Jane West provides CPED members a Washington Update at AACTE

1. Washington Update:
What CPED Needs to
Know
Jane E. West Ph.D.
Education Policy Consultant
janewestdc@gmail.com
CPED
March 1, 2015

2. The Politics of the 114th Congress
• Republican majority in
House and Senate
•Aggressive lame duck
President
•Presidential politics

3. The Budget
• President’s proposal -- $70.7 Billion discretionary, an increase
of $3.6 Billion or 5.4%
• Big Winners: $75B for Preschool for All; $750 M for Preschool
Development Grants; $5B for Teaching for Tomorrow
competitive state grants (implement TP regs); double
funding for state longitudinal data systems; $60 Billion
for two years of free community college; no RTTT request
• Congress beginning Budget process now – April 15 budget
deadline – fate of Obama favorites?
• Sequester

4. ESEA in the House
• Committee passed Partisan bill- “Student Success Act”;
on Floor this week
• Includes GREAT Act; repeals highly qualified; repeals
Teacher Quality Partnership Grants Title II of HEA
and 65 other programs; allows funds for residencies;
eliminates goals and performance targets for
accountability; cap on spending for 5 years; no MOE;
no supplement not supplant; portability; annual
assessments retained; teacher evaluation optional
• White House would likely veto; virtually all education
and civil rights groups oppose

5. ESEA in the Senate
• Sen. Alexander (R-TN) introduced
discussion draft similar to House
Republican bill
• Three hearings: annual testing;
accountability; federal vs. state role;
what is success?
• Intensive bipartisan staff negotiations;
groups pressuring
• Short window for progress

6. Proposed Teacher Prep
Regulations
• 4563 comments
• Most critical: financial burden,
unworkability, federal overreach,
metrics without efficacy, test and
punish using VAM
• CAEP, CCSSO, others supportive with
suggestions
• Deans for Impact, DFER, TFA supportive
• Final due out in late summer

7. ESEA Implications for Regulatory
Proposal
•Annual Assessments
•Mandatory Teacher
Evaluation
•“Non-tested grades and
subjects”

8. Higher Education
• Obama’s Post Secondary Institution Rating
System – comments posted Feb. 20
• ACE letter:
“…incomplete, tentative and
amorphous…”
Consumer information vs.
accountability
“…abandon this plan…”

9. Senate Action
• Higher Education Task Force on Federal Regulation of
Higher Education
• Appointed by Burr (R-NC), Alexander (R-TN), Mikulski
(D-MD) and Bennet (D-CO)
• 16 college presidents
• Hearing February 23 – Chancellor Univ. MD, Vanderbilt
Univ.
• Unnecessarily voluminous, inordinately costly, overly
complex, “department appears indifferent to the
regulatory burden it imposes”
• 10 regs, including teacher preparation

10. Legislation and Regulations
• Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Sen.
Richard Burr (R-NC) introduced
“Regulatory Relief Act” reversing
several sets of higher education
regulations and prohibiting issuing
regs, including PIRS and teacher prep
accountability

11. Teacher Prep Riding 2 Waves
•Anti-testing and VAM
•Federal over regulation
of higher education

12. Caution: Narratives Prevail
•Teacher Preparation is
broken
•Disruptive alternatives
favored

13. Finding a Third Way
•The Status Quo
•The Reformers
•The Third Way – CPED +

14. And Remember….
If you’re not at the
table….
You’re probably on the
menu!