April, 2003

PRESIDENTS REPORT
WESTOP Board of Directors Meeting

April 4-5, 2003

Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort

Honolulu, HI

Bush's FY Budget Request for TRIO
The 108th Congress approved a $24.6 million increase for TRIO in FY03. However, in spite of strong Congressional support, President Bush requested $802.5 million for TRIO in his FY04 budget-a proposal to cut TRIO funds and services by $24.6 million. Many of the additional students that will be served in FY03 will ultimately lose their services in FY04. Cuts in SEOG, GEAR UP, and LEAP are also proposed for FY04.
COE's FY2004 Budget Request
TRIO should be increased by $173 million, to $1 billion. TRIO should be expanded to serve 10 percent of the eligible. The current level of funding only allows an estimated 7 percent of the eligible population to be served. Current levels of funding also seriously limit the ability of continuing projects to strengthen the quality of program services. For these reasons, an increase of $173 million for TRIO Programs is needed in FY2004. This will serve an additional 122,000 students.

Congressional Support/Letter to Appropriations

Inspired by Senators Susan Collins and Blanche Lincoln and Howard "Buck" McKeon and Donald Payne in the House, letters of support have been sent to all members of Congress inviting them to sign the letter in support to provide a significant increase for TRIO Programs in FY04. The letter is addressed to Chairman Ralph Regula and Ranking Member David Obey.
Strategy to Address the Effectiveness of TRIO
In 2001, President Bush announced an ambitious agenda for reforming the management of government and improving the performance of federal programs. One part of the agenda is the Budget and Performance Integration initiative, i.e., make budget decisions based on results.
The Administration's efforts to link budget and performance began with the President's FY2003 Budget Request. Based upon an informal process that mainly used national program evaluations to determine the "effectiveness" of a program, Upward Bound was rated as "ineffective" and SSS was "effective." The President's FY2003 budget request for TRIO was level-funding at the FY2002 appropriation of $802.5 million.
In an effort to formalize the link between program performance and the budget, a new instrument for assessing government programs in an objective and transparent manner, called the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), was introduced and used for the development of the FY2004 Budget.
For the FY2004 budget process, many programs across the federal government were evaluated by using the PART. Fifty percent of the programs evaluated were rated "Results Not Demonstrated" because they did not have adequate performance goals or had not yet collected data to provide evidence of results.
For the Department of Education, PARTS were completed for 18 programs. Ten of the eighteen programs (55%) were rated as "Results Not Demonstrated." Several programs with low scores are proposed for reduction, elimination, or reforms based on weaknesses identified in the PART. The PART process did yield improved performance measures in Upward Bound and SSS. However, the overall rating for Upward Bound was still "ineffective" and SSS was now "Results Not Demonstrated."
TRIO's Concern : While most people would argue that TRIO Programs are effective, there needs to be concrete evidence (i.e., program outcome data) that shows TRIO Programs work and then disseminate the information to policy-makers.
Three Part Strategy to Address the Effectiveness of TRIO:
1. Improve the PART ratings for UB and SSS
2. Develop a "TRIOWorks" Website
3. Work with the Administration and Congress during the HEA Reauthorization so that the Council's 15 recommendations to improve TRIO are accepted and implemented.
Updates From the Department of Education (Larry Oxendine)
1. FY2003 funding for TRIO is $827.1 million.

2. Grantees will receive a 2% increase.

3. The minimum grant award for McNair and Upward Bound is being increased.

4. The Partnership Agreements are being eliminated.

5. Projects will need to contact ED if they need to re-negotiate objectives.

6. Approximately 50 new grants will be funded: 10 new math/science, 10 new McNairs, 28-30 new Upward Bound.

7. Notification of New Awards will be forthcoming toward the end of May.
Mr. Oxendine does not believe that the war will have impact on TRIO-only if there is an across-the-board reduction for all federal programs.
Issues/Concerns (Larry Oxendine)
1. Multiple awards in the same program at the same location creates equity issues.

2. Prior Experience points are appropriate but they should be earned to accomplish something good. There is also a concern with the method of how points are calculated.

3. Goals and objectives in the application package should be clear and understandable. There may be a need for standards.

4. The grant award process at present is haphazard with no strategic plan. There is no logic in the funding process. Cost per participant is an issue.

5. There is a need to be clear about ED responsibilities and project responsibilities. There are decisions that need to be made at the project level, not Department level.

6. There are concerns and issues regarding institutional commitment (a visibility issue.)
On Site Visits
Get ready. On site visits will be coming.

Respectfully submitted by: Irvin L. Coin, President, WESTOP

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