IECA Returns to Capitol Hill for Our Third Annual Advocacy Day

It is an interesting time to work in education. Teen mental health concerns abound, and the political climate in the United States is causing significant unrest, concern, and confusion. So, what better time to gather a group of independent educational consultants (IECs) to venture to our nation’s capital to meet with senators and representatives about important legislation affecting students and families?

Let’s begin with some good news: In mid-December, a bill that IECA championed during our 2023 and 2024 Advocacy Days was approved and signed into law! The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act (SICAA) was enacted to enhance oversight and ensure the safety of youth in residential programs. Professional Member Lucy Pritzker summed this legislation up beautifully: SICAA mandates the creation of a Federal Work Group on Youth Residential Programs and requires a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to identify the nature, prevalence, and severity of child abuse, neglect, and deaths in residential programs. The collected data will be used to enhance the implementation of best practices in these programs. As part of IECA’s government relations advocacy work, Professional Member Shannon Bergeron secured a meeting for a small group of informed IEC experts with a National Academies team member spearheading this effort, with the hope that IECA will have a seat at the table when the time comes to help inform the study.

As with previous DC Advocacy Days, members of our Government Relations Committee (GRC) and a select group of additional IECs, chosen for their expertise in the industry and representation of key constituencies, spent an entire day running between the House and Senate buildings, meeting with policy advisors and legislative staffers, assistants, aides, and correspondents. Our goal was to ensure they are informed about and interested in supporting two primary pieces of legislation that should be reintroduced in this new Congress, both of which have historically garnered broad bicameral and bipartisan support:

Understanding the True Cost of College Act. This bill would require schools to utilize a standardized financial aid offer letter and remove the word “award” from the document (because $60,000 in loans isn’t really an award). This would enable students to more easily compare college costs and financial aid and with a more informed understanding of the aid being offered. As it stands, over 30 percent of colleges actually list loans as grants in their letters, adding to the confusion.

College Transparency Act. In the same vein of keeping students informed about the enormous investment decision they are making when choosing to attend a college, the College Transparency Act would ensure greater transparency regarding student outcomes at postsecondary institutions while securely protecting the privacy of individual students. The modernization of the reporting system is critical as the costs of college continue to rise.

In total, the 17 IECA members who participated in Advocacy Day met with over 50 congressional offices. Additionally, a handful of GRC members also met with staff from the office of Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), the new chairman of the House Committee on Education & Workforce, as well as staff from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (D-VT) Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP). These meetings are important to our cause because the chairs define the agendas for the committees, and getting to know these staffers will help us push for potential hearings on topics like financial aid transparency and possibly markup one or both of the bills we championed on the Hill this week.

Overall, the offices we met with were supportive of these bills. Some assured our members that they intend to cosponsor the bills when they are introduced, while others expressed concerns about how/when they may be reintroduced. What I can say is that the offices we revisited this year remembered our members, our organization, and our interest and expertise. Building and nurturing these relationships will continually position IECA as a leading organization in the education space. There will always be more work to be done in the realm of government relations, and advocacy will continue to play a critical role in our ever-growing and changing industry.

As we gathered together at the end of a long day advocating on Capitol Hill to share notes, the bad news broke that the Department of Education was about to begin a major reduction in force, with nearly 50 percent of its workforce to be laid off that evening. As this is a fluid situation, we’ll continue to closely monitor how these layoffs might impact our students and families and will do our best to keep membership informed.

By Jess Chermak, MA, LPC, CEP, IECA Professional (CO), Member of the Government Relations Committee