Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee has convened a hearing today to better understand the impact of looming across-the-board cuts (known as sequestration) on education. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who spoke to NAESP’s National Leaders Conference last Friday, will testify. This is the first Congressional hearing that will focus on the impact of sequestration to nondefense programs.

This comes less than a week after the Department of Education (ED) clarified how it expects the sequester to impact the four programs that receive advanced appropriations – Title I, Title II, IDEA State Grants, and Career and Technical Education. ED does not expect to cut these programs during the 2012-13 school year, but may cut the funding starting in July of 2013, which will deeply impact the 2013-14 school year.