NAPE Public Policy Update
Devos to testify to Congress on June 5!

Secretary DeVos will testify at Senate Labor HHS re: FY 2019 Budget on Tuesday, June 5 at 10:15 am. Find link to hearing here.

Administration
Trump Names Pick for OCTAE's Assistant Secretary
(Courtesy of Career Education Review)
President Donald Trump plans to nominate a former Colorado community college official to lead the Education Department's career and technical education office. Read more >>

Education Secretary DeVos Testified Before House Committee on Education and the Workforce
(Courtesy of CSPAN)
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testified before the House Education and the Workforce Committee on the agency's priorities. Read more >>
Democrats Are Asking Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to Explain Changes to the Way Her Agency's Civil Rights Office Investigates Discrimination in the Nation's Schools
(Courtesy of Politico)
Lawmakers in both the Senate and House in a new letter led by Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) are targeting recent updates to the Office for Civil Rights' Case Processing Manual. That manual, posted to the Education Department's website earlier this year, scraps all mentions of "systemic" investigations as part of the Trump administration's effort to narrow the scope of civil rights probes. Read more >>

ESSA Update
(Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Education)
The Secretary recently announced the approval of several consolidated state plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Alaska and Iowa (press release) were among the states to request more time to finalize their plans. Read more >>

OCTAE Announces New Grant Focused on STEM Apprenticeship
(Courtesy of Advance CTE)
On May 18, a notice in the Federal Register announced a new grant program to be administered by OCTAE, "Pathways to STEM Apprenticeships for High School CTE Students."  Read more >>
Congress
Alexander Faults Democrats for Stalled Talks on Higher Education Bill
(Courtesy of Politico)
Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Republican chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, said today that Democrats are to blame for stalled bipartisan negotiations in the Senate over overhauling higher education policy. Read more >>

Bipartisan Talks Begin on Stalled Technical Education Bill 
(Courtesy of Bloomberg Exclusives)
Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have re-started negotiations on a stalled career and technical education bill being pushed by the White House and the business community. Read more >>

Data Privacy Hearing Set to Collide with Democrats' Civil Rights Agenda 
(Courtesy of Politico)
May 17 was the 64th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education - and Democrats on Capitol Hill plan to mark the date by pivoting attention to concerns about civil rights protections at the Education Department during a House hearing on student data privacy. Read more >>