It's been a while since I have sent out a good ol' fashioned Government Relations update, so I hope this one finds you well! It certainly has been a tumultuous few months, but I think once the dust settles there will be some brightness on the horizon. I just want to bring to your attention some of the important pieces from COE's email today if you haven't seen them yet or didn't scroll down to the bottom of their message!
- President Hoyler spoke with the Department of Ed over three weeks ago and was told that programs would receive a letter regarding renegotiating regulations. COE will reach out as soon as there are any updates.
- The tentative open and due dates for the annual APR are as follows (just to keep these fresh in your minds).
- The Department of Education re-published its draft notice for comments on the Talent Search and EOC application packages that were utilized in the 2015-16 competition. Per the Department's previous actions on the SSS competition, they believe the agency has reissued this notice in order to eliminate the need to publish a draft for the upcoming 2020-21 competitions.
- COE expects a short, 30-45 day turnaround between the release of the 2020-21 RFPs and the proposal due dates, and
- The competitive preference priorities included in the drafts just released will be different.
- COE continues to expect the Talent Search application due date to be in early December or the end of January with the EOC application due date to be approximately a month after.
- Last week, the Senate Appropriations committee released their FY 2021 appropriations bills, including the Labor-HHS-Education bill and report language that explains appropriators' intent for the programs.
- TRIO received flat funding in the Senate Appropriations LHHS Subcommittee bill. This is $10 million less in funding compared to the House Appropriations LHHS Subcommittee bill.
- The committee report did include language that "directs the Department to allocate any grant funding not needed for non-competitive continuation awards or for programs up for re-competition in fiscal year 2021 to provide inflationary increases for current grantees, and to increase the number and size of new awards in the fiscal year 2021 Talent Search and Educational Opportunity Centers grant competitions."
- It also says, "the committee continues to not support the budget proposal to transform TRIO into a single State formula grant."
Take good care,
Eric
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Eric Pratt
Pronouns: He|Him|His
Academic Counselor
MEEOA Government Relations Chair
Upward Bound | University of Maine at Farmington
252 Main Street
Farmington, ME 04938
Farmington, ME 04938
C: 207.314.5499 | W: 207.778.7279
Toll Free: 1.888.237.1667