Education and Employment Issues: Issue Area Plan for Fiscal Year 1997-99
(Letter Report, 05/01/97, GAO/IAP-97-10).

GAO presented its Education and Employment issue area plan for fiscal
years 1997 through 1999.

GAO plans to assess: (1) using federal resources to support and
encourage state and local efforts to provide education programs that
will enable all youths to obtain skilled jobs and become informed
citizens; (2) ensuring that eligible students have access to quality
higher education while encouraging cost-containment for education
programs and protection of federal education funds from fraud and abuse;
(3) helping individuals acquire the skills needed to become productively
employed and helping employers locate qualified job candidates; and (4)
improving protection for workers while reducing the burden for employers
in complying with workplace regulations.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  IAP-97-10
     TITLE:  Education and Employment Issues: Issue Area Plan for Fiscal 
             Year 1997-99
      DATE:  05/01/97
   SUBJECT:  Employment or training programs
             Elementary education
             Secondary education
             Higher education
             Aid for education
             Student financial aid
             Cost control
             Vocational education
             Occupational safety

             
**************************************************************************
* This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a GAO        *
* report.  Delineations within the text indicating chapter titles,       *
* headings, and bullets are preserved.  Major divisions and subdivisions *
* of the text, such as Chapters, Sections, and Appendixes, are           *
* identified by double and single lines.  The numbers on the right end   *
* of these lines indicate the position of each of the subsections in the *
* document outline.  These numbers do NOT correspond with the page       *
* numbers of the printed product.                                        *
*                                                                        *
* No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although figure    *
* captions are reproduced. Tables are included, but may not resemble     *
* those in the printed version.                                          *
*                                                                        *
* A printed copy of this report may be obtained from the GAO Document    *
* Distribution Facility by calling (202) 512-6000, by faxing your        *
* request to (301) 258-4066, or by writing to P.O. Box 6015,             *
* Gaithersburg, MD 20884-6015. We are unable to accept electronic orders *
* for printed documents at this time.                                    *
**************************************************************************


Cover
================================================================ COVER


Health, Education, and Human Services Division

May 1997

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT ISSUES

ISSUE AREA PLAN FOR FISCAL YEAR
1997-99

GAO/IAP-97-10



Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV


FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0

As the investigative arm of the Congress and the nation's auditor,
the General Accounting Office is charged with following the federal
dollar wherever it goes.  Reflecting stringent standards for
objectivity and independence, GAO's audits, evaluations, and
investigations promote a more efficient and cost-effective
government; expose waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in federal
programs; help the Congress target budget reductions; assess
financial and information management; and alert the Congress to
developing trends that may have significant fiscal or budgetary
consequences.  In fulfilling its responsibilities, GAO performs
original research and uses hundreds of databases or creates its own
databases when information is unavailable elsewhere. 

To ensure that GAO's resources are directed toward the most important
issues facing the Congress, each of GAO's 32 issue areas develops a
strategic plan that describes the significance of the issues it
addresses, its objectives, and the focus of its work.  Each issue
area relies heavily on input from congressional committees, agency
officials, and subject-matter experts in developing its strategic
plan. 

The work of the Education and Employment issue area focuses on the
education provided in early childhood and elementary and secondary
education programs, youths' and adults' access to higher education
and employment training, employers' efforts to locate qualified job
candidates, and the quality of the nation's workplaces.  The
principal issues are

  using federal resources to support and encourage state and local
     efforts to provide education programs that will enable all
     youths to obtain skilled jobs and become informed citizens;

  ensuring that eligible students have access to quality higher
     education while encouraging cost-containment for education
     programs and protection of federal education funds from fraud
     and abuse;

  helping individuals acquire the skills needed to become
     productively employed and helping employers locate qualified job
     candidates; and

  improving protection for workers while reducing the burden for
     employers in complying with workplace regulations. 

In the pages that follow, we describe our key planned work on these
important issues. 


Because events may significantly affect even the best of plans, our
planning process allows for updating and has the flexibility to
respond quickly to emerging issues.  If you have any questions or
suggestions about this plan, please call me at (202) 512-7014. 

