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GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION |
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On the Road to Reauthorization
The most important and comprehensive education bill that will be considered this year is the 1965 Higher Education Act (HEA), which is reauthorized every six years. The Act governs policies administered by the U.S. Department of Education including aid to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, accreditation of institutions and student financial aid programs.
Though the renewal of the act itself isn't in doubt, educators are still waiting to see what the massive bill will contain. Will it give poor students more tuition help? Less? Will colleges soon find themselves scrambling to justify their costs and their graduation rates to government auditors? Decisions about these and other far-reaching policy questions will all be decided over the next few months.
During reauthorization, the House and the Senate hold hearings with educators, advocacy groups and policy analysts to examine the law and offer suggestions about how to modify the existing set of programs the DOE administers and determine how much money to recommend that appropriators allocate for each program.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is considering the HEA this fall, and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is expected to put its imprint on the bill in the spring. From there, members of both sides of Congress will meet in conference to work out a final draft of the bill to send to President Bush for his signature. Finally, sometime in the summer of 2004, members of the House Appropriations Committee will decide how much of the levels recommended in the bill for each program actually gets met.
Some new policies under consideration for inclusion in this year's bill relate to making funding for student aid at universities conditional on the affordability of their tuition costs when compared to national averages as well as institutional graduation rates. The bill also may include more stringent standards for what levels of education and certification applicants must have to be eligible to teach in public schools.
For more information on the Higher Education Reauthorization Act as well as other legislation, please visit the following Web sites:
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