INFO:] APA Education GRO Legislative Update

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From: "Forsyth, Sheila (Education Advocacy)" <slforsyth@COX.NET>
Date: February 24, 2012 1:30:36 PM PST
To: "DIVOFFICERS@LISTS.APA.ORG" <DIVOFFICERS@LISTS.APA.ORG>
Subject: [DIVOFFICERS] APA Education GRO Legislative Update
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APA Education Government Relations Office (GRO) Legislative Update

February 2012 Table of Contents

1) Update on 2012 Education GRO Legislative Initiatives

2) Budget and Appropriations Update – Budget Watchwords: Austerity and Contraction

3) Reminder: Annual Education Advocacy Breakfast Meeting in Orlando (8/4/12)

4) Advocacy Training Modules Update

1)  UPDATE ON 2012 EDUCATION GRO LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES

 

FY 2013 APPROPRIATIONS

*Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Funding:  A "good news – bad news" scenario continues for the GPE Program: The good news is that the program once again survived a "slash and burn effort" during another year of the economic downturn where almost all remaining small vulnerable discretionary programs  were eliminated, and most of the ones left got significant reductions in funding.  Clearly GPE's survival is due to the sustained efforts by FEDACs, GPE grantees and other APA members who have for the past dozen years helped to garner support and even gain some Congressional champions for psychology education and training. The bad news is that the GPE Program continues to endure modest funding—approximately $3 million for FY 2012. Our target for FY 2013 is $4.5 million, a small bump-up to the FY 2005 level, which is particularly relevant considering that the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) will need to hold another grant competition in FY 2013 for a new three year cycle.  A funding level of $4.5 million will allow for approximately 30 grants nation-wide.

HRSA reported on GPE Accomplishments: During Academic Year 2010-2011 GPE grantees taught 620 trainees and graduated 90 psychologists. The GPE Program met its target for number and percentage of graduates entering practice in Medically Underserved Communities (MUC). Moreover, these GPE trainees provided mental and behavioral health services to over 46,000 people including underserved populations such as:  Native Americans, African American children living with Sickle Cell Anemia, and children and families with diabetes, HIV/AIDS, burns, injuries, trauma,  amputations, or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).   

*FY 2013 Outreach to Members of Congress: We have just begun our targeted Congressional visits for the FY 2013 appropriations cycle, with 52 hill visits already scheduled and the hope to add at least 15 more.  Given that this is a Presidential election year, not much is expected to get done by Congress. Nevertheless, we need to persist in promoting the contributions of psychology to health care and advocating for increased funding for the only federal program dedicated to graduate education and training in psychology.  As we did last year, we will again focus our GPE pitch for support on: placing trainees at Federally Qualified Health Centers and targeting veterans, unemployed persons and victims of natural disasters.

*FY2013 President's Budget: The President's Budget which was released on February 13th requests continuation of the GPE Program; however, the proposed funding level is the same as the FY 2012 level of $2.9 million. It is also stated that the President will move $10 million from the Public Health and Prevention Fund (PHPF) to begin to fund this year in FY 2012 the Mental and Behavioral Health provision of the Affordable Care Act. The eligible providers for this program are psychology (doctoral and masters level), social work, child and adolescent professionals (psychology, school psychology psychiatry, social work, school social work, behavioral pediatrics, psychiatric nursing, marriage and family therapy, substance abuse disorder prevention and treatment, school counseling or professional counseling) and child and adolescent paraprofessionals. For FY 2013 the budget proposes $5 million more from Evaluation Funds to fund the Mental and Behavioral Health Education and Training Grants.

Consequently it looks like HRSA will be launching the new Mental and Behavioral Health competitive grant program for approximately 16 grants which graduate programs of psychology will be eligible. Further details about this new HRSA grant program will be provided as soon as we have more information to share.

*Need for Efficacy Data on the GPE Program:  Once again we are being asked by Members of Congress for data regarding the efficacy of the GPE Program. HRSA officials have kindly agreed to give us access to HRSA's program aggregate data that will be helpful in presenting the value of the GPE Program. We hope to get individual grant data from HRSA.  However, if that isn't possible, we will once again try to collect data directly from the GPE grantees.  To find what is written about the GPE Program accomplishments in the President's FY 2013 Budget go to:  http://www.apa.org/about/gr/education/news/2012/2013-budget.aspx

We are also seeking studies that provide compelling information on the value added of psychological services to integrated health care, care of chronically ill persons, interprofessional training, team building, and program evaluation.  [Note: "Promoting Quality" is the theme of the 2012 Educational Leadership Conference in Washington DC September 8-11 and "Accountability" (e.g., Efficacy of the GPE Program) will likely be the focus of the advocacy portion.] If you have any studies on these topics that might be helpful, please email them to Nina Levitt at nlevitt@apa.org.

*HRSA News:  We have recently learned that Mariquita Mullan, PhD, a psychologist and APA member, who is now the Behavioral Health Specialist in the Office of the Administrator, will soon be assuming the position of Director for the Division of Public Health and Interdisciplinary Education in the Bureau of Health Professions.  We are pleased to report that one of her goals is to explore how the federal government can better support doctoral level training, including internships for psychology.

*Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act (GLSMA)/Campus Suicide Prevention Program Funding: APA's CEO, Norman B. Anderson has written to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Honorable Kathleen Sebelius, asking her to direct $10 million from the Public Health Prevention Fund (PHPF) to the Campus Suicide Prevention program, as recommended and agreed to by Congress during their negotiations on the FY 2012 appropriations spending bill.

In the final FY 2012 consolidated appropriations bill, Congress agreed to fund the GLSMA Campus Suicide Program at approximately $5 million, with an agreement for an additional $10 million from the PHPF (not written in bill language).  The strong funding position is due largely to the leadership of Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) who has been a leader on this important issue and key sponsor of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act Reauthorization (S.740). 

Education GRO will continue to monitor and advocate for the full level of funding to be directed towards the Campus Suicide Prevention Program.  For FY 2013, the President has recommended $4.858 million for Campus Suicide Prevention, a slight decrease and $34.4 million for the other GLSMA programs (State and Technical Assistance).  Overall, the President's 2013 budget calls for a $10 million reduction to all GLSMA programs because it removes the additional funding each program received from the PHPF in the earlier fiscal year.

REAUTHORIZING LEGISLATION

*Reauthorization of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act (S740): As you know, Senator Jack Reed along with Senators Lisa Murkowski, Dick Durbin and Tom Udall introduced a strong reauthorization bill for the GLSMA programs, championing both the authority and the funding for the programs, especially the Campus Suicide Prevention Program.  Changes from the current law in S. 740 with regard to the Campus Suicide Prevention program include an allowance to use funds for services for students and hiring of appropriately trained staff.  Both these changes were made to address the continued need for mental and behavioral health services that has been documented in a number of annual studies.  To date, there are a total of 14 co-sponsors to this bill. 

*The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Reauthorization (Academic, Social and Emotional Learning within ESEA): Education Government Relations Office (GRO)  is delighted to announce that bipartisan support for the Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Act of 2011 (HR 2437) was recently strengthened among the House Education and Workforce Committee members, which has jurisdiction over the bill.  Introduced on July 7, 2011 by Representatives Judy Biggert (R-IL), Dale Kildee (D-MI), and Tim Ryan (D-OH) HR 2437 is a modest but vital piece of legislation that would expand teacher and principal training in practices that address the social and emotional development needs of students. Social and Emotional Learning Curricula (SEL) support students' success by teaching them valuable skills, such as problem solving, conflict resolution, responsible decision-making, self-discipline, and goal-setting. 

Since HR 2437 was introduced, the Education GRO has been meeting with members on both sides of the aisle from the House Education and Workforce Committee to encourage them to support the bill by becoming cosponsors. As a result of these meetings, along with strong outreach from other groups and associations, HR 2437 added two new republican co-sponsors, Rep. Todd Russell Platts (R-PA) and Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), both of whom sit on the important Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.

Extensive psychological research strongly shows that social and emotional learning has a tremendously positive impact on academic and behavioral outcomes, including improved attendance, graduation rates, grades, test scores, reduced problem behavior, and improved health outcomes. APA Member Dr. Roger Weissberg of the University of Illinois at Chicago, a leading expert in this field, played a critical role in developing this legislation.

Related to this effort, on February 9, 2012 Chairman John Kline (R-MN) introduced the Student Success Act (HR 3989). This bill includes a definition of Professional Development, which draws directly from language in HR 2437.  The bill calls for "The advancement of teacher understanding of effective strategies for improving student academic achievement or substantially increasing the knowledge and teaching skills of teachers, including through addressing the social and emotional development needs of students."  Education GRO was happy to work with other groups to push for the inclusions of elements of HR 2437 in the ESEA reauthorization.

