10/30/17: DC Education Update

Executive Branch and Administration: On 10/26 President Trump nominated Kenneth Marcus to serve as Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights...

U.S. Department of Education Activities: The Education Department scrapped nearly 600 pieces of regulatory guidance it says is out-of-date...

Congress: On 10/24 the House Subcommittees on Higher Education and Workforce Development (Committee on Education and the Workforce) and Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies (Committee on Homeland Security) held a joint hearing on Public-Private Solutions to Educating a Cyber Workforce...

10/16/17: DC Education Update

Executive Branch and Administration: In an interview with Forbes magazine President Trump indicated that he plans to leave a large number of appointment-level positions across the federal government vacant as he believes many of the positions are unnecessary. This action will continue to leave the federal government understaffed.

US Department of Education Activities: On 10/12 the Department of Education released proposed priorities for future ED competitive grant programs. ...

Congress: On 10/12 a bipartisan group of 59 Senators asked the Senate HELP Committee to move forward on work to reauthorize the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act...

Funding/Support Opportunities: On 10/12 Google announced a $1 billion grant initiative to “help students and workers better prepare for a rapidly changing labor market”...

10/9/17: DACA Update

A brief update on the latest DACA developments. Yesterday the White House released a list of immigration policy priorities for a DACA extension. This includes:...

10/4/17: DACA Update

The House Homeland Security Committee today approved a border security bill along party lines that includes $10 billion for a border wall. The Border Security for America Act (H.R. 3548) also authorizes 10,000 extra border agents and allows the federal government to reimburse sates of to $35 million for use of National Guard assets to reinforce border security and includes $5 billion for ports of entry.

The bill now heads to the House floor but has little chance of becoming law. Supporters of the rescinded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program allege that this is a first shot to tie border security provisions to potential legislation to protect DACA recipients...

9/27/17: Republican Tax Proposal

Of potential impact to municipalities could be the proposals potential impact on municipal bonds. As you know, many investors own municipal bonds/ funds because the interest on those bonds are exempt from federal, state and local income taxes. Experts believe that the value of muni holdings could drop if tax deductions on itemized returns are capped, and if the deduction for state and local income taxes from federal taxes is eliminated...