House GOP charges ahead on tax plan Presented by Comcast

With help from Caitlin Emma

HOUSE GOP CHARGES AHEAD ON TAX PLAN: House Republicans are moving full speed ahead with the tax plan they unveiled last week. Speaker Paul Ryan said on “Fox News Sunday” that he’s confident the House will pass the bill by Thanksgiving. The Ways and Means Committee this afternoon will take up the GOP legislation — with much at stake for the education-related provisions of the tax code.


— Private colleges and universities are pushing back hard against a new 1.4 percent tax on their endowment earnings in the bill. The provision, which higher education groups said would affect roughly 160 schools, would raise $30 billion in revenue over the next decade. Cornell University President Martha Pollack, for instance, told POLITICO New York’s Keshia Clukey that the plan “is a very serious problem for us,” estimating it would cost the university — which has an endowment valued at $6.8 billion — about $10.5 million in the first year.

— Higher education groups across the board are also seeking to avert the elimination of tax benefits for student loan borrowers and families paying for college that are worth roughly $65 billion over the next decade. The GOP bill would ax the deduction for interest paid on student loans as well as the tax break for employer-provided educational assistance programs. Two tax credits would be “consolidated” into the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which would partially expand eligibility to students seeking a fifth year of higher education.

— House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) on Friday cited the elimination of the student loan interest deduction as one of a series of “tough calls” that tax writers made in the bill. Read more from Mel Leonor.

— House Democrats, meanwhile, are seizing on the deductions for student loan borrowers and teachers who buy classroom supplies as two of the 10 “popular” deductions “that middle-class families rely on” that would be eliminated under the GOP plan. Read more.

— On the K-12 education side, the bill would expand section 529 college savings accounts to cover K-12 expenses of up to $10,000 per year at private and religious schools, a move cheered by some school choice advocates. But others have concerns that it doesn’t go far enough. The education reform advocacy group EdChoice said on Friday that it supports the 529 plan expansion but noted it's "not a solution for every family." The statement from a group that has backed the nationwide expansion of vouchers reflects growing concern from some conservatives and school choice supporters that the House GOP tax plan would help only affluent families access private school, reports Caitlin Emma.

— Education Secretary Betsy DeVos praised the tax plan in a statement to the AP: “This is a good step forward, reflecting that education should be an investment in individual students, not systems,” she said. “I look forward to continuing to work with congressional leaders to ensure all families have equal access to the education that meets their child’s unique needs.”

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IS ACCOUNTABILITY ‘A DIRTY WORD’? The George W. Bush Institute is rolling out a series of interviews with national, state and local education leaders on holding schools accountable and why it has become so polarizing. The series is called “The ‘A’ Word: Accountability — The Dirty Word of Education Reform.”

— “The meaning of accountability in education has become so twisted and polarizing that it is now the equivalent to a dirty word,” said Anne Wicks, director of education reform at the Bush Institute, in a release. “As with all polarizing issues, the truth is nuanced and requires us to look beyond the sound bites — and The ‘A’ Word seeks to do that through conversations with recognized education leaders.”

— Recently released interviews include former Education secretaries Margaret Spellings and John B. King Jr. The Bush Institute this week will release interviews with former Tennessee state education chief Kevin Huffman and former New Mexico state education chief Hanna Skandera. More.

VA UPDATE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ‘FOREVER GI BILL’: The Veterans Affairs Department said on Friday that it’s moving ahead with implementing the bipartisan expansion of GI Bill educational benefits that President Donald Trump signed into law earlier this year. The VA said that many of the law’s highest-profile provisions — like the removal of the 15-year limit on when recipients must use their GI Bill benefits — have already taken effect and don’t require any action from student veterans.

— The VA is still working on the law’s restoration of GI Bill education benefits for veterans affected by the collapse of Corinthian Colleges and ITT Tech. The legislation allows student veterans who were displaced by discontinued or shuttered programs between Jan. 1, 2015, and Aug. 16, 2017, to have their benefits fully restored. “To apply for restoration, we will develop a web page with instructions, information, and a form to complete and return,” Curtis L. Coy, deputy undersecretary of Veterans Affairs for economic opportunity, wrote in an email to veterans. “I will update you when this page is available, and we’ll post an announcement on our main GI Bill page and social media sites.”

PRINCETON FILES SUIT OVER DACA: Princeton University — along with one of its students and Microsoft — filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday, seeking an injunction to stop the Trump administration from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and to bar the government from using personal information provided by DACA participants against them, including for immigration enforcement purposes. The complaint argues that the Trump administration’s plan to end DACA in the coming months is unconstitutional.

— Princeton University, which serves 15 undergraduate DACA students, said it seeks a diverse student body and “will suffer the loss of critical members of its community” if the plan to end DACA is carried out. Microsoft and its subsidiary, LinkedIn, said they employ at least 45 DACA recipients and have “significant interests” in retaining them. Read more from POLITICO New Jersey’s Linh Tat.

REPORT ROLL CALL

— The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the nonprofit AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination, are out with a report on how educators and businesses can partner up to teach students the “soft skills” they need to succeed in the workforce, like professional communication and critical thinking. More.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

— Former Education Secretary King, who’s now president and CEO of The Education Trust, is joining the board of directors for Teach Plus, a nonprofit.

— The nonprofit Battelle for Kids and EdLeader21, a “professional learning” organization for superintendents, are merging to have a greater reach in school districts nationwide, according to a release.

— The Institute for Educational Leadership has appointed Karen Mapp to serve as the chair of its board. Mapp is a senior lecturer and faculty director of education policy and management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ana Tilton will serve as board director for the institute. She is also the executive director of Grantmakers for Education.

SYLLABUS

— Students protest Virginia Tech instructor in debate over white supremacy: The Washington Post.

— In the competition for Amazon’s new headquarters, will universities tip the scale? The Chronicle of Higher Education.

— How Silicon Valley plans to conquer the classroom: The New York Times.

— Arizona education officials uncover error in federal funding allocations that led to millions of dollars in IDEA funding being allocated to the wrong schools: The Associated Press.

— Almost all students with disabilities are capable of graduating on time. Here’s why they’re not: The Hechinger Report.

Follow the Pro Education team: @caitlinzemma ( [email protected]), @khefling ( [email protected]), @mstratford ( [email protected]) and @BenjaminEW ( [email protected]).

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