A quick look back at the news from last week, compiled by Penn Hill Group: 

NOTE: The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has posted a list of non-federal negotiators and issue papers for the upcoming Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) negotiated rulemaking session. See more details below. 

HOUSE

The House is in recess and will return on Monday, March 14.

SENATE

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold an executive session considering S.1878, S.1077, S.1101, S.2055, S.1767, S.1597, S.2512 and the nomination of Dr. John King to be U.S. Secretary of Education on Wednesday, March 9.

ADMINISTRATION

ED posted the list of non-federal negotiators and the issue papers that will be the basis of discussion when negotiators meet for the first negotiated rulemaking session on Title I Assessments and Supplement/Not Supplant on March 21-23.

ED’s Office of Inspector General (IG), released a report on its independent investigation of ED’s review of student loan servicers’ compliance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, specifically its requirement to provide eligible servicemembers with an interest rate reduction on certain federal student loans. This investigation was done at the request of Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The IG found that ED used an inadequate sample of loans in its review, made errors during its review process and took inconsistent and inadequate corrective actions for any issues it found.