Dear Colleague:

COVID-19 has caused unprecedented challenges for TRIO students and staff. Students and families are facing significant disruption as COVID-19 closes schools, and unemployment and poverty skyrocket. Without action, we could see a lost generation of college-bound students.

Thanks to your advocacy, today Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and colleagues introduced the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act (CCCERA), a proposed COVID-19 emergency education funding bill that would provide $450 million in emergency support for federal TRIO programs.

If signed into law, the bill would provide $250 million for TRIO capacity increases to allow existing programs the option to apply for additional funding to serve additional students facing educational disruption, unemployment, and poverty in the COVID-19 crisis. No existing program would be required to serve additional students. The bill would also provide $200 million for technological connectivity through the TRIO programs to help low-income students continue coursework, apply to college and financial aid, and continue advising services online.

We are pleased to see today's bill answered the call of the TRIO community and its bipartisan supporters on Capitol Hill. Still, this is just one step on a long path ahead.

Please ask your senators to support this legislation by clicking here.

To read more about Senator Murray's bill, view the press release, fact sheet, and bill text. In addition to TRIO funding, the bill would also provide:

• $345 billion to the Education Stabilization Fund, similar to the CARES Act signed into law in March 2020. This additional funding would include:
  o More than $132 billion for students and institutions of higher education, including emergency financial grant aid for immediate student needs, and funding for colleges to address COVID-19 costs. The formula to colleges would count part-time and full-time students equally, thus providing relatively more to community colleges than the CARES Act. The bill would allow student grant aid for DACA recipients and others who have not completed a FAFSA. Funding would also include grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions.
  o $175 billion for K-12 education, via grants to state and local education agencies using the Title I-A formula for low-income students. The funding would be used for reopening safely, using distance education if needed, meeting students' social and emotional needs, and recovering learning loss.
  o Over $33 billion for governors to use flexibly on early childhood through higher education, based on greatest need due to COVID-19.
• $4 billion for broadband internet connectivity for schools and libraries through the E-Rate program (in addition to TRIO connectivity funding).
• $50 billion for child care and $500 million for child abuse prevention and treatment.
• Nearly $12 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.
• Career and Technical Education formula grants and new Community College career training grants.
• Formula funding for Migrant, Homeless, Neglected and Delinquent, and English Learner students.
  
  Thank you for your continued advocacy for the students you serve.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Maureen Hoyler, President
  Council for Opportunity in Education