DC Shuttle ...
House Approves Spending Package with Ed Dept Cuts. The House of Representatives approved an omnibus spending package (H.R. 3354), by a 211-198 vote, to fund the government, including the U.S. Department of Education funding bill (H.R. 3358). The bill, as approved, would cut about $2.3 billion from the Department of Education, a roughly 3.5% reduction from the agency's current budge...
From January to April, there appeared to be an unusual degree of cooperation among legislators and newly elected Gov. Phil Scott. The House and Senate passed a budget with minor differences. Up until this point, some legislators were characterizing the session as “boring.” All that changed on April 20, when Scott proposed that the Legislature adopt the Vermont School Boards Association’s pla...
The Rhode Island General Assembly abruptly ended its 2017 legislation session on Friday evening, July 1, following a protracted disagreement between House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio related to the car tax. Eliminating the car tax was a high priority of Mattiello’s. But some lawmakers expressed concern that with revenues lagging by approximately $100 mil...
New Hampshire lawmakers ended hard-fought budget deliberations on June 22 and passed a two-year $17.7 billion budget along party lines. During House budget deliberations, Republicans faced opposition in their own party coming from the newly formed Freedom Caucus. The result was the Republican-dominated House failed to produce a budget, which hadn’t happened in several decades. The Republican...
The first regular session of Maine’s 128th state Legislature was exceptionally challenging, as lawmakers engaged in a bitter fight over the budget while wrestling with four ballot questions approved by voters in the November 2016 election. Lawmakers were divided on Question 2, which was approved by voters and would have imposed a 3% tax on those making $200,000 or more. Funds would be used t...
Two weeks into FY 2018, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a $39.4 billion spending package that increases spending by 1.7% over the prior year. He vetoed $320 million from the budget, including $222 million in spending for MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. Baker has proposed reforms to MassHealth including a “gate” which blocks eligibility for full-time workers who have access to...
On June 7, 2017, Connecticut legislators wrapped up their session without passing a two-year budget. The failure to pass a budget or a provisional budget reflects a deeply divided Legislature with an 18-18 split in the Senate and a slight Democratic majority, 79-72, in the House. As lawmakers adjourned, Gov. Dannel Malloy chastised them for failing to break the deadlock and pass a budget.
A big s...
Immerman
Comings and Goings ...
Steve Immerman announced he will retire as president of Montserrat College at the end of the 2017-18 academic year, after nearly nine years leading the four-year visual arts and design college. Immerman authored Letting Off STEAM at Montserrat College of Art for NEJHE.
Bob Pura announced he will retire as president of Greenfield Community College, a positi...
DC Shuttle ...
DeVos to Change Sexual Assault Rule. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave a speech in which she said she would replace an Obama-era schools directive on sexual assault with an alternative that she said would do a better job balancing the rights of victims and the accused, Politico reports. The plan is to develop new guidance through a rulemaking process that likely wil...
NEBHE Senior Fellow Stafford Peat teamed up with Sarah Linet, a policy specialist with the Great Schools Partnership, to write a piece for the online collaborative CompetencyWorks titled Debunking a Myth–Competency-Based Transcripts Don’t Disadvantage High School Graduates in the Admissions Process.
Peat and Linet note that a focus group of deans and directors of admission from the mo...
DC Shuttle ...
House Approves Spending Package with Ed Dept Cuts. The House of Representatives approved an omnibus spending package (H.R. 3354), by a 211-198 vote, to fund the government, including the U.S. Department of Education funding bill (H.R. 3358). The bill, as approved, would cut about $2.3 billion from the Department of Education, a roughly 3.5% reduction from the agency's current budge... 
From January to April, there appeared to be an unusual degree of cooperation among legislators and newly elected Gov. Phil Scott. The House and Senate passed a budget with minor differences. Up until this point, some legislators were characterizing the session as “boring.” All that changed on April 20, when Scott proposed that the Legislature adopt the Vermont School Boards Association’s pla... 
The Rhode Island General Assembly abruptly ended its 2017 legislation session on Friday evening, July 1, following a protracted disagreement between House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio related to the car tax. Eliminating the car tax was a high priority of Mattiello’s. But some lawmakers expressed concern that with revenues lagging by approximately $100 mil... 
New Hampshire lawmakers ended hard-fought budget deliberations on June 22 and passed a two-year $17.7 billion budget along party lines. During House budget deliberations, Republicans faced opposition in their own party coming from the newly formed Freedom Caucus. The result was the Republican-dominated House failed to produce a budget, which hadn’t happened in several decades. The Republican... 
The first regular session of Maine’s 128th state Legislature was exceptionally challenging, as lawmakers engaged in a bitter fight over the budget while wrestling with four ballot questions approved by voters in the November 2016 election. Lawmakers were divided on Question 2, which was approved by voters and would have imposed a 3% tax on those making $200,000 or more. Funds would be used t... 
Two weeks into FY 2018, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a $39.4 billion spending package that increases spending by 1.7% over the prior year. He vetoed $320 million from the budget, including $222 million in spending for MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. Baker has proposed reforms to MassHealth including a “gate” which blocks eligibility for full-time workers who have access to... 
On June 7, 2017, Connecticut legislators wrapped up their session without passing a two-year budget. The failure to pass a budget or a provisional budget reflects a deeply divided Legislature with an 18-18 split in the Senate and a slight Democratic majority, 79-72, in the House. As lawmakers adjourned, Gov. Dannel Malloy chastised them for failing to break the deadlock and pass a budget.
A big s... 
Immerman
Comings and Goings ...
Steve Immerman announced he will retire as president of Montserrat College at the end of the 2017-18 academic year, after nearly nine years leading the four-year visual arts and design college. Immerman authored Letting Off STEAM at Montserrat College of Art for NEJHE.
Bob Pura announced he will retire as president of Greenfield Community College, a positi... 
DC Shuttle ...
DeVos to Change Sexual Assault Rule. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave a speech in which she said she would replace an Obama-era schools directive on sexual assault with an alternative that she said would do a better job balancing the rights of victims and the accused, Politico reports. The plan is to develop new guidance through a rulemaking process that likely wil... 
NEBHE Senior Fellow Stafford Peat teamed up with Sarah Linet, a policy specialist with the Great Schools Partnership, to write a piece for the online collaborative CompetencyWorks titled Debunking a Myth–Competency-Based Transcripts Don’t Disadvantage High School Graduates in the Admissions Process.
Peat and Linet note that a focus group of deans and directors of admission from the mo...