Federal

Child-Care, Research Bills Make Congressional Short List

By Lauren Camera — September 22, 2014 5 min read
Surrounded by members of the Senate education committee staff, Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, right, and ranking member Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., facing him, talk legislative strategy for a child-care assistance bill after a hearing last week.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

As the curtain begins to close on the 113th Congress, lawmakers showcased a brief burst of bipartisanship to push forward on two education measures that had been languishing in the legislative pipeline, one that underwrites child care for low-income families and another that directs federal education research.

Though neither bill is a blockbuster—and one got snared in wrangling over a single provision—the fact that they made the short list of actionable items last week just before the pre-election recess was impressive given the number of high-profile competing interests.

During the two weeks since Congress returned to Capitol Hill from its summer break, lawmakers have spent most of their energy negotiating a fiscal 2015 stopgap spending measure to avert a government shutdown, assessing the risk of the Ebola outbreak in Africa, and grappling over the growing conflict in the Middle East.

But before members of Congress returned to their home districts to make one last campaign push prior to the Nov. 4 midterm elections, they managed to make significant headway on the Strengthening Education Through Research Act and legislation to reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, likely to be two of the first bills sent to the president’s desk during the upcoming lame duck-session.

Increasing Information, Options

The child-care law, which governs a $5 billion program, hasn’t been updated since 1996. It provides funding for states to help low-income families pay for child care while a parent works or is in an educational or job-training program.

Reauthorization negotiations were led by the chairmen of each chamber’s education committee, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. John Kline, R-Minn.

Specifically, the measure would give parents more information about available child-care options, including faith-based and community-based providers, and allow parents to choose a program that best suits their family’s needs.

The bill would require all providers to comply with state health, safety, and fire standards and undergo annual inspections. For instance, states would have to conduct comprehensive backgroundchecks on child-care providers, something only about a dozen states call for now.

The proposal would also require states to set aside a greater portion of their own funds for program improvement, 10 percent, up from the current 4 percent. The additional money could be used for a range of activities, such as beefing up training for providers and making available “consumer information” to parents so they can compare different providers.

Education advocates who pushed Congress to update the law applauded the negotiation, but some of them said it should have included more money to help programs and states cover the costs of the new quality improvements.

The House passed the reauthorization under suspension of the rules on Sept. 15, amid much fist-bumping from members on both sides of the aisle.

“This bill isn’t on suspension because it’s unimportant,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee. “It’s on suspension because we recognize we need to get it done this year.”

Minor Roadblock

However, highlighting how difficult it is to get anything done in this historically dysfunctional Congress—even something as bipartisan and noncontroversial as the child-care bill—the measure quickly hit a roadblock in the Senate.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., put a hold on the bill, essentially holding it hostage until one of his bills, which would require all schools to perform background checks on all employees, gets a vote.

The language in Sen. Toomey’s bill, the Protecting Students From Sexual and Violent Predators Act, is similar to the language in the child-care bill that requires background checks of employees at child-care centers but would make it a requirement for the entire P-12 space and for every school.

“Senator Toomey believes that we should protect all children from sexual predators, not just those in federally funded day care,” said Elizabeth “E.R.” Anderson, the communications director for the Pennsylvania senator. She added that Sen. Toomey wants a swift vote on both his bill and the child-care one.

The House unanimously passed the Toomey bill last October. But both the chairman and ranking member of the Senate education committee, Sens. Harkin and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have specific grievances with the measure, though they support its overall goal.

Still, Sen. Harkin predicted last week that it wouldn’t take long to free up the child-care bill by coming to a final agreement on Sen. Toomey’s bill.

“We’ve been working with him for a long time to get it right,” said Sen. Harkin.

Making Research Relevant

Meanwhile, the two chambers reached a bipartisan, bicameral deal on the Strengthening Education Through Research Act, which would reauthorize federal education research through the Institute of Education Sciences.

Specifically, the bill would require outside evaluations of IES, including each of IES’ centers every five years, with interim findings every three years, and mandate ongoing evaluations of its regional educational laboratories and comprehensive centers.

The measure would also cap the number of centers at 17 and the labs at 10 to “reduce overlapping duties,” and eliminate the specific topics that the National Center for Education Research’s research and development centers must cover. The bill would instead require the centers to balance coverage of prekindergarten, K-12, and postsecondary issues.

Finally, the proposal would replace “scientifically based research standards” with “scientifically valid research,” intended to encourage more research methodologies beyond the so-called “gold standard"of randomized-control trials.

The Senate education committee cleared the measure with bipartisan support on Sept. 17, altering slightly the version the House passed in May.

“This bill enhances the relevancy of research and makes it easier for states and schools to access data,” Sen. Harkin said, adding that he expects the largely noncontroversial research bill to be offered for passage under unanimous consent on the Senate floor, likely after the midterm elections in November.

Closing Act

Lawmakers aren’t due back to Capitol Hill until after Veteran’s Day. By that time, they will have roughly four legislative working weeks before the close of the 113th Congress.

Both the child-care bill and the education research bill appear slated for quick passage, but Sen. Harkin hinted that he also intends to take on the Higher Education Act reauthorization, including marking it up in committee and putting pressure on Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to bring it to the floor for a vote.

“I feel very strongly about it,” said Sen. Harkin, who is retiring at the end of this year after serving in Congress for more than four decades. “I may try to push it in the lame duck. I really might.”

A version of this article appeared in the September 24, 2014 edition of Education Week as Federal Research, Child-Care Bills Make Short List

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Lawmakers Want to Reauthorize a Major Education Research Law. What Stands in the Way?
Lawmakers have tried and failed to reauthorize the Education Sciences Reform Act over the past nearly two decades.
7 min read
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., left, joins Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, as Starbucks founder Howard Schultz answers questions about the company's actions during an ongoing employee unionizing campaign, at the Capitol in Washington, on March 29, 2023.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., left, joins Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, at the Capitol in Washington, on March 29, 2023. The two lawmakers sponsored a bill to reauthorize the Education Sciences Reform Act.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Federal Will the Government Actually Shut Down This Time? What Educators Should Know
The federal government is once again on the verge of shutting down. Here's why educators should care, but shouldn't necessarily worry.
1 min read
Photo illustration of Capitol building and closed sign.
iStock
Federal Biden Admin. Warns Schools to Protect Students From Antisemitism, Islamophobia
The U.S. Department of Education released a "Dear Colleague" letter reminding schools of their obligation to address discrimination.
3 min read
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at the Department of Education on Sept. 20, 2023 in Washington.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during an interview in his office at the U.S. Department of Education on Sept. 20, 2023 in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Federal What Educators Should Know About Mike Johnson, New Speaker of the House
Johnson has supported restructuring federal education funding, as well as socially conservative policies that have become GOP priorities.
4 min read
House Speaker-elect Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., addresses members of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 25, 2023. Republicans eagerly elected Johnson as House speaker on Wednesday, elevating a deeply conservative but lesser-known leader to the seat of U.S. power and ending for now the political chaos in their majority.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., addresses members of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 25, 2023. Johnson has a supported a number of conservative Republican education priorities in his time in Congress.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP