March 15, 2023

Leading the news this week: Workforce Pell support is mounting in Congress! There have been several bills introduced, albeit with different approaches, aimed at enacting workforce Pell. We have shared the links to the bills below. 

Now let's dive into the latest news in higher education.

Update on President Biden FY 2024 Budget

On Monday, the Department of Education released the FY2024 congressional justifications, which are released by each federal department after the President unveils the budget requests to justify each department's appropriations estimates to Congress. They provide a breakdown of the Department's program priorities for the next fiscal year as well as comparative data for the proposed, current, and previous budgets. 

As we reported last week, the proposal requests $90.0 billion over 10 years in mandatory budget authority to support Free Community College through a first-dollar state-federal partnership program. To help lay the groundwork, it included a new $500 million discretionary Accelerated Success: Free Community College program. These funds would enable individual community colleges or consortia to offer eligible high-quality programs tuition free for students.

The budget also requested $209 million for the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) a $86 million increase over FY23; $820 increase in the Pell Grant award taking the maximum grant from $7,395 to $8,215 in 2024-25; the Department of Labor requests $100 million, a $35 million increase over FY2023, for the Strengthening Community College Training Grant. 

ACCT President and CEO Jee Hang Lee released a statement in response to the President's FY2024 budget, which can be found here. 

Workforce Pell Support Surges in Congress

The 118th Congress looks ripe for workforce Pell, also commonly known as short-term Pell, as three separate bills in support of the program have been introduced this Congress. 

Senators Kaine and Braun and Representatives Johnson, Blunt-Rochester, Turner, and Sherrill all introduced the Jumpstarting Our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act in late January 2023. The text of the bill can be found here and a summary can be found here. 

Chairwoman Foxx and Representative Stefanik introduced their own version called the Promoting Employment and Lifelong Learning (PELL) Act. The text of the bill can be found here and a summary can be found here. 

Last week, Ranking Member Bobby Scott introduced the Jobs to Compete Act. The fact sheet can be found here and the section-by-section can be found here. 

ACCT is currently reviewing theses bills and we will be posting fact sheets for each bill soon. 

Feature Spotlight:

The Seldin Haring-Smith Foundation's (SHSF) Public Transit Maps project assessed public transit accessibility at community colleges across the country. Through their research they found that 57% of community college main campuses are transit accessible, but an additional 25% could be made accessible through extending existing bus lines. SHSF is producing interactive maps of each state, and we will be featuring these maps as they are made available.

The 14th interactive map is California. SHSF found that 93% of California's 265 community and technical colleges have a transit stop within walking distance. 9 of the campuses are less than five miles from an existing transit line, which shows a window of opportunity to increase accessibility by connecting just one more college to an existing transit lines To delve deeper into California's accessibility click here. To view the interactive map click here.

• March 23 - deadline to provide written testimony to Labor-HHS-Ed subcommittee

• March 24 - deadline to submit public comments on the Direct Grant Programs, State-Administered Formula Grant Programs

• March 24 - deadline for Request for Information Regarding First Amendment and Free Inquiry Related Grant Conditions

• October 2023 - deadline to apple for Advanced Technological Education

Outreach Efforts

Is your institution meeting or hosting an event with federal elected officials?

We created a Congressional Contact Form that will help us track outreach efforts of community college leaders across our membership. By filling out the form, you are better informing ACCT's advocacy efforts and our advocacy team is able to continue those conversations with congressional staff in DC. 

We also put together an outreach toolkit and an advocacy guide to share best practices for meeting with elected officials and set your team up for success.

ACCT NOW is the go-to resource for issues affecting community colleges. Our new website features original reporting and research, as well as of-the-moment legislative updates. ACCT NOW also includes articles, reports, and research from outside sources that benefit the ACCT community. Read the Latest Articles on ACCT NOW:

Have a Question?

Contact us with any questions or concerns about public policy and ACCT's advocacy on behalf of two-year colleges and two-year college trustees. ACCT's Latest Action in Washington alerts are sent to interested ACCT members to keep you up to date on important legislative activities that impact community colleges. If you no longer wish to receive ACCT's Latest Action in Washington alerts, reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. For more information about ACCT's advocacy services, visit acct.org/advocacy

Spread the Word.

Please encourage your fellow trustees, presidents and colleagues to stay up to date about legislation that affects their community colleges by joining the Latest Action in Washington (LAW) E-Alert network. To join, simply e-mail publicpolicy@acct.org with 'LAW Alert' in the subject of the e-mail.

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