HOUSE

The House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education will hold a hearing on restoring state and local control at the K–12 level on Wednesday, February 10.

SENATE

The Senate passed H.R. 3033, the Research Excellence and Advancements for Dyslexia Act (READ Act), by unanimous consent. This bill would require the National Science Foundation (NSF) to spend at least $2.5 million each year on dyslexia research. The bill had previously passed the House by a voice vote and now awaits the President’s signature.

BUDGET

The Administration announced that President Obama’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Budget will include a request for $5.5 billion for a First Job program to connect youth to either their first summer or year-round jobs, with a focus on at-risk and disconnected youth.

ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) released new guidance for states on reducing testing at the K–12 level, with a particular focus on testing requirements in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

ED published a notice seeking nominations for a negotiated rulemaking panel to assist with the development of Title I ESSA regulations. Nominations are due February 25, 2016.

The Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) has denied recertification applications for Title IV eligibility to several Marinello Schools of Beauty and Computer Systems Institute locations following an FSA investigation that determined violations from both institutions related to false job placement rates for the latter and reporting and allocation of student aid issues for the former. The Marinello Schools of Beauty have since announced they will close all their locations.

President Obama announced a Computer Science for All initiative, which includes: (1) a call for $4 billion in funding in his FY2017 Budget to support states to train teachers, expand access to high-quality instructional materials and build regional partnerships; (2) over $135 million in investments by NSF and the Corporation for National and Community Service to train computer science teachers over five years, using existing funds; and (3) a call to action for other various stakeholders to invest resources.