Trump expected to sign HBCU executive order Presented by Comcast

With help from Benjamin Wermund, Kimberly Hefling and Tony Romm

TRUMP EXPECTED TO SIGN HBCU EXECUTIVE ORDER: Look for President Donald Trump to issue an executive order on historically black colleges and universities as soon as today that puts his administration’s stamp on an order that has been tweaked and signed by every president since Jimmy Carter. The order is expected to move an initiative to assist HBCUs from the Education Department into the White House — a change that could help bolster Trump’s relationship with the schools.


— Trump said in his weekly address over the weekend that he wants to “honor and promote the achievements” of HBCUs: “They are not given the credit that they deserve, and they are going to start getting that credit.” On the campaign trail, Trump promised to “ensure funding” for historically black schools in his “ New Deal for Black America,” part of his campaign’s outreach to minorities. Omarosa Manigault, the “Apprentice” star-turned-White-House-aide, has spearheaded the drafting of the executive order, which is expected to be issued by the end of February — Black History Month.

— Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to attend a “listening session” with leaders of historically black colleges and universities this afternoon at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

— HBCU leaders have asked the Trump administration to include an aspirational funding goal. They want HBCUs to be awarded 5 percent of total federal grant, internship and cooperative agreement funding and 10 percent of all federal contract funding to colleges and universities. They say that doing so would nearly double federal support to the HBCU sector. And they’ve also asked to move the White House HBCU Initiative, which dates to 1981, to the White House, arguing that pulling it from the Education Department would provide the schools more direct access to the president.

— Meeting HBCU leaders’ requests would also allow Trump to one-up former President Barack Obama, who was tremendously popular among black voters but had a rocky relationship with historically black colleges and universities. Johnny Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which represents 47 public and publicly funded HBCUs, told POLITICO earlier this month that he asked the Obama administration to make the same two additions to the executive order and “it was never responded to.”

— The first executive order aimed at aiding historically black colleges, signed by President Carter in 1980, established a federal program to “overcome the effects of discriminatory treatment and to strengthen and expand” the schools. President Ronald Reagan followed that a year later by establishing the White House Initiative on HBCUs. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush added a presidential advisory board, and in 1993, President Bill Clinton created a requirement for a senior level executive in each agency to have oversight in implementing the order. He also required the Office of Management and Budget to be involved in monitoring its implementation. President George W. Bush later gave the White House initiative a bump, moving it from the Education Department’s Office of Postsecondary Education to the office of the secretary.

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HBCU LEADERS TO MEET WITH HILL REPUBLICANS: On Tuesday, several HBCU presidents are expected to attend a Capitol Hill event hosted by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) focused on the schools. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is expected to speak, as well as House Speaker Paul Ryan.

— Scott told Morning Education that both Republicans and HBCUs have a lot to learn about one another. “We want to break down any stereotypes that HBCUs have of Republicans or that Republicans may have just out of lack of knowledge of HBCUs,” Scott said. He also said that, in the past, “HBCUs have fared pretty well under Republican administrations.”

— HBCUs produce a large portion of the nation’s black graduates — including 50 percent of the nation’s black doctors — and are in a position to be an important economic engine, Scott said. “They’ve played a historical role and I believe they’ll have as big a role to play as we look to diversify certain areas of our economy — specifically our STEM areas.”

— The Congressional HBCU Caucus, meanwhile, is again pitching a bill aimed at allowing more of the schools to participate in the Capital Financing Program. Schools participating in the program pay a fee, which goes into an escrow account, to pay for any loan defaults or delinquencies. The bill would also allow the Education Department to offer financial counseling to HBCUs. Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee’s sub-panel on Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit, also filed a bill recently that would create a scholarship for students attending historically black land-grant universities. The scholarship would be funded through the Department of Agriculture and would go to students who intend to pursue careers in food and ag science.

