Reconciliation Bill Update

Today, Congress and the Administration continue to work on gathering support for a reconciliation bill that will contain the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) and health-care reform legislation. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is expected to release its finding on the pending legislation soon, which will provide the funding and budget outlines within the bill. This aspect is critical to gathering additional support for the bill. House leaders have indicated that they would like a vote on a final bill by the end of the weekend.

On the SAFRA front, there have been indications that the funding for the American Graduation Initiative (AGI) may not be included within the reconciliation bill. AGI funding is in jeopardy because Congress is using a new CBO score of SAFRA, resulting in $67 billion in savings ($20 billion less than the House passed SAFRA). The SAFRA savings is generated through the conversion of the Federal Family Education Loan Program into the Direct Loan Program. The score, coupled with the rise in Pell Grant-eligible students, has reduced the amount of funding available for AGI. Additionally, some Senators object to creating new bills in the reconciliation process. The SAFRA funding will be primarily focused on funding a Pell Grant maximum increase and deficit reduction.

On the Jobs bill front, the Senate passed its first installment of the Jobs Bill, a $17.6 billion jobs bill, by a vote of 68-29. The bill includes a payroll tax break for new hires, a small-business expensing provision, surface-transportation funding, and bond financing for infrastructure projects. The House passed the bill earlier; the bill will now be forwarded to President Obama for his signature. President Obama is expected to sign the bill. Congress is continuing efforts to move other pieces of Jobs legislation.

GRANT NEWS

The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration announced the Community-Based Job Training Grant competition for this year. The closing date for the competition will be April 29th. Funded at $125 million, the awards will be distributed to “support workforce training for high-growth/high-demand industries through the national system of community, technical, and Tribal colleges.”

For more information: http://www.doleta.gov/grants/pdf/SGA-DFA-PY-09-07.pdf Read more!

Tell Congress to Fund the American Graduation Initiative

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED

According to a number of sources, Congress will include SAFRA with health-care legislation in a reconciliation bill. Inside Higher Ed this morning stated that "the odds of that happening are better than not," although "it is far from certain."

ACCT urges you to contact your Members of Congress NOW and encourage them to fund the American Graduation Initiative.

Congressional leaders and the Administration continue to deliberate on a final bill, but there are major concerns that the funding the American Graduation Initiative (AGI) will be stripped in a final bill. AGI is the three-tiered program focused on providing around $10 billion for community college modernization and community college programs. AGI is vital to ensuring that community colleges are able to deal with increasing enrollments and meet the goals of increasing higher education attainment.

You still have time to tell your federal legislators how important the American Graduation Initiative is to your community, your students, and your college. But you must act NOW and CALL TODAY.

Contact information for U.S. Senators can be found at: http://www.acct.org/senators_phone_list.pdf

Contact information for members of the U.S. House of Representatives can be found at: http://www.acct.org/House%20Phone%20List%201-5.pdf

Members of Congress can also be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

You can also write to your Senators and Representatives via the ACCT Policy Center at http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=acct.

For more information, contact Jee Hang Lee at jhlee@acct.org or (202) 775-4450.
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House Passes Senate Jobs Bill with a Slight Change

Today, the House of Representatives passed the first part of the Senate Jobs bill by a 217-201 vote. Prior to passing the bill, the House Democrats changed the effective date of a provision to provide about $2 billion to cover the cost of the bill. Since the House changed the bill, the Senate will have to consider and pass the bill again. If the Senate passes the bill, it will be sent to President Obama for his signature. Meanwhile, the Senate continues to work on passing the second part of the Senate Jobs bill. The Senate is considering amendments to the bill with the goal of final passage sometime next week.

In other news, the White House has called on Congress to pass health-care reform legislation by March 18th. At this time, it appears that Congress will utilize the budget-reconciliation process to pass portions of health-care reform. This is significant because Congress had also considered using the reconciliation process to pass H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA); however, the reconciliation process can only be used once per year. SAFRA has been on hold while health-care reform legislation worked its way through Congress. SAFRA would eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan Program and all new federal student loans would be Direct Loans. Most importantly, SAFRA contains the American Graduation Initiative (AGI) which provides almost $10 billion for community colleges. There is an expectation that the Senate’s version of SAFRA will likely contain less funds for AGI because the increased funds necessary to cover the rise in the number of Pell Grant recipients. If the Senate decides to move to accommodate the March 18th timeframe, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will need to introduce and pass their version of SAFRA soon.

