Good afternoon MACRAO membership-

Below are the latest Missouri legislative updates and links to articles we thought might be of interest to the membership.

Good evening MACRAO membership-

Below are the latest Missouri legislative updates and links to articles we thought might be of interest to the membership.

Good morning MACRAO membership-

Below are the latest Missouri legislative updates as well as links to several articles related to updates on the Education Department DEI guidance and this week's Education Departments layoffs.

Good morning MACRAO membership-

The Government Relations Committee wanted to provide you the latest legislative update.

MISSOURI LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

Good afternoon-

The MACRAO Government Relations Committee want to share this recent update from the US Department of Education related to the reopening of Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE). The reporting process has been reopened until February 18, 2025 to provide more time to institutions that were unable to complete debt reporting by the prior January 15, 2025 deadline.

Reopening of FVT and GE Debt Reporting Process Until Mid-February | Knowledge Center

Additionally, we wanted to share some additional bills that have been pre-filed in the Missouri Legislature since our previous blog post. These are included below.

Good morning MACRAO membership-

The Missouri Legislature reopened on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. The MACRAO Government Relations Committee wanted to share with you a summary of some of the House and Senate bills that were pre-filed that may be of interest to the MACRAO membership, which are listed below. The status of these bills (and additional bills proposed) will be reported periodically throughout the spring semester as legislative session progression occurs. Additionally, as we near the January 20 presidential inauguration, we have shared some articles related to the status of some federal regulations.

Good afternoon MACRAO-

The MACRAO Government Relations Committee wanted to check in with you as we approach the upcoming Missouri General Assembly session opening on January 8, 2025. First, we would like to introduce the MACRAO Government Relations team for the upcoming year. This group will track the bills and issues that may be of interest to the MACRAO membership. We will send out emails periodically throughout the legislative session to keep you informed about what is being discussed. If you see additional articles or information that you think would be of interest to MACRAO, we welcome you to share them with a member of this group. You may also contact us via email through [email protected].

Good afternoon-It appears that some MACRAO users may not have received two messages that were sent out on Sunday, November 24. These related to Gainful Employment. They have been reshared in this blog post.

Post 1-AACRAO, AIR, and NSC Gainful Employment and Financial Value Tranparency Discussion (December 4, 2024 at 2 pm CST)

Dec. 4 – Please join AACRAO, the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) for a discussion about the implementation of the Gainful Employment (GE) and Financial Value Transparency (FVT) data submission deadline of January 15, 2025 and any possible changes the incoming administration is considering.

During this session, AACRAO, AIR, and NSC will provide updates on what actions higher education is taking as well as provide an information on the outreach that institution have had with the NSC for their service to help institutional comply with the January 15^th deadline.  

Good morning MACRAO membership-

With the close of this year’s Missouri Legislature session on Friday, May 17, 2024, the Governmental Relations Committee is now able to provide a final summary of this legislative session. From a higher education perspective (and really a general perspective), there is a very limited amount of legislation that was passed. Much of the final week consisted of legislative filibuster and political party in-fighting with preventing the majority of bills from reaching the finish line.

Good afternoon MACRAO membership-

Below are legislative updates since our last post. This post includes progress on Missouri legislation and some national articles that we thought may be of interest to the membership. Note: The last day for the Missouri Legislature to pass non-budget bills in May 17.  Our next update will likely come after the close of session with a summary of the bills that made it to completion.

Good afternoon MACRAO membership-

Below are legislative updates since our last post. This post includes progress on Missouri legislation and some national articles that we thought may be of interest to the membership:

Good morning MACRAO membership-

Below are legislative updates since our last post. This post includes progress on Missouri legislation and some national articles that we thought may be of interest to the membership:

AACRAO has submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education related to transcript withholding regulations via public letter. The MACRAO Governmental Relations Committee thought this may be of interest to the membership. A link to this letter can be found at the link below:

aacrao-response-to-proposed-trascript-withholding-regs.pdf

Good morning MACRAO membership-

Below are legislative updates since our last post on February 2. This post includes progress on Missouri legislation and some national articles that we thought may be of interest to the membership.

Hello MACRAO membership-

Below are legislative updates since our last post on January 12. Legislative movement has been limited thus far in early sessions as filibusters have limited legislative progress. Below are updates on additional bills that have been filed since the previous Governmental Relations Committee blog post along with some articles that we thought would be of interest to the membership.

The Missouri Legislature reopened on Wednesday, January 3. The MACRAO Governmental Relations Committee wanted to share with you a summary of some of the House and Sentate bills that were prefiled that may be of interest to the MACRAO membership, which are listed below. Additionally, there are a couple of AACRAO Transcript article links included that covers items that appear to be potential Department of Education areas of interest for the upcoming year.

House Bills

HB 1432 (https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1432&year=2024&code=R)
Sponsor: Willard Haley (R)
Synopsis: This bill creates an alternative teaching certification process. Beginning in the 2024-25 school year the state board may authorize teaching certification to anyone with a bachelor’s degree or higher. This teaching certification will be limited to the holder’s major area of study.
Status: Prefiled

Good morning MACRAO-

The MACRAO Governmental Relations Committee wanted to check in with you as we approach the upcoming Missouri 103rd General Assembly session beginning in January 2024. First, we would like to introduce the MACRAO Governmental Relations team for the upcoming year. This group will track the bills and issues that may be of interest to the MACRAO membership. We will send out emails periodically throughout the legislative session to keep you informed about what is being discussed. If you see additional articles or information that you think would be of interest to MACRAO, we welcome you to share them with a member of this group.

On Tuesday, October 24, the US Education Department released a fact sheet titled Protecting Students Through Final Regulations That Strengthen Department of Education Oversight and Monitoring of Colleges and Universities. Several rules are included, but of particular interest to MACRAO membership is that colleges and universities will be restricted from withholding course credits paid for with Federal money from students' transcripts.

This Inside Higher Ed article talks about some of the interpretation challenges that colleges and universities will need to navigate, particularly as it relates to the concept of institutions figuring out whether to and how to attempt to withhold "parts of a transcript" when other parts are restricted from being withheld, or to eliminate withholding transcripts completely.

In our earlier legislative updates this academic year, we mentioned that the Supreme Court would be hearing two cases (Harvard, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) related to affirmative action and admissions. The decisions in these cases were released yesterday morning, so the MACRAO Governmental Relations Committee wanted to provide you an update. The admissions systems used by these two institutions were determined to be unconstitutional. We have included links to Inside Higher Ed and AACRAO articles related to the decision as well as a link to the Supreme Court decision below.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/2023/06/29/supreme-court-rules-against-affirmative-action

The Missouri 2023 Legislative Session came to a conclusion on Friday, May 12. Below is a summary of the legislation that would most likely be of MACRAO interest that did (or did not) pass. The majority of the bills highlighted in our updates throughout the last few months ultimately did not pass. Of course, all passed legislation must still be signed or could be potentially vetoed by the Governor’s office, requiring further legislative consideration in a future veto session scheduled for this fall.

Budget Highlights