Congress Overhauls Major Higher Education Law

This from the Principal's Policy Blog at NASSP:

Ten years since its last reauthorization, Congress has finally passed legislation (H.R. 4137) reauthorizing the Higher Education Act. The law was originally set to expire in 2003, but Congress has passed 16 short-term extensions in the past four years. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law in August.

Notably, the bill reauthorizes the Teacher Quality Partnership Grants program.

Many provisions of this program are aligned with NASSP’s policy recommendations for middle level and high school reform, including:

 Mentoring prospective principals;

 Helping principals create a data-driven professional learning community within their school;

 Helping principals become instructional leaders by increasing their understanding of how students learn and develop, and how to use data to evaluate teacher instruction;

 Helping principals understand how to engage and involve parents,
community members, businesses, and others to leverage additional resources to
improve student academic achievement

H.R. 4137 also renews several teacher and principal preparation programs, including Preparing General Education Teachers to More Effectively Educate Students with Disabilities, which improves the ability of general education teachers to teach students with disabilities in the classroom; and the Adjunct Teacher Corps, which allows school districts to recruit content specialists from among mid-career professionals with expertise in math, science, and critical foreign languages.

H.R. 4137 also encourages low-income and rural students to graduate from high school and attend college through grants programs, including: Mathematics and Science Scholars Program, which will encourage students in secondary and postsecondary schools to pursue degrees in STEM or health-related fields; and the Rural Development Grants for Rural-Serving Colleges and Universities program, which will increase high school graduation rates in rural areas, improve career training, and create partnerships between rural colleges and employers to increase enrollment and graduation rates from rural colleges...

College Opportunity and Affordability Act Would Specify State Higher Ed Spending

This from Stateline.org:

New legislation being considered by Congress would force states to spend a minimum amount on higher education based on their past spending — or lose some federal funds. The provision is being called a “dangerous precedent” by critics, but is seen by supporters as a stopgap for rising tuition at public institutions.

“One of the biggest factors driving tuition increases at public colleges and universities is states’ cutbacks in higher education funding,” said Rachel Racusen, a spokeswoman for House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), the bill’s primary sponsor.

“With the federal government putting money in at the top, it’s important that states not take money out at the bottom,” she wrote in an e-mail.

The provision, part of the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, would require each state’s higher education funding to be at or above the average it spent over the last five years. If states don’t commit that amount, they could lose their share of federal money from the $65 million Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership grant program to help low-income students.

The act, which moved one step closer to giving higher education its most significant overhaul in a decade when the U.S. House passed it on a 354-58 vote Thursday (Feb. 7), boosts grant money for college students and aims to hold down the cost of tuition.

The bill is a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 — last renewed in 1998 — and would increase the maximum Pell Grant, a need-based award for college students, from $5,800 to $9,000; bar lenders from giving perks to colleges to get on a “preferred lender” list; create a “higher education price index” to allow students to see how much tuition has increased over time; and place colleges that radically increase tuition on a “watch list.” ...