by 23 percent per student. While states have begun to restore funding, resources are well below what they were in 2008.
Some additional take aways:
- Simultaneously, public higher education institutions must educate more students, raising costs. In part due to the “baby boom echo” causing a surge in the 18- to 24-year-old population, enrollment in public higher education increased by about 1 million full-time equivalent students, or 10 percent, between the beginning of the recession and the 2012-13 academic year (the latest year for which there is actual data).
- The recession also played a large role in swelling enrollment numbers, particularly at community colleges, reflecting high school graduates choosing college over dim employment prospects in the job market and older workers entering classrooms in order to retool and gain new skills.
- The cost shift from states to students has happened over a period when absorbing additional expenses has been difficult for many families because their incomes have been stagnant or declining. Tuition was up 26.1 percent between the 2007-08 and 2012-13 school years, while real median income was down roughly 8.3 percent over the same time period
White House Issues First Report on Campus Sexual Assault
This morning, the White House issued its first report to address and work to end sexual assault on campuses. This report — and the release of NotAlone.gov, a clearinghouse for federal information on campus sexual assault — is the first in what will be a series of action steps to address campus sexual assault.
Earlier this year, the President created the Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault, which is co-chaired by Vice President Joe Biden and the White House Council on Women and Girls. Today, the Task Force release a report of planned first action steps and recommendations. This first report establishes broad initial goals including: identifying the scope of the problem on college campuses; help preventing campus sexual assault; help schools respond effectively when a student is assaulted; and improve, and make more transparent, the federal government’s enforcement efforts.
Over a year ago, the University of Washington recognized campus sexual assault as a significant national issue and formed the UW Task Force on Sexual Assault and Prevention. President Young reconfirmed the university’s commitment to do all the institution can to prevent and properly respond to every individual report of equal assault.
In October 2013, UW issued a final report with 18 recommendations and action items to change campus culture and create a safer and more compassionate and responsive response to UW campus sexual assault, through expanding UW’s SARIS, for example.
UW continues to work toward implementing all of these recommendations and as the discussion moves forward at the federal level, the Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor and update the community on this issue.