President Clinton's State of the Union address in January kicked off another session of Congress. While the speech focused primarily on Social Security and other issues, with most discussion of education centered on K-12, the remaining discourse of higher education focused on the changes made last year in financial aid programs and tax law affecting education. In general, those changes affected mostly undergraduate students overall, not business students specifically. Looking ahead to coming congressional action, the focus of debate this year, as in the last several years, is likely to center on the federal budget. 

Despite the first presidential budget in 30 years that proposes a zero deficit, the politics of surplus are beginning to play out. Republicans are advocating primarily tax cuts and tax reform, and President Clinton and congressional Democrats are advocating increased funding for programs such as child care, smaller classrooms and cancer research, as well as funds to shore up the Social Security program. 

The Clinton budget also contains funds for an additional 60,000 work-study jobs for college students, as well as steep increases in funding for both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Health (NIH). The proposed increase in NSF funding could be good news since NSF provides grants that benefit business schools. The most important issue for higher education in Congress is Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Of concern for higher education is possible congressional action during Reauthorization on the issue of college costs. After floating an initial draft in December that was criticized as too sympathetic to higher education, the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education issued its final report in late January. While the panel did not call for federal intervention to keep costs down, it did comment that if colleges did not limit cost increases, Congress would be forced to intervene. Several legislators have suggested that Reauthorization should address this issue directly. While the issue is not specific to business schools, they could be implicated because of the perception of the high cost of graduate management education. Also of concern is a possible proposal from the Clinton administration to eliminate the student need-based Federal Perkins Loan Program in the Fiscal Year 1999 budget. When a similar proposal was floated by the administration last fall, it was hastily withdrawn after opposition from the higher education community. The administration argued that the Perkins program is too complicated and that funds for need-based aid could be shifted to the Work-Study Program and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program. For AACSB, the 1998 congressional session offers both challenges and opportunities. "The politics of surplus is the current talk on Capitol Hill," said Janet Hall, AACSB director of public policy. "The challenge will be for business schools to garner increases in funding levels for key programs that benefit management education." AACSB will continue to advocate for a number of programs of importance to business schools including:

• funding for Title VI of the Higher Education Act, which includes the Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) program and the Business and International Education (BIE) program
• restoring the Section 127 Educational Assistance provision of the tax code, which allows for an exclusion from income for employer-sponsored educational benefits for graduate students
• funding for international exchange programs that benefit management education, operated by the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) and other federal agencies, as well as other international programs sponsored by USAID and other agencies
• funding for the Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
• funding for Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), funded through the Small Business Administration
• funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF)

AACSB also is working to provide opportunities for AACSB members to influence public policy through group meetings in congressional district offices. "These meetings are an excellent opportunity for business school deans and other representatives to gather as a community and to present their collective interests to their elected representatives when the senators or congresspersons are in their home offices," said Hall. "Deans can discuss legislative issues and also can inform elected representatives of the innovative and beneficial programs occurring at their schools. Effective advocacy on Capitol Hill is really about building relationships and district meetings go a long way toward doing that," she said. 

In January, AACSB sponsored two meetings in the Seattle area among business school deans and their members of Congress. Eight of the 11 AACSB member business schools in the state of Washington were represented at a meeting with Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) in Bellevue. Gorton is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, as well as the sub-committee that considers funding for programs of the U.S. Dept. of Education, including Title VI and FIPSE. The senator, who expressed support for the CIBER program, heard the deans' views on a range of issues, including the importance of the Section 127 tax exclusion for employer-sponsored educational benefits, funding for Small Business Development Centers, and the impact and importance of technology and internationalization of business school curricula. 

The three AACSB member business schools in the district of Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) also were represented at an AACSB-arranged meeting with the congressman in November. McDermott, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, expressed his continued support for the Section 127 tax exclusion, as well as Title VI and efforts to internationalize management education. "AACSB played a pivotal role in pulling together local deans and elected federal officials," said Alexander Hill, business dean at Seattle Pacific University. "Strengthening these relationships is of vital importance to business schools, both public and private." "Sen. Gorton pointed out that congressional delegates debate many programs and the Appropriations Committee funds hundreds of them," said Fred DeKay, b-school dean at Seattle University. "Often legislators do not get feedback from constituents on the effectiveness of the programs. The senator revealed that firsthand accounts of the value of these programs help him to decide which programs to fund or renew. 

If that response is any indication of the potential impact that these visits can have on the future funding of these programs, then these visits are certainly worthwhile," said DeKay. "Our CIBER had tried to set up meetings before with congressional delegates but, frankly, one or two people representing a program is not an efficient use of their time," said Elizabeth O'Shea, managing director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at the University of Washington. "AACSB, because of its prestige and national representation, was able to pull together a large number of deans from across the state and this made the meeting worthwhile for the congressmen. Having deans from different schools advance our cause added credibility and was far more effective than if we were singing our own praises. AACSB made this happen," said O'Shea, "and we are very grateful for its support." "Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are being targeted for district office visits at this time," said Hall, "while members of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee will be targeted in the period leading up to consideration of any bill dealing with Section 127, which is scheduled to expire for undergraduates on May 31, 2000. Other members of Congress are on the list, as well." 

AACSB members interested in such a meeting should contact Hall. In other initiatives, AACSB is sponsoring a Government Relations Day, April 27-28, in Washington, D.C. The program will provide briefings on key issues and will include individually scheduled meetings between deans and their elected congressional representatives and/or their staffs. Details concerning the event will be provided to AACSB members in March.