The first part of the Senate’s Jobs bill includes:

1) Payroll Tax Exemption: offers an exemption from social security payroll taxes for every worker hired in 2010 that has been unemployed for at least 60 days. There would also be an additional $1,000 income-tax credit for every new employee retained for 52 weeks, to be taken on the employer’s 2011 income tax return. ($13 billion)
2) Section 179 Expensing: helps small businesses grow by allowing them to write off more of their expenditures.
3) Highway Trust Fund Extension: extends existing highway programs, which provides states and localities with the certainty they need to make decisions on projects.
4) Expansion of Build America Bonds: allows state and local governments to borrow at lower costs to finance more infrastructure projects and put people to work. ($2 billion)

The second part of the Senate’s Jobs bill provides unemployment insurance and COBRA health benefits from February 28, 2010 – December 31, 2010. The total package costs $150 billion. Additionally, the bill extends a number of tax credits that have expired, including the qualified tuition deduction, research and development credit, increased funding for state Medicaid programs, and a number of credits aimed at small businesses. This bill does not include funding for an “Education Jobs Fund.”

To view the press release, go to: http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2010press/prb030110b.pdf Read more!

Secretary Duncan Testifies on Education Budget Request

February 25, 2010 — Today, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified before the House Budget Committee to outline the Department’s budget for FY 2011. The budget outlines $10.6 billion for the American Graduation Initiative. Secretary Duncan’s testimony can be found here: http://budget.house.gov/hearings/2010/02.25.2010_Duncan_Testimony.pdf

The Department of Education’s budget information can be found here: http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget11/summary/edlite-section1.html

Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on “A Stronger Workforce Investment System for a Stronger Economy.” Most notably, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) stated that Congress would pass the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) this year. Dr. Robert Templin, Jr., President of Northern Virginia Community College testified on behalf of community colleges and outlined the priorities of AACC and ACCT on WIA reauthorization.

The WIA priorities and background information can be found here: http://www.acct.org/advocacy/priorities/

To view the hearing, click here:
http://help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=99586896-5056-9502-5d82-cabe2d595170

On the Jobs legislation front, House Congressional leaders are now working to bring the Senate Jobs legislation to the House floor for consideration.

In other news, the White House earlier this week announced President Barack Obama’s intention to nominate Dr. Eduardo M. Ochoa as Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education, Department of Education. Dr. Ochoa is the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Sonoma State University. He is responsible for the University’s academic programs, strategic planning, and overall diversity initiative.
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Obama Administration Releases FY2011 Budget

Today, President Barack Obama formally released his FY2011 Budget Request. The budget request is a formal submission to Congress. The President’s budget provides $49.7 billion (7.5% increase over the FY2010 budget request) for the Department of Education, but this figure does not include the Pell Grant program. The Administration is seeking to move the Pell Grant into the mandatory side of the federal budget. If this switch was to occur, the Pell Grant program would not be subject to the annual discretionary appropriations process. The total budget request for Pell is $34.9 billion and would provide for a $5,710 Pell Grant maximum. It is estimated that there is a $18 billion Pell Grant shortfall.

The Department of Education FY2011 budget request also includes “$10.6 billion over 10 years for the President's American Graduation Initiative, to strengthen and support community colleges, focus on college completion, and graduate 5 million more students by 2020.” The House passed version of H.R. 3221, “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act,” provides $9.5 billion for AGI. The AGI funding amount is expected to increase in the Senate bill, which still has not been released.

Below are some other key other funding areas:

• Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education State Grants: $1.26 billion, an increase of $103 million (the increase comes from the consolidation of Tech-Prep)
• Tech-Prep State Grants: $0, a decrease of $103 million
• Strengthening Institutions: $88.2 million, an increase of $4.2 million
• Hispanic Serving Institutions: $123.3 million, an increase of $6 million
• Predominantly Black Institutions: $11.3 million, an increase of $500 thousand
• College Pathways and Accelerated Learning: $100 million (a new program, focused on early college initiatives and Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate)
• Work-study: $980.5 million, level funding
• Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants: $958.8 million, level funding
  

Click here for more information from the Department of Education.