Carlotta C.  Joyner
Director, Education and
 Employment Issues


CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1


   FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1

1


   TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2

4


   TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3

8


   TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:4

9


TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
============================================================ Chapter 2

Issue                                    Significance                                      Objectives                                        Focus of work
---------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------  ------------------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------
Preparatory education:                   In school year 1996-97, the nation will spend     1.Assess how well federal, state, and local       ï¿½Management practices and internal
Is the federal government using its      over $300 billion on elementary and secondary     management practices contribute to the effective  controls of federal education programs
education resources effectively to       education. Although the federal contribution is   use of federal education funds.                   ï¿½Education achievement and
support and encourage state and local    only about 7 percent of this amount, the federal                                                    accountability
efforts to provide education programs    spending leverages much of the state and local    2.Identify ways various federal education         ï¿½Targeting in federal and state school
that will enable all                     spending. Total spending is up, but per-pupil     funding formulas and state school finance         funding formulas
youths to obtain skilled jobs in the     spending has leveled off since 1989. At the same  systems could better target resources to          ï¿½Technology needs of educational
economy of the 21st                      time, the proportion of poor school-aged          special-needs students.                           institutions
century and to become informed           children has steadily increased. The                                                                ï¿½Alternative school management and
citizens?                                administration has made education its highest     3.Identify ways to encourage effective use of     parental choice options, such as
                                         priority issue. The Congress also is now          classroom technology that supports the            charter schools
                                         supporting an increased federal role in quality   achievement of high academic standards for all    ï¿½Promising public/private partnerships
                                         education initiatives. This interest responds to  students.                                         in the delivery of education services
                                         significant public concern about the quality of                                                     ï¿½Consolidation of federal education
                                         American education.                               4.Identify and describe issues associated with    programs serving children and youths
                                                                                           various methods for achieving equity in
                                                                                           financing and providing elementary and secondary
                                                                                           education services consistent with federal
                                                                                           goals.

                                                                                           5.Identify ways to consolidate overlapping
                                                                                           programs, functions, and units to eliminate
                                                                                           duplication and unnecessary costs.


Higher education:                        The Department of Education is concurrently       1.Identify ways the government can more           ï¿½Operation of student aid programs
How can the federal government's goal    operating the direct and guaranteed student loan  effectively deliver student financial aid.        ï¿½Student aid data systems
of ensuring that eligible students have  programs. It faces the challenge of efficiently                                                     ï¿½ Efforts to collect student loans and
access to quality higher education       and effectively managing both programs along      2.Evaluate the adequacy of the government's       prevent defaults
be met while encouraging cost-           with other student aid programs. We have          processes for determining schools' eligibility    ï¿½ Better targeting of financial aid
containment and                          identified the student aid programs as a high-    to participate in federal student financial aid   ï¿½ Escalating costs of higher education
preventing fraud and abuse with respect  risk area because the programs' structure and     programs.                                         ï¿½ Reauthorization of Higher Education
to federal                               weaknesses in departmental management place                                                         Act
resources?                               millions of dollars in student aid funds at risk  3.Assess how financial and management
                                         for abuse and mismanagement. Also, the demand     information systems can better support student
                                         for federal financial aid resources has grown as  aid programs and minimize potential abuse and
                                         increased tuition at both public and private      mismanagement.
                                         schools has placed a greater financial burden on
                                         students and their families. Between 1980 and     4.Assist the Congress in identifying ways to
                                         1995, the cost to attend a 4-year public college  minimize the cost of college to students while
                                         or university rose by 234 percent, nearly three   ensuring needy students access to appropriate
                                         times the 82-percent increase in the median       postsecondary education.
                                         household income.
                                                                                           5.Provide information and analytical support to
                                                                                           the 105th Congress during its deliberations in
                                                                                           reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.



Workforce skills and jobs:               A strong, internationally competitive economy     1.Identify ways to move toward a comprehensive    State efforts to consolidate programs
How can the United States better assist  depends, in part, on effectively preparing        workforce
workers in                               workers to compete in the workforce and           development system.                               Response of job training programs to
acquiring the skills needed to become    efficiently helping employers locate qualified                                                      welfare reform
productively                             job candidates. The federal government has        2.Identify ways to improve the effectiveness of
employed and help employers locate       invested considerable effort and resources        employment training programs for economically     Job training services to target
qualified job                            towards this end, spending about $20 billion in   disadvantaged youths and adults,                  populations
candidates?                              fiscal year 1995 supporting employment and        veterans, dislocated workers, and the disabled
                                         training programs spread across 15 different      population.                                       State and private sector involvement
                                         agencies. However, rather than a coherent                                                           in job training
                                         workforce development system, a patchwork of      3.Assess the quality and access to local labor
                                         federal programs continues to exist with similar  market information by program operators,          Use of local labor market information
                                         goals, conflicting requirements, overlapping      employers, and the unemployed.
                                         target populations, and questionable outcomes.
                                         Legislation has been considered, but not
                                         enacted, to simplify and streamline this complex
                                         array of programs. In addition, recently passed
                                         welfare reform legislation, with its emphasis on
                                         work, is likely to affect the nation's job
                                         training system.