NEW EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HIRE: Taylor Hansen, who previously worked for The Center for Education Reform and the main lobbying group representing for-profit colleges, has joined the Trump administration’s Education Department. He was part of Education Secretary DeVos’ meeting last week with leaders of nearly a dozen public universities, according to the department. Hansen previously directed legislative and regulatory affairs at the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (which is now called Career Education Colleges and Universities) for nearly three years and was also a Republican staffer on the House education committee. Hansen is also the son of Bill Hansen, the former deputy secretary of education during the George W. Bush administration who now leads United Student Aid Funds.

DISCRETIONARY DOMESTIC SPENDING ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK: President Trump plans to send budgetary targets to federal agencies today — and his outline will ask agency heads to hike military and law enforcement spending while cutting back on some domestic programs. POLITICO’s Shane Goldmacher, Sarah Ferris and Jennifer Scholtes have more.

FREE TUITION PROPOSALS COULD HELP COLLEGES’ BOTTOM LINES: The spate of proposals for tuition-free college that have emerged in states recently could bode well for the bottom line of institutions of higher education, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service. The tuition-free programs “will be moderately credit-positive for the higher education sector overall as they will expand the number of enrolled students,” researchers for Moody’s write in the report, which highlights efforts to create or expand free college proposals in New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee and San Francisco, though other states and cities are also eyeing the idea.

FEWER UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS APPLY FOR AID IN CALIFORNIA: The number of undocumented students applying for state financial aid in California has dropped more than 40 percent compared to last year. Ahead of a March 2 deadline for new applications for aid under California’s Dream Act, some 20,000 undocumented students had applied to aid compared to 34,000 at the same time last year. Undocumented students are barred from federal student loans and Pell grants, but some states like California still offer state-based aid to those students.

— “It’s apparent that the national conversation surrounding immigration and deportation has created an environment that is confusing and threatening to many of our students,” California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Oakley said in a statement that urged more undocumented students to apply for the assistance. “Under the Dream Act, no student’s personal information is shared at the federal level,” he said.

TECH TO SOUND OFF IN TRANSGENDER-RIGHTS CASE: More tech companies have signed onto a forthcoming amicus brief to the Supreme Court that will support Gavin Grimm, a transgender student in Virginia who is suing his school district for the right to use the bathroom of his choice. Late Friday, Pro Technology’s Tony Romm reported that the likes of Apple, Airbnb, PayPal, Microsoft and Slack had backed the brief, which is being put together by the Human Rights Campaign. Over the weekend, six more tech powers joined the list, a source tells Pro Technology: Amazon, LinkedIn, Pandora, Spotify, Intel and Yahoo.

— Silicon Valley’s big names have been active in the fight for transgender rights in the past, and some, like Apple, sounded off last week after the Trump administration rolled back Obama administration guidance meant to protect transgender students. Additional companies are expected to join the SCOTUS amicus brief before it’s finalized.

LATEST ON FIGHTS OVER TRANSGENDER PROTECTIONS: Members of the Human Rights Campaign’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council are requesting a meeting with Education Secretary DeVos and President Trump to discuss the administration’s decision to scrap the Obama-era directive aimed at protecting the rights of transgender students. A White House spokeswoman tells The Washington Post that Trump’s open to meeting with a variety of people. The Education Department did not respond to requests for comment. The parents’ request comes as some military families also worry the shift will negatively impact their children, Stars and Stripes reports.

— A big question mark: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on March 28 in the Grimm case, but it’s a big question mark as to whether the court will settle the issue. More from The Associated Press.

SYLLABUS

— Arkansas governor opposes NRA-backed effort to expand campus guns bill: The Associated Press.

— Pearson reports biggest pre-tax loss in its history: The Guardian.

— A public education advocacy group that pushes to increase school funding is attacking New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by comparing his education policies to those of President Trump and Education Secretary DeVos: The New York Daily News.

— Education Secretary DeVos doesn’t control who gets a “free lunch,” despite what some of her critics claimed following her CPAC speech: Education Week.

— The organization that runs the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program says that it expects an increase in federal funding from the Trump administration: The Washington Post.

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