Federal Updates

• The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY2020 Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies spending bill, increasing the Depart of Education budget by 6 percent.
  • An amendment was adopted, adding $103 million for addition funding for career and technical education, mahnet schools, preschools and the Open Textbooks Pilot program.
  • Read a summary of the bill, view the text or read the committee report.
• The President met with senior congressional Democrats, including Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY), at the White House April 30 to discuss a potential infrastructure package, including potential funding for schools. After the meeting, Pelosi and Schumer said that they reached an agreement with the President to negotiate towards a $2 trillion package without having discussed specific funding mechanisms.
• Last week, the House Education and Labor Committee held the fourth in a five-part series of hearings focused on the Higher Education Act, titled “The Cost of Non-Completion: Improving Student Outcomes in rel=”noopener noreferrer” Higher Education.” View the archive of the hearing.
• The U.S. Treasury Department announced lower interest rates on new federal student loans effective July 1, 2019 from the current 5.045 percent to 4.529 percent for undergraduates, from 6.595 percent for graduates to 6.079 percent and 7.079 percent for federal PLUS loans compared to the current 7.595 percent.

Read more in education policy on the McGuireWoods Consulting website.