The Last To Go

Warriors, we’ve had a hell of a couple of weeks, haven’t we? Yes, I know, I normally do not use such language, but what we’ve seen happen in DC lately (as far as the DeVos saga), has me spewing a few more choice words.

It totally baffles me; though, I shouldn’t be all THAT surprised; that time and time again, our Congress members have ignored the overwhelming majority of evidence and protesting citizens who’ve repeatedly stated “No to DeVos as Secretary of Education!”

However, this is NOT the topic I wish to write about.

No, we as prepared Warriors, need to look ahead, beyond the next couple of days, and look at the last federal education law left to be re-authorized/updated and 100% aligned to Common Core*: the HEA (Higher Education Act) (*ESSA’s code names: College/Career Readiness/Challenging State Academic Standards), CTE (Career Tech Ed), STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), and ‘post-secondary readiness’ (as ESSA mandates ALL education is to be geared.)

Why would ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) need to mandate ALL education to be geared to ‘post-secondary readiness’?
**Because that 3 word phrase embeds every bit of the federal workforce/education law known as WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act).

Why does HEA need to be re-authorized/updated?
**Because the CCSS Machine’s education reform calls for a ‘seamless transition from birth to career’. Congress, as a huge CCSS Machine member organization has bought into the fallacy that this ‘seamless transition’ creates an educational bridge which can not only improve ‘personalized learning’, but make that learning career based so the economy can benefit.
Higher education is the ‘perfect’ intersection to ensnare EVERY citizen into this learn-to-earn model. How so?
**If you haven’t been streamlined in a career type education in a public traditionally run school, you’ll see it when you get to college, trade school, university, community college, on-line training courses/schools, hybrid or blended courses/schools, some private post-secondary schools, and every single post-secondary public institution. You’ll find it waiting for you if you are recently graduated, updating a degree or certificate, going back to school after many years, or if you need to get a job.

Since Congress has the thickest set of ear muffs known to mankind (I mean it must be the only explanation as to why our Warrior voices didn’t reach them, right?!), we must look at what is being done to the higher education world NOW. We must see what they are doing in the HEA law updates. Why? So we can prepare, not only our evidence, but more importantly, our students headed right for all this!

What’s On The Books Right Now:

The website I used: www.congress.gov 

There are 287 higher education related bills or resolutions currently in Congress. Some are to amend the HEA (Higher Education Act of 1965). Why go back to 1965’s version? Look how going back to the ESEA of 1965 worked for ESSA:

Congress did a super job of covering its tracks (aka: backside). They’ve done it before and you can bet the farm the re-authorization of HEA will be a repeat.

Here’s a brief rundown (this is not a complete list, nor is it in any particular order of importance):

* S 206, amends the 1965 HEA for federal job training Pell Grants awarded by the Secretary of Education.
* HR 413 is an amendment to 1965’s HEA for early commitment to Pell Grant Programs.
* HR 414, amends the 1965 HEA for educators in student loan forgiveness areas.
*S 149, amends the 1965 HEA so post-secondary terrorism survivors can may defer student loans.
*HR 483, amends the 1965 HEA’s Title 4 funding. Specifically the Part G and ‘sanctuary campuses’. (*Note: Title 4 funds are several types of student loans, “Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL); Direct Loans; Federal Perkins Loans; Federal Pell Grants; Academic Competitiveness Grants (ACG); National SMART Grants; Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Granst (FSEOG); and, Federal Work-Study (FWS)”)
*HR 201, also amends the 1965 version of the HEA. This one provides loan deferment and/or cancellation of certain types of small start up businesses for young people.
*HR 415, GEAR Up amends the HEA of 1965 in the regards of mental health counseling, as well as academic counseling.

Related to higher education activities:
* HR 813, the ACCESS Act. As of this writing, the text of the Bill was not available, so I cannot see if it stated that it is to amend the HEA of 1965. I can tell you Rep. Sanchez from CA sponsored it. Sixty-three other Representatives have co-sponsored this bill. It is to give students access to year round Pell Grants.
* HR 615, Student Loan Repayment Act of 2017. Changes an IRS tax code. Rep. Ross from FL is the sponsor.
* HR 795, Sponsored by Rep. Davis of IL, also changes an IRS tax code. This one differs slightly in that impacts those employer education assistance. Only certain qualifying student loans are accepted.
* HR 287, Student Job Protection Act, is the 3rd one in a string of IRS code changing/pos-secondary bills. Rep. Turner of OH is the sponsor. It exempts “student workers for purposes of determining a higher education institution’s employer health care shared responsibility.”
*S 268, Sponsored by Senator Todd Young (CT). This bill text was also unavailable, so verifying if it amends HEA of 1965, was not possible. The gist of the bill is to set up a way for students to find private funding for post-secondary education.

Now, Warriors, you probably are wondering why in the world I included all these bills. After all, a quick glance reveals lots about higher education which APPEARS to be safe from the CCSS Machine. Oh, but let’s examine the following facts, shall we?

1) Sen. Lamar Alexander and his education reform minions are hard at work rewriting HEA of 1965. They’ve been working on it since the passage of ESSA. Go back and listen to his gloating ESSA speech where it was revealed, next up (and last to go) was the HEA re-authorization. Lamar also is head of the Senate HELP Committee. We’ve got lots of evidence as to how sold out to the CCSS Machine the Committee is overall.
2) The DeVos Family has given tons of money to many Congress members. For example, from the Congress members identified here, Todd Young has received $48,600.00 in campaign donations from them.
3) Besty DeVos, if confirmed as Secretary of Education, will oversee all activities in higher education (as well as K-12 and early learners).
4) Rep. Virginia Foxx oversees the House of Representative’s Education and Workforce Committee. We’ve also got plenty of evidence of how devoted to the CCSS Machine this Committee is, too! Remember, while new as the leader, Virginia has revealed how she sees education.

5) Before Rep. John Kline stepped down as the Ed/Workforce chair, he gave an interview where he revealed he wasn’t worried about the upcoming HEA re-authorization passing because his good buddy Lamar was leading the way. I wrote about Kline/Alexander and others: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/11/07/edworkforce-false-positive/
6) The HEA is tied to the ESSA and the WIOA already. See: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/12/05/weekend-news-essas-untold-ties-to-hea/
7) Anytime funding and education are in the same sentence, we need to pay attention.
8) Anytime education and jobs (or the workforce) are in the same bill, we better sit up and get ready to act.
9) Congress has a love affair with CTE (Career Tech Education). While I wrote this in August 2016, these Bills are still in their respective Committees: See: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/08/09/congress-loves-cte/
Congress shares the CTE love in our health care system: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/08/16/ctes-health-country/
10) Most damming of all is the LADDER Act Congress has in store for America.
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/12/06/agenda-junkies/

Closing:

Warriors, have no fear, our War Vs the Core isn’t over yet. DeVos or no DeVos, it’s Congress which needs our focus.