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor also released its budget request, which includes $14 billion for its programs. Unfortunately, the Career Pathways program is slated to be consolidated because the Department believes that many of the programs would be eligible for funding under the American Graduation Initiative. The Department would provide $85 million for a program focused on Green Jobs and $261 million for two new innovation funds for job training. Additionally, language was inserted in the request for the Workforce Investment Act to allow local workforce boards to award contracts to institutions of higher education or other eligible training providers.

Click here for more information from the Department of Labor. Read more!

Education Proposals to be Part of the State of Union Address

Today, President Barack Obama will be giving his first State of Union address to the Joint Session of Congress. According to the White House, President Obama is expected to push for additional education dollars for higher education and K-12. The Administration is requesting that the Department of Education’s funding level grow by 6%. The President will likely press Congress to pass the FY2010 Education Reconciliation and the American Graduation Initiative. The Administration’s formal budget request will be released on Monday, February 1.

As for the jobs bill, Senate Democratic leaders are coalescing around a proposal that would provide over $80 billion for infrastructure, energy, and state aid. The House passed its $154 billion jobs bill in December. The Senate Democratic leaders may unveil their bill as early as tomorrow.

In other news, the Center for American Progress held an event on “Community Colleges and Competitiveness: Generating Economic Opportunity Through Innovation in Postsecondary Education” this morning in Washington, D.C. The event was keynoted by Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden, a professor at Northern Virginia Community College. Assistant Secretary of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education Brenda Dann Messier also keynoted the event.

The event had a number of other speakers including Gail Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College and Keith Bird, Chancellor Emeritus of Kentucky Community and Technical College System. More information can be found at: http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2010/01/commcoll.html. The video for the event should be available online shortly. Read more!

Senate Education Reconciliation Bill Still on Hold

This weekend, the Senate is expected to conduct a key procedural vote, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed for cloture to begin consideration of the Senate health care reform bill. If the Senate is able to get the 60 necessary votes, it will begin consideration of the Senate health care legislation. Additionally, Senate Majority Leader Reid noted yesterday that the Senate will not use the reconciliation process for health care. It is unclear what other procedural alternatives would remain for health care if the Senate does not get cloture on the bill.

Congress is still on track to utilize the reconciliation process for education, but the Senate is still waiting for action to be determined on health care before it considers the education reconciliation bill. The Senate’s education reconciliation bill is expected to contain the American Graduation Initiative (AGI). ACCT is hopeful that the Senate will provide greater funding for the American Graduation Initiative than the House bill provided.

Meanwhile, Rep. John Kline (R-MN), Ranking Member of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, introduced legislation to extend the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA). ECASLA was passed in 2008 and helped stabilize the student loan market by allowing the Department of Education to purchase Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL). The Administration and the Education Committee Chairmen have signaled that they will not seek to extend ECASLA because the proposed conversion of the FFEL to the Direct Loan program will make the extension unnecessary. Read more!

Senate HELP Committee Waits on Health Care

October 19, 2009—ACCT continues to wait for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to release its version of the education reconciliation bill. HELP Committee staff have indicated that the bill will be released when the Senate health care debate clears up. If the Senate leaders are unable to gather 60 votes in support of a comprehensive health care bill, the Senate will use the budget reconciliation process to pass the bill. The education reconciliation bill is expected to contain the American Graduation Initiative (AGI). ACCT is hopeful that the Senate will provide greater funding for AGI than the House bill provided.

Earlier this month, the Senate confirmed Brenda Dann-Messier to be Assistant Secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) at the Department of Education. Dann-Messier served as president of Dorcas Place, an Adult and Family Learning Center in Providence, R.I. Prior to her work at Dorcas Place, Dann-Messier worked at the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University. Dann-Messier joins Glenn Cummings, Deputy Assistant Secretary of OVAE. The Department of Education has not yet appointed a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges within OVAE.

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2009 ACCT Leadership Conference: Budig Urges Community College Leaders to Take Advantage of ‘Vote of Confidence’

Professor and Senior Presidential Adviser of The College Board Gene A. Budig urged 2009 ACCT Leadership Conference attendees Saturday to take advantage of the “vote of confidence” community college leaders have received from the Obama Administration.

Budig pointed to remarks made by Education Under Secretary Martha J. Kanter as “reason to have faith that good things are forthcoming.” Calling Education Secretary Arne Duncan “a community college convert,” Budig stressed that “the President shares our belief in the fundamental importance of community colleges and the central role they must play in any true and lasting economic recovery,” he said. “What a vote of confidence you have received.’

