Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs (OLCA)

Welcome to the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs (OLCA)

OLCA serves as the liaison between ED and Congress, coordinating all Department matters relevant to Congress.

OLCA's organizational structure consists of political leadership who work to effectively communicate the Administration's position on education issues, career staff for policy that advise on legislation, and Congressional affairs staff that aid in resolving constituent concerns. 

More specifically, OLCA:

• Leads the planning, developing, and implementing of the Department’s legislative goals and strategies.
• Cultivates and maintains critically important relationships with Congress through daily interactions and provides continuity across Administrations. 
• Manages the process for and prepares Department witnesses for congressional hearings, meetings, and briefings.
• Provides advice on all aspects of congressional relations.
• Manages the confirmation process for Department of Education Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation Nominees.​
• Conducts outreach to Congress to raise awareness of Department and Administration activities and priorities.
• Coordinates all Department communications to Congress, including technical assistance on legislation and Congressional correspondence.
• Provides notification to Congress of all Department Grant Awards
• Assists Congressional offices with constituent casework inquiries on a variety of topics.​

General Contact Information

The Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs serves as the liaison between the U.S. Department of Education and Congressional offices. Please contact this office with any questions, and we will be pleased to respond or connect you with the appropriate office.

Office of Legislation & Congressional Affairs
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-3100
Phone: 202-401-0020
Fax: 202-401-1438
Business Hours: 9:00am—5:30pm EST, Monday through Friday

OLCA Office Contacts

Jessica Cady – Constituent Casework

Waquesha Canty – Constituent Casework and Grants

Sara Connelly – Correspondence, FOIA

James Forester – K-12, FERPA, IES

Isaac Hampton – Special Assistant, Higher Education

Barbara Hoblitzell – Deputy Assistant Secretary, Higher Education

Tiffany Lowder – Constituent Casework

Katherine Mash – K-12

Molly Petersen – Principal Advisor, Legislative Affairs

Vera Richards – Constituent Casework, Team Lead

Ian Smolka – Higher Education

Nicholas Stone – Special Assistant, K-12

Takea Vickers – Constituent Casework, OCR

Stephen Warzoha - Delegated the duties of the Acting Assistant Secretary for OLCA

Kim Zarish-Becknell – P-12, OSERS

Executive and Administrative Staff

Liza Araujo, Executive Officer

Resources

The following are links to various datasets and websites to find area specific information and resources. Click on the title to be directed to the platforms.

Data Collections and State Tables

Data.gov. This website provides information on some of the U.S. Department of Education's (Department) new discretionary grant programs. It also provides links to various Department of Education data tools and includes a catalogue of raw data sets.

Civil Rights Data Collection. Here you will find a data tool for exploring the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), which collects data on key education and civil rights issues in our nation's public schools for use by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), other Department of Education offices, and other policymakers and researchers. This data collection provides information about students in public elementary and secondary schools on a variety of indicators, including enrollment, access to educational programs or services, and academic proficiency results, "disaggregated" or broken out, by factors including race, ethnicity, sex, and disability.

Common Core of Data. The Common Core of Data (CCD) is an annual collection of fiscal and non-fiscal data about all public elementary and secondary schools, public school districts and state education agencies in the United States collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. The data include information that describes schools and school districts including name, address, and phone number; descriptive information about students and staff, including demographics; and fiscal data, including revenues and current expenditures. From this website, users can also link to the Build a Table tool, which allows users to explore CCD data. This site also provides links to the complete documentation of the data set.

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The primary source for data on colleges, universities, and technical and vocational postsecondary institutions in the United States. 

State by State Budget Tables. The below link will give you access to the Department's Congressional Budget Justifications, and state by state budget tables.

PK-Higher ED

StudentAid.ed.gov. New streamlined Federal Student Aid website is making it easier for students and families to navigate the financial aid process and make informed decisions about paying for college and is the initial step in a multi-phase project to offer a "one-stop shop" where consumers can access federal student aid information, apply for federal aid, repay student loans, and navigate the college decision-making process. Also includes the FSA data center where individuals can obtain information on Title IV loans and grants, broken down by state and Institution of Higher Education default rates.

College Scorecard. Search and compare colleges: their fields of study, costs, admissions, results, and more.

Federal Student Aid Estimator. This tool provides an estimate of how much federal student aid a student may be eligible to receive. 

College Financing Plan. This webpage provides students, families, and institutions with a consumer tool that participating institutions use to notify students about their financial aid package.

Grants

ED offers three kinds of grants:

• Discretionary grants: awarded using a competitive process.
• Student loans or grants: to help students attend college.
• Formula grants: uses formulas determined by Congress and has no application process.

Frequently Requested Resources: 

Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

Education Stabilization Fund

Education Stabilization Fund Dashboard

Additional grant information. 

Budget

Office of Budget Service.

News

Statements of Administration Policy 

Department Officials' Testimonies Before Congress 

Congressional Affairs

Casework

OLCA is available to assist Congressional offices with constituent casework inquiries related to Federal Student Aid Civil Rights Complaints and Grant inquires. Please send all casework, questions, and other requests to OLCAInquiries@ed.gov

Federal Student Aid

OLCA works with FSA to provide responses to Congressional FSA casework inquiries. The typical time frame for response is 6 weeks. The Department also provides information on a number of frequently asked questions. It may be helpful to reference this website prior to forwarding inquiries to ED as a number of FSA casework inquiries can be answered by information already available on our website. We recommend that Congressional staff view www.studentaid.gov for information. The website includes information on loan forgiveness and cancellation, total and permanent disability, loan servicers, and FAFSA, among other things.

If however, this website does not answer your specific question, OLCA will need the following information from Congressional offices:

• constituent's