Collins, Tester urge Department of Education to reconsider denying grant applications

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jon Tester (D-MT) urged the Department of Education on Monday to reconsider rejecting dozens of grant applications based on minor formatting issues.

In a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Collins and Tester highlighted a provision of the fiscal year 2017 government funding bill that “strongly encourages” the department to reconsider rejecting dozens of Upward Bound grant applications based on formatting issues.

Upward Bound provides support to low-income high school students preparing to enter college. The Department of Education’s denial of dozens of program grants based on formatting issues would result in thousands of low-income students losing out on that support.

Collins, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured a provision in the fiscal year 2017 funding bill that urged DeVos to reconsider rejecting the applications, voicing “concern that the department has rejected and made ineligible for review several fiscal year 2017 grant applications based on minor formatting issues,” and strongly encouraging the department “to provide flexibility to such applications by permitting submission of a corrected application.”

Collins and Tester wrote: “The explanatory statement accompanying the FY 2017 Consolidated Appropriations Act is a clear, strong statement from Congress that the Department of Education should provide recourse for this year’s applicants to correct minor, unintentional deviations from the arbitrary formatting criteria.”

The lawmakers acknowledged that the Department of Education would be issuing a new policy that prevents program offices from rejecting future grant applications based on simple formatting issues, but noted that it does not solve the current problem.

Collins and Tester’s letter was signed by a bipartisan group of 19 senators, including U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Steve Daines (R-MT), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rob Portman (R-OH).