Pointing to the ambitious goals of the $12 billion American Graduation Initiative, he urged community college leaders to “be positive and of the mind that yes, we can do it,” he said. He urged community college leaders to address “inadequate accountability systems and the inadequate tracking of student outcomes.”

“Losing half our students before graduation is simply unacceptable,” Budig said. “We can do better. President Obama knows it, and everyone in this room knows it.”

At the same time, Budig added that success “depends on equitable funding and institutional commitment... Governments must step up with their checkbooks.”

Budig told Congress attendees that throughout his wide-ranging academic and professional career, including a stint as president of the American League, he has always been aided by the “simple but profound values” he learned as a student at McCook Community College in Nebraska, and reminded trustees that the one diploma hanging on the wall in his office at the College Board is his A.A. degree from McCook.

The College Board funded a report by the National Commission on Community Colleges that helped elevate community colleges during the most recent presidential race. It is also is launching a pilot plan for an initiative between two- and four-year colleges to help address the “crushing need” for general practice physicians, Budig said.

“Community colleges are committed, creative, determined and strategically located to be successful,” Budig said. “They are, ladies and gentlemen, the future... Please remember the clock is ticking, and the chance to soar is unprecedented... Let us build on our strengths and address our deficiencies. I stand with you and your noble cause.” Read more!

2009 ACCT Leadership Congress: Education Under Secretary Martha J. Kanter Stresses Cooperation, Completion

Pledging to work with ACCT and other groups to “help frame policy that makes sense,” U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary Martha J. Kanter told ACCT 2009 Leadership Congress attendees Friday that the Administration’s $12 billion American Graduation Initiative will require finding ways to “get millions more students to come to college and get through college successfully. That is what we have to do.”

Kanter, who served as chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District from 2003 to 2009, said that she and Education Secretary Arne Duncan share a common vision of a “well-articulated, seamless system of lifelong learning,” encompassing early childhood education through high school and college, as well as adult education and vocational and technical programs.

Yet a full two-thirds of the graduates or certificate holders needed to meet the AGI's 60 percent goal by 2020 will have to be drawn from “the 75 million Americans who have little or no college,” Kanter said. “That’s an enormous challenge” -- especially since only one in four underserved students who start college graduate in under six years, she said.

Funding for the AGI is included in H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, which the House of Representatives passed in September. The Senate version of the bill is expected to be made public soon.

Kanter stressed that “about half” of the grant funding included in the bill will go to access and completion proposals, “so we have many more students successfully go through our institutions.” She added that such initiatives “will have to be evidence-based. We need the accountability behind us to show that federal and state investments are paying off.”

Kanter also outlined increases in Pell Grants and other financial aid, as well as the transition to the federal direct student lending program, expected to be completed by next year. Part of the estimated $87 billion in savings from the transition will be invested back into a wide range of education initiatives, Kanter said.

During a Q&A session with other Department of Education officials later in the day, Kanter told attendees that under the current versions of the AGI legislation, the Department of Education would have the responsibility for defining accountability measures. Kanter said she envisions a “report card-like” system, and called for higher education leaders “to think about what the government needs to know about lifelong learning and how to explain it.” She also pledged to publish criteria for AGI grants for comment to help ensure they will be “fair, objective, and take into account the variations around the country -- rural, urban, and where the underserved communities are.”

Kanter reminded Congress attendees that the Obama Administration’s historic investment in higher education is driven by a simple vision. “[The President’s] goal of widely shared prosperity is something that every trustee, every community college president, and everyone in this audience believes in,” she said. “You’re in charge of supporting and increasing our democracy. This is our work. This is what we’re doing when our students cross the stage.” Read more!

2009 ACCT Leadership Congress: As Conversation Shifts to Accountability, New Frameworks Emerge

The $12 billion earmarked for community colleges by the Obama administration through its American Graduation Initiative represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- but only if institutions are willing to demonstrate progress towards specific goals, speakers at the 2009 ACCT Leadership Congress said Thursday.

“A new paradigm is emerging for community colleges,” ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown told Congress attendees. While “access has been the promise since the inception of the community college movement... now increasing emphasis is being placed on student success and achievement.” In short, community colleges are being called on to “balance access with success,” Brown said.

