Letter to the Senate HELP Committee

September 8, 2005

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the National Education Association's (NEA) 2.7 million members, including more than 150,000 higher education professionals, we write to express our views on the proposal before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA).

We are encouraged by numerous aspects of the legislation, including the bipartisan effort undertaken to develop it. With a priority on students, the bill strives to create access to and ensure opportunities for postsecondary education. In providing some of the necessary supports for those most in need, this bill continues the mission of the original Higher Education Act. In particular, we are pleased to see that the bill:

• recognizes the need to increase the authorization levels for Pell grants so that they do not continue to lose purchasing power;
• retains the low fixed interest rate for consolidating student loans; and
• increases support of the Direct Loans program

These provisions bolster the foundation of federal support that is critical to the nation's low income students. Their relevance is highlighted by the upheaval of the education infrastructure in the Gulf Coast and the resulting impact on current students as well as those who now must re-build careers or gain skills to change careers entirely. With so many critical issues before Congress at this juncture, including addressing the vast and dire needs of the Gulf Coast region, we appreciate this focus on meeting students' needs. In relation to this, we understand that the next steps of the budget reconciliation process may be reconsidered. As such, we urge the Senate to stand firm in support of these proposed increases in student aid and not allow them to be diminished by budget reconciliation measures to cut benefits or increase costs for students. The current crisis resulting from Hurricane Katrina magnifies the need to be able to support individuals in postsecondary education pursuits so that they may quickly regain their footing and ensure their own and our nation's economic stability.

Regarding teacher education, we are also pleased with key provisions of Title II. The bill focuses on priority issues including teacher recruitment, preparation and retention through its support of programs like mentoring, career ladders for paraprofessionals, and induction, internship and residency programs for new teachers.

We do appreciate the many attributes of this legislation while, at the same time, we are concerned about other important issues. Lifting both the “50 percent” and “90/10” rules, which we believe have served to protect the integrity of the student aid program, is problematic for retaining the quality of programs and the integrity of the student financial aid system. Further, the academic bill of rights continues to be of concern to us. Under Title II, we also have a specific concern about “value-added” programs to evaluate teachers. Such programs have not been thoroughly developed, researched and rigorously evaluated.

In conjunction with the American Federation of Teachers, we have developed a set of priorities for the reauthorization of the HEA and, in turn, have based detailed comments on this bill on those priorities. Attached are our joint comments on the bill before the committee, which we request that you consider as the legislation moves forward.

NEA thanks you for your efforts thus far in this reauthorization, including the bipartisan dialogue within the committee as well as the constructive conversations we have had with committee members' staffs. We look forward to working with you to make further improvements to this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Diane Shust, Director of Government Relations

Randall Moody, Manager of Federal Policy and Politics