For more information on HR 2437 and on the reauthorization of ESEA, please visit:

http://www.apa.org/about/gr/education/news/2012/education-act.aspx

2) BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE – BUDGET WATCHWORDS: AUSTERITY AND CONTRACTION

(By Brent Jaquet, CRD Associates)

Given the nation's mounting debt and political pressures to reduce spending, it's no surprise that the $3.8 trillion budget President Obama unveiled February 13 will probably get short-shrift from congressional lawmakers. Grand ideas are a hard sell when the projected deficit for next year tops $901 billion and the debt ceiling deal enacted last August already reduced discretionary spending by $1 trillion over the next 10 years.

An ambitious list of domestic initiatives contained in the president's proposal is financed largely by reduced spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While budget hawks will argue that those savings should be applied against the deficit, the president would plow some of the war savings funds into a $50 billion down-payment on a six-year highway  and infrastructure modernization program, $30 billion to modernize 35,000 schools, and another $30 billion to help states and school districts retain and hire teachers and first responders.

Also on the education front, the president proposes to sustain the maximum Pell Grant award of $5,635 through academic year 2014-2015 and provides $8 billion to the Departments of Labor and Education for state and community college partnerships with businesses.

The budget also proposes a five percent increase in non-defense R&D programs, including the National Science Foundation, the Energy Department's Office of Science and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Laboratories. Funding for the National Institutes of Health would be held at the fiscal year 2012 level of $30.7 billion.

*Appropriations process: Appropriations committees in both chambers have signaled their intention to move the Fiscal Year 2013 process along sooner this year. To some extent the process will be aided by the fact that last year's Budget Control Act established a total FY2013 appropriations level at $1.047 trillion. The Senate has announced that it will not take up a separate budget resolution this year because the spending amount is already set.  The House, however, has indicated that it will pass its own budget resolution and it will likely establish spending levels for House bills lower than the amount agreed to in the Budget Control Act. House conservatives feel that the law's FY13 budget amount was only a ceiling and not an absolute spending level.

In the House, which traditionally (and Constitutionally) begins appropriations work earlier than the Senate, leaders have said that all budget hearings will be completed by the end of March, and some have already been held.  March 20 is set as the deadline for Members of the House to inform the Appropriations Committee of their requests for program support at the agencies. So, that is the deadline for Members to express their interest in funding the Graduate Psychology Education Program. The Senate request deadline will likely occur a week or so later, but the date has not been announced. No Senate hearings with the agencies have been scheduled yet.

The eventual negotiations and wrap-up to the appropriations process later this year will be complicated by several factors, especially the Congressional and Presidential elections.

Further details on the budget and appropriations, including the President's State of the Union, can be found at: http://www.apa.org/about/gr/education/news/2012/budget-update.aspx

3) REMINDER: ANNUAL EDUCATION ADVOCACY BREAKFAST MEETING IN ORLANDO (8/4/12 – 7:30-9:00 AM)

A quick reminder that the Education Advocacy Breakfast Meeting will be held on Saturday, August 4th (7:30-9:00 AM) during the APA Annual Convention in Orlando, FL.  Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-FL), member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, has been invited to serve as keynote speaker and to discuss Veterans' Mental Health in the community and on college campuses. Further details, including hotel/room, will be provided closer to the event.  We hope all FEDACs going to the APA Convention will be able to attend.

4) ADVOCACY TRAINING MODULES UPDATE

We are very happy to report that we're in the final development phase of the advocacy training modules, a collaborative project between the Education and Public Interest GRO staff. In addition to refining the content, presenter notes and references, over the past year we have also been working with APA legal counsel to obtain a registered trademark for the term PsycAdvocate ®, pursuing formal permission/authorization from a variety of sources for materials that are included in the modules (e.g., "I'm Just A Bill" video), and finally copyright protection.

As we've described in previous updates, the six modules range from an introductory overview of the federal legislative process, to intermediate level sessions that provide more in-depth details of the U.S. federal government and its legislative and appropriations process, to more advanced sessions that prepare participants to actively engage in grassroots activities and learn skills to effectively communicate with policy makers. The final module focuses on the importance of supporting and participating in political activities (e.g., town hall meetings, receptions, fundraisers).

The modules are expected to be completed this spring or early summer and will ultimately be available on-line through the APA Continuing Education (CE) Office or during APA convention and regional or mid-winter conference workshops.

*Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  Margaret Mead

APA Education Government Relations Office Team:

Nina Gail Levitt, Ed.D. l Associate Executive Director

Jennifer Beard Smulson l Sr. Legislative & Federal Affairs Officer

Arielle Eiser| Legislative Assistant

Sheila Lane Forsyth | APA Education GRO Grassroots Consultant

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