October 2005
WESTOP
President’s Report: South Lake Tahoe, CA
President: Jose Martinez-Saldana
President Elect: Lydia Perez
Past President: James Oda
Chief Financial Officer: Joy Brittain
Secretary: Tomasa Mauricio
GOAL 1:
Strengthen the Council’s communications and advocacy capacities to enhance the quality of existing TRIO programs and increase the number of TRIO students served by at least 10%.
- Governmental Relations
The TRIO community has been forced to deal with both reauthorization and appropriations in the last several months. The TRIO community has responded very well on both fronts. The Reauthorization issues, which affect the structural underpinning of TRIO, are more difficult to understand and address. Even so, through the community’s efforts, we have made a great deal of progress.
- Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act
Both the House and the Senate are proceeding with the Reauthorization. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has reported out a bill, HR 609, to reauthorize, the Higher Education Act. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions marked up the bill on September 9th. It is still unclear when either bill will be scheduled for consideration on either the floor of the Senate or the House.
- The Senate Bill
While there is one point of clarification the Council is seeking in the Senate language, the Council supports the Senate bill as drafted. It preserves prior experience, and includes appropriate accountability provisions.
- The House Bill, HR 609
While the House bill contains some improvements to the TRIO chapter, two provisions – as drafted – are unacceptable. The first, the soc-called “Novice Provision” sets aside 10% of funds appropriated for “Novices,” that is entities that do not currently receive any discretionary grants from the federal government and have not received such funds for the past five years.
The second objectionable provision is language introduced during Committee mark-up by Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC, 5th) that, in Committee press releases, is described as an accountability provision. While the Council is supportive of efforts to improve TRIO program accountability, we do not believe these provisions would have that effect. Further, we believe the provision, as drafted, contains serious flaws.
The Committee leadership has recognized some problems with the Foxx amendment as drafted and Council staff have been working with the Committee staff to remedy the problems. We are hopeful that a compromise on the Foxx language can be agreed to in the near future. However, the Council has clearly communicated our objections to the Novice provision. In our view, the provision would undermine the effectiveness of TRIO by devaluing and significantly reducing the continuity of funding for individual TRIO programs, regardless of their effectiveness.
Congressmen Tom Cole (R-OK, 4th) and Donald Payne (D-NJ, 10th) are taking the lead in the fight against the Novice provision. As of 9-18-05, 174 Members of Congress including 50 Republicans, 123 Democrats, and 1 Independent have signed the Cole/Payne letter indicating their opposition to the Novice provision. This is 44 signatures short of a majority of the House and we are continuing to work to secure additional signatures. (Only 27% of Members from the WESTOP region had signed the letter as of 9-18-05.)
- FY 2006 Appropriations
The House passed the FY 06 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill on June 24, 2005. The TRIO program funding was restored to last year’s level of $837 million, rejecting the $467 million cut proposed in the President’s budget. The Senate Appropriations Committee marked–up its FY 06 bill on July 14th and also included level funding for TRIO. It is unclear when and if the Senate will consider the bill. If it does not, it will be necessary for the Congress to pass a Continuing Resolution.
- Department of Education: Talent Search/Educational Opportunity Center Competitions
Due to the difficulties the TRIO division has experienced in the transition to “grants.gov” for the electronic submission of Talent Search and EOC grant applications, the closing dates for both grants have been postponed. Larry Oxendine indicated at the COE conference that the closing date is anticipated in December, or possibly January. The Department was also unable to overcome the regulatory obstacle involved in moving the Veterans Upward Bound programs under the Educational Opportunity Center umbrella, and this transition will not take place at this time.
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