Worker protection:                       Technological and organizational change, the      1.Describe and evaluate current and alternative   Implementation of alternative
What changes in work place regulatory    globalization of the economy, and reduced         work place regulatory activities and broader      regulatory strategies
strategies would improve the level of    federal resources are calling into question the   strategies.
worker protection while minimizing       strategies many federal agencies use to regulate                                                    Changes in applicability of existing
employers' compliance burden?            the work place. Strategies are needed that        2.Identify the implications for regulation of     regulatory protections to current work
                                         effectively combine basic worker protections      emerging trends in private sector work place      place conditions
                                         with autonomous employee participation and        practices and organization.
                                         enhanced employer flexibility. In addition,                                                         Issues related to balancing productive
                                         changes in household and workforce demographics   3.Assess the consequences for work place          work practices with family needs
                                         are signaling the growing necessity of a          regulation of recent developments in workforce
                                         regulatory framework that strikes a healthy       and family demographics.
                                         balance between work, family, and community
                                         activities without compromising national
                                         economic competitiveness. Ensuring the rights of
                                         workers, while minimizing the regulatory burden
                                         on employers, is a subject of considerable
                                         congressional interest.









------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3

Issue                          Planned major job starts
-----------------------------  -------------------------------------------------
Preparatory education          ï¿½ Assess how well Head Start, child care, and
                               prekindergarten programs collaborate to meet the
                               needs of children under welfare reform.
                               ï¿½ Review the implementation and effectiveness of
                               Title I programs.
                               ï¿½ Evaluate the burden of federal education
                               regulations and the success of regulatory
                               flexibility in easing that burden.
                               ï¿½ Describe the impact of illegal immigrants on
                               school systems.
                               ï¿½ Assess how much of the federal education dollar
                               gets to the student.
                               ï¿½ Describe current state and local commitments to
                               fund school construction.
                               ï¿½ Assess how federal funds flow to charter
                               schools.
                               ï¿½ Assess selected management issues at the
                               Department of Education.


Higher education               ï¿½ Determine whether students are receiving
                               financial aid in excess of their cost of
                               education.
                               ï¿½ Assess the appropriateness of administrative
                               costs for the direct loan program.
                               ï¿½ Examine opportunities for more cost-efficient
                               operation of guaranty agencies in
                               Federal Family Education Loan Program.
                               ï¿½ Assess the Department of Education's efforts to
                               integrate the separate student aid data systems.
                               ï¿½ Evaluate the effectiveness, accuracy, and
                               security of the Department of Education's
                               National Student Loan Data System.
                               ï¿½ Assess schools' use of the National Student
                               Loan Data System to determine
                               students' eligibility and to improve the
                               accessibility of financial aid data.
                               ï¿½ Describe Department of Education's efforts to
                               reduce loan defaults at Historically
                               Black Colleges and Universities and other
                               colleges.
                               ï¿½ Assess the equity of how campus-based funds are
                               awarded to colleges.
                               ï¿½ Identify ways the needs analysis formula might
                               be adjusted to better target aid.
                               ï¿½ Assess how student debt burden changes
                               borrowers' behavior after leaving college.


Workforce skills and jobs      Evaluate the response of state employment
                               training systems to welfare reform.
                               Assess state efforts to develop one-stop career
                               centers to help streamline employment training
                               assistance.
                               Assess the quality and use of local labor market
                               information by employers, the unemployed, and
                               state employment training service providers.
                               Evaluate Job Corps' management information and
                               performance management systems.


Worker protection              Assess the flexibility of Labor's H-2A
                               Agricultural Guestworker Program to respond to
                               employer demands for additional foreign workers
                               while maintaining protections for domestic
                               farmworkers.
                               Assess the Occupational Safety and Health
                               Administration's implementation of partnership
                               initiatives as an alternative regulatory
                               strategy.
                               Evaluate the effectiveness of Labor's efforts to
                               ensure the accuracy and reliability of its Davis-
                               Bacon wage determinations.
                               Analyze trends in workforce coverage of key
                               federal work place statutes, including the Fair
                               Labor Standards Act and the National Labor
                               Relations Act.
                               Examine private and public employers'
                               experiences in the substitution of compensatory
                               time for overtime pay.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
============================================================ Chapter 4


   DIRECTOR
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:1

Carlotta C.  Joyner (202) 512-7014


   ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:2

Cornelia M.  Blanchette (202) 512-8403


   ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:3

Catherine Baltzell
Joseph Eglin, Jr.
Harriet C.  Ganson
Lawrence Horinko
Charles A.  Jeszeck
Eleanor L.  Johnson
Sigurd R.  Nilsen
Wayne Upshaw

*** End of document. ***