Keynote speaker Jamie P. Merisotis, President and CEO of the Lumina Foundation for Education, stressed that the AGI, which seeks to increase the number of Americans who earn degrees or certificates by 5 million over the next decade, represents both “a prize and a challenge, a reward and a down payment.”

The AGI closely mirrors the Lumina Foundation’s own goal of having 60 percent of Americans hold high-quality college degrees or credentials by 2025, and both initiatives reflect one simple fact, according to Merisotis: “There’s simply no way for the nation to return to a global position of leadership in attainment unless community colleges lead the way,” he said. “Because of your expertise in creating workforce development programs... and the decades you have spent perfecting cost-effective ways of providing higher education... you can show the way to reshaping higher education that benefits us all.”

Merisotis urged trustees to invest part of the billions in new funding from AGI and other initiatives in involving local stakeholders ranging from K-12 systems to businesses, bolstering developmental programs, and creating new structures “geared towards student success.” He also urged community college leaders to focus on developing measures that “clearly define high-quality outcomes and track student performance.”

One such program is the Voluntary Framework of Accountability. Developed by ACCT and the American Association of Community Colleges, the VFA has been awarded $1 million in grants from the Lumina Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it was announced on Oct. 7. The grants will fund pilot projects at eight community colleges, with 20 additional institutions expected to join the project by 2011.

The VSA has the potential to address two common issues in developing a common framework allowing community colleges to collect data and benchmark their metrics against other institutions, Brown said. “We don’t have a common language, and we don’t have a vocabulary rich enough to express what we do in those communities across the country [with] our different missions and constituencies.”

Pointing to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s earlier comments about the importance of workforce education, Brown added that the greatest area of deficiency is on non-credit students. “We can’t describe accurately to policymakers the phenomenal things that go on [with vocational training and education] and how life-changing this is for many people.”

Ronald Williams, vice president of the College Board in Washington, D.C., stressed a key goal of developing such metrics. “Knowing more so you can change the institution is... precisely the point of getting the data.”

Accountability will become an increasingly large issue at the local, state, and federal levels, Congress speakers said. Acknowledging the growing federal role in accreditation issues, keynote speaker Judith S. Eaton, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation in Washington, D.C., urged trustees to balance such external approaches by developing a complementary “approach to accountability that is community-led and reflective of our core academic values... of mission, independence, and academic freedom.” Read more!

LAW E-Alert: Congress Passes Continuing Resolution

With the federal fiscal year coming to the end on September 30, Congress moved to pass a Continuing Resolution, which will keep the government running until Congress passes the remaining FY2010 appropriations bills. President Barack Obama signed the bill, which also includes the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, into law. The Continuing Resolution funds the federal programs at FY2009 levels.

ACCT continues to wait for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to release its version of the education reconciliation bill. HELP Committee staff have indicated that the bill should be available within the next two weeks. Most importantly for community colleges, the bill is expected to contain the American Graduation Initiative. Senate leaders are waiting for the health care legislative process to unfold before deciding when to carry out the education-reconciliation process.

In other news, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan penned an editorial, “Moving College into the 21st Century,” which the noted the importance of the American Graduation Initiative. The editorial can be viewed at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27762.html. Read more!

President Obama and Dr. Biden Visit Hudson Valley Community College, Urge Congress to Pass AGI

Today, President Barack Obama along with Dr. Jill Biden visited Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) in New York and toured its technology classrooms. While at HVCC, President Obama publicly renewed his call on Congress to pass the American Graduation Initiative and outlined the Administration’s goal to improve innovation. President Obama noted the importance of institutions like HVCC to prepare students for 21st-century jobs and to prepare America for a 21st-century global economy. President Obama’s speech can be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-Innovation-and-Sustainable-Growth-at-Hudson-Valley-Community-College/.

In other major news, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is expected to release its version of the education reconciliation bill later this week. The HELP Committee will likely consider the bill next week. While the final details of the bill are unclear, the HELP Committee bill is expected to differ in a number of areas from the bill recently passed by the House, H.R. 3221. Most importantly for community colleges, the bill is expected to contain the American Graduation Initiative. Read more!

House Passes H.R. 3221

Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, by a 253-171 vote. H.R. 3221 represents the largest single federal investment in community colleges in history, totaling $9.5 billion. The bill authorizes President Barack Obama’s American Graduation Initiative which provides funding for community college academic, developmental and job-training programs and community college modernization and construction. The bill also provides $40 billion to increase the Pell Grant maximum over the next ten years.

