The House passed its version of the DREAM Act late Wednesday, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented children who graduate from college or serve in the military. The Senate today decided to kill its own version of the bill – most likely because of the expectation that it would not receive enough passing votes. There is speculation that the Senate will instead put the House-passed version up for a vote early next week after the taxes and spending legislation is cleared.
Category: Higher Education
National Education Technology Plan Unveiled
Education Secretary Arne Duncan released this week the Department’s plan for transforming American education through technology, a process that would create an engaging, state-of-the-art, cradle-to-college school system nationwide. The National Education Technology Plan was written and refined over a year and a half by leading education researchers, with input from the public, industry officials, and educators and students from across the country. It is a crucial component of the Obama Administration’s efforts to have America lead the world in college completion by 2020 and help close the academic achievement gap so that all students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and careers.
“We’re at an important transition point…we need to leverage technology’s promise to improve learning” the Secretary expressed in remarks. The plan, “Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology,” presents a model with key goals in five areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. Each section outlines concepts for using technology to holistically transform education, with the aim to achieve each goal by 2015. Overall, the plan addresses trends that could transform education, such as accessibility and mobility, the rise of digital content, and the rise of online social networks for information, collaboration, and learning. Also, it stresses that technology in the classroom only works when paired with effective teaching.
More information can be found here
Post-Election Legislative Agenda Uncertain
The mid-term congressional elections that took place on Tuesday, resulting in a Republican House majority and diminished Democratic Senate majority, will have a significant impact on issues of concern to the higher education community (FY11 appropriations, DREAM Act, COMPETES Act, tax policy) that were previously slated for consideration during the coming “lame-duck” session. The current Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill may decide, or be forced, to punt many legislative items to the new Congress. It is expected that the new Congress will increase efforts to constrain federal spending. How deeply those efforts impact research and student aid remains to be seen.
The Office of Federal Relations is gathering information on the likely leadership structure of the incoming 112th Congress, as well as on prospects for legislation of interest. A Federal Report will be produced and available on this website during the week of November 7th.
DREAM Act Future Uncertain
The DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants who attend college or the military and was rolled into the Senate’s defense authorization bill, failed to pass a crucial vote yesterday. Requiring 60 votes to pass, the motion failed by a vote of 56 to 43. Because the motion did not pass, the Senate will not be debating the defense bill in the immediate future, which means that amendments such as the DREAM Act, will not be considered either.
It appears that the defense authorization bill did not pass solely because of the language of the bill but because Majority Leader Harry Reid limited amendments by Republicans which resulted in some moderate Republicans refusing to support the bill due to what they deemed an unfair voting process. Still, the chance that this bill will be reconsidered soon is very small and it’s future will be very much dependent on the outcome of the November elections.
Senate may take action on the DREAM Act
After reporting on this site yesterday that the DREAM Act was all but dead for this year, the Senate Majority Leader announced that they will try to pass this measure that would grant citizenship to young adults in the country illegally. Senate leadership hopes to attach the DREAM Act to the FY11 defense authorization bill, which is expected to be brought to the Senate floor next week. The DREAM Act is largely a bipartisan, politically popular bill that would allow young illegal immigrants who graduate from US high schools and who were brought to the country as minors to attain citizenship if they go to college or serve in the military for at least two years. Advocates see the DREAM Act as a key step in achieving reform that would enable an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to gain citizenship. Both Senators Murray and Cantwell (D-WA) have been sponsors of the DREAM Act and will likely support this effort.