Loading ...January Public Policy Update
Date: January 28, 2010
by Marsha L. Tait and Jackie Taylor, Public Policy Committee Co-Chairs
The NCL Public Policy Committee met during the Membership meeting in December. Subsequently, Peter Waite, NCL president, appointed a task force to produce a statement of NCL’s top priorities for WIA reauthorization. The task force consisted of Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield, Art Ellison, David Harvey, Heidi Silver-Pacuilla, Margaret Patterson, Tony Peyton, John Segota, and was co-facilitated by Marsha Tait and Jackie Taylor. The task force produced a document that was then adopted by the NCL Board of Directors. This document, along with all of NCL’s current public policy positions, is now available in the NCL Advocacy Clearinghouse and Toolkit in a new section devoted to NCL policy positions.
NCL continues to monitor developments on WIA reauthorization closely. Currently, it appears that the Senate HELP Committee is working on its bill and that the House bill will follow. We hope to see movement on reauthorization this spring. Brenda Dann-Messier (Assistant Secretary of Education for Vocational and Adult and Education) has been conducting community conversations about WIA issues around the country. For more information, visit the Department of Education’s Blog on WIA Reauthorization. The National Institute for Literacy has also just completed an online WIA Community Conversation across all of its Discussion Lists. Assistant Secretary Dann-Messier joined as a special guest to initiate the discussions. A master transcript will be available shortly on the Institute’s website. The Administration will consider these data as they prepare for WIA reauthorization.
The President’s fiscal year 2010 budget is anticipated to be released on February 1. NCL will meet in Washington DC for its quarterly membership meeting on Feb. 10 and members will be conducting Capitol Hill visits on Feb. 9 and 10. Our goals will be to promote our WIA top priorities and our response to the President’s proposed budget.
Congress may be taking up reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act following WIA later this spring. To prepare, NCL has formed an ESEA Reauthorization task force in order to consider whether to issue recommendations and if so, what they should be.
NCL is also monitoring developments with Immigration reform closely and will be considering how to respond to various legislative proposals in the coming weeks and months.