During the debate on H.R. 3221, the House defeated two efforts to eliminate funding for community colleges. The House defeated an amendment by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), which would have eliminated funds for community college modernization, by a 161-262 vote. The House also defeated an amendment by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), which would have eliminated the American Graduation Initiative and its funding, by a 126-301 vote. The roll call votes on the bill and the amendments can be found at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/index.asp. ACCT would like to thank all the community college leaders who took the time to write or call their representatives in support of H.R. 3121.

The Senate is expected to introduce and consider its own version of the education budget reconciliation within the next four weeks. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will need to report out the legislation by October 15th.

In other news, President Obama is expected to visit Hudson Valley Community College in New York on September 21st.

ACCT’s H.R. 3221 summary of community college related items within the bill can be found at: http://www.acct.org/HR3221-Summary.pdf. For more information, contact Jee Hang Lee at jhlee@acct.org or (202) 775-4450. Read more!

ACCT's Exclusive Interview with Jamie P. Merisotis

Here is the beginning of my post.

Jamie P. Merisotis, President and CEO, Lumina Foundation for Education

The next in ACCT's series of exclusive summer 2009 interviews is with Jamie P. Merisotis, President and CEO of Lumina Foundation for Education. Merisotis is a featured keynote speaker at ACCT's upcoming 40th Annual Community College Leadership Congress in San Francisco, California.

The following interview is an extended-length version of the Q&A printed in the summer 2009 issue of ACCT's magazine, Trustee Quarterly.

Jamie P. Merisotis leads Lumina Foundation for Education, one of the nation’s 45 largest private foundations and arguably one of the greatest advocates for community colleges. Under his leadership, Lumina employs a strategic, outcomes-based approach in pursuing its mission of expanding college access and success, particularly among low-income, minority, and other historically underrepresented populations.

Before joining Lumina in January 2008, Merisotis founded and served for 15 years as president of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Higher Education Policy, one of the world’s premier education research and policy centers. He previously served as executive director of the National Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education, a bipartisan commission appointed by the U.S. president and congressional leaders. Merisotis also helped create the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps), and has served on numerous national and international boards of directors, including Scholarship America, the European Access Network in London, and Bates College in Maine.

Q. How much of Lumina’s efforts relate to community colleges?

A significant portion. Lumina Foundation was established in 2000 and has been a supporter of success in community colleges from the beginning. We’ve spent most of the last few years focusing on this big goal of dramatically increasing the number of Americans with high-quality college degrees and credentials. This big goal has effectively become the president’s Best in the World goal. We like to think that we had a contribution toward creating the conditions that made that proposal a possibility.

Q. What are your thoughts on President Obama’s initiative?

The initiative is consistent with the Achieving the Dream initiative because it focuses on student success, the need to create a paradigm shift, and focusing on creating incentives for institutions to improve their developmental education efforts to better the first-year experience and to help improve transfer and articulation rates. All of that is exciting and timely, and something the federal government can have a dramatic impact on moving the needle.

The biggest gap in the public conversation about higher education is that we haven’t really been able to make the clear linkage between workforce development and our postsecondary education system. We’ve been trying to say, particularly in this time of economic crisis, that we don’t need to develop a workforce development system — we already have one. It’s our colleges and universities. And the community colleges are a critical element of that because of the array of opportunities that they provide. So this initiative, this opportunity to have a measureable difference on the nation’s workforce development and having those 5 million more graduates in the pipeline able to contribute to our economic and social health in the country, is very, very encouraging.

Q. Do you think there will be any challenges in getting the initiative passed through Congress?

There will be a lot of conversation about the level of resources, about how to successfully measure, about ensuring that the resources are being applied toward creating the conditions for success. That’s the right conversation. I don’t think that the government can really treat this as stimulus funding for community colleges. It needs to be targeted in a different way around success, and that’s what the president has done.

The real challenge is going to be to ensure that once it’s passed, the regulations and the implementation stay true to that goal of ensuring student success. That’s going to be hard because we’re facing a long-term economic challenge in this country, and community colleges are really going to be hampered in this environment with a lot more pressure in terms of burgeoning enrollments and fewer local and state resources that they’ll need to do their job well.

Q. Has Lumina’s focus on community and technical colleges changed since the recession began?

Not in a specific sense. The switch—and it’s reflected in all of our work—is that as we’re working toward the implementation of our big-goal strategy, we’re seeing that part of what we can leverage is not just improvements in what institutions do, but also influencing the public’s will for change and ultimately supporting public policy advocacy that’s going to help community colleges do more and do better. So in that sense, there has been a shift because we’re emphasizing public will-building and public policy as pillars — or catalysts— toward meeting those outcomes and that big goal.

Q. What can trustees do to take advantage of new public goodwill and public awareness efforts and maintain the momentum?

Trustees have two very good opportunities to help. One is to take part in that public will-building. Trustees tend to be community leaders, and they need to be a part of that advocacy and awareness process in communities. Many colleges and universities in this country miss the opportunity for their boards to be effective advocates. And that means using them as spokespeople in the media, interacting with policy makers, getting out into the community and really making the case.

The other is to meet their fiduciary and other obligations — to ensure the focus of their colleges is the success of students. That may sound like an obvious idea, but as we all know, there is a lot of pressure on colleges to do a lot of different things, and community colleges are asked to play multiple roles in communities — everything from GED training sites to community training centers. Those roles are terribly important, but the focus of the institution needs to be on the academic and social success of students. That means that trustees need to make sure that resources are applied toward making students successful.

Q. Do you see an increased interest in the community college model elsewhere in the world?

Absolutely. I was in Paris recently for the World Conference on Higher Education, and the U.S. delegation was headed by Martha Kanter, the new U.S. Under Secretary of Education and several distinguished higher education leaders including Dr. Jill Biden. The messaging from them was overwhelmingly about the world’s lack of understanding of the U.S. community college model. This was a great opportunity to help bring this message to the world, saying that when we talk about higher education in the United States, this is a big part of that. And it is going to become even more important, given the economic situation.

Under secretary Kanter told me after the conference that she had two dozen bilateral meetings and the majority of them were about the community college model. And I thought that was tremendously interesting, the interest in understanding the differences between the community college model and, say, a technical or polytechnical model that you might see in other countries, as well as the transfer and articulation models that are not very common in most of the rest of the world. There is clearly a lot of interest.

Q. How does the Lumina Foundation define student success?

Our definition of student success is measurable, transparent learning outcomes for students. We’re interested in ensuring that students know, understand, and are able to do something with their postsecondary credential. That means being able to demonstrate proficiency both with content in whatever program the student is in, and being able to demonstrate generalizable skills, analyze problems and express oneself effectively. Both can be measured.It also means we should do a better job of measuring and evaluating the success of student outcomes.
Graduation rates are one tool in the toolbox, but the current way in which we measure graduation rates is quite ineffective for a variety of reasons. At the national level, we really only have the capacity to measure first-time, full-time students, which is the minority of students at community colleges. So if we can do a better job of creating graduation-rate calculations, graduation rates could be a better measure, but we have to focus less on that than on the question of what students are learning and what they are doing with that knowledge.

Q. Is that something Lumina is investigating?

We’re doing so in a couple of ways. We supported the National Survey of Student Engagement, the Collegiate Learning Assessment, and other tools. We are now experimenting with a derivative from international models — something the Europeans have done called the Bologna Process. This takes a discipline-based approach — graphic design, physics, for example — and develops models of what students need to know, understand, and be able to do with their credential in that area. It’s a faculty-driven process called “tuning” that includes the input of employers, recent graduates, institutional leaders, and students. The idea is to tune the academic program to what the students are actually doing with that specific credential. That’s a great example of how we’re trying to push the envelope in doing a better job of defining and ultimately measuring the learning outcomes for students. We’re also supporting some other experiments. For example, there’s an effort just getting under way supported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that measures learning outcomes across countries, and we’re going to try to contribute to this experiment.

Q. What is the role of community colleges in learning preparedness?

Preparation is key to success in college. We believe there is a combination of key economic, financial, and social factors that make you prepared for college. And what we need not to treat them as stovepipes, but as interactive and interconnected elements of what ultimately becomes student success in college — not just making sure they’ve taken the right courses or have financial aid, or the right counseling. The reality is that they need all of those to be successful in college. One of the ways community colleges can play an important role is improving success rates for individuals in remedial courses and programs. And that’s one way that the American Graduation Initiative could be particularly helpful in helping community colleges do a better job of getting more students through developmental work and therefore ready for success in college.

Q. With all of the new pressures from increased enrollments and physical classroom capacity demands, what can community college trustees do to maintain the focus on student success and meeting the needs that were there before the recession was a factor?

Boards are the public conscience of these institutions, and in that role, they need to be the ones who [ask], “Are our programs relevant to the needs of this community or this region?” That’s easy to say and hard to do, because you’ve got the reality of employees and contracts, for example, that you’ve got to work through. But maintaining a focus on workforce relevance is something boards can do particularly well.

They can also use their own stature in their communities to elevate the profile of the college. I come across too many community colleges and too many community college leaders who use the line that “community colleges are one of America’s best-kept secrets.” We need to stop being modest about the important role of community colleges. There is some lingering stigma for some people associated with community colleges, which you can see reflected in popular culture, and boards can help de-stigmatize what community colleges do and help elevate the profile of community colleges within their communities. Read more!

Congress Returns and Senator Tom Harkin Takes Gavel of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

Congress Returns and Senator Tom Harkin Takes Gavel of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

September 10, 2009 - With Congress returning this week, the House and Senate have a full slate of activities to address in the coming weeks and months. Congress is expected to consider a number of bills that cover the appropriations process, as well as the education budget reconciliation bill, which will contain President Obama’s American Graduation Initiative. The House is expected to consider H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, this month. ACCT’s H.R. 3221 summary can be found at:
http://www.acct.org/HR3221-Summary.pdf.

Meanwhile, with the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has taken over the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Senator Harkin is a strong supporter of community colleges and led the effort during the stimulus debate to ensure that community colleges received their fair share of infrastructure funds. The HELP Committee is expected to release its version of the education budget reconciliation later this month and is looking to pass the bill in early October. Read more!

President Obama Announces Major Initiative for Community Colleges

Today, President Barack Obama visited Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan to make a “historic” announcement about community colleges.

President Obama stated, “...today I'm announcing the most significant down payment yet on reaching the goal of having the highest college graduation rate of any nation in the world. We're going to achieve this in the next 10 years. And it's called the American Graduation Initiative. It will reform and strengthen community colleges like this one from coast to coast so they get the resources that students and schools need -- and the results workers and businesses demand. Through this plan, we seek to help an additional 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates in the next decade. Not since the passage of the original GI Bill and the work of President Truman's Commission on Higher Education -- which helped to double the number of community colleges and increase by seven-fold enrollment in those colleges -- have we taken such a historic step on behalf of community colleges in America.”

The programs in the American Graduation Initiative are comprised of four programs. The funding as proposed by the Administration is $12 billion over ten years. According to the White House’s fact sheet, the initiative will create:

• The Community College Challenge Fund: The Challenge Fund, $9 billion over ten years, will provide competitive grants to community colleges and states to build partnerships, expand course offerings, improve remedial and adult education, to innovate and expand proven reforms, and provide support services.
  
• The College Access and Completion Fund: The Completion Fund will support efforts to increase college graduation rates and close achievement gaps, including those at community colleges. The College Access and Completion Fund was proposed in the President’s FY2010 budget request at $2.5 billion over five years.
  
• A Fund for Community College Facilities: President Obama is proposing a new $2.5 billion fund to catalyze $10 billion in community college facility investments that will expand the colleges’ ability to meet employer and student needs. The resources could be used to pay the interest on bonds or other debt, seed capital campaigns, or create state revolving loan funds.
• The New Online Skills Laboratory: This program funded at $500 million over ten years will support grants to create new open-access online courses.
• The Departments of Defense, Education, and Labor will work together to make the courses freely available through one or more community colleges and the Defense Department’s distributed learning network, explore ways to award academic credit based upon achievement rather than class hours, and rigorously evaluate the results.
• The Administration is working with Congress to use the savings from the conversion of the Federal Family Loan Program to the Direct Loan program to support the American Graduation Initiative.

The House of Representatives and the Senate are using the budget reconciliation process to pass this bill. The House Education and Labor Committee is tentatively scheduled to markup a bill next week, which is expected to deal with the conversion and provide legislative language for the Initiative.

The Committee is expected to release its bill this week and ACCT will provide an update when we receive a draft of the bill.

To read the whole speech, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-the-American-Graduation-Initiative-in-Warren-MI/

To read the White House’s fact sheet on the initiative, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Excerpts-of-the-Presidents-remarks-in-Warren-Michigan-and-fact-sheet-on-the-American-Graduation-Initiative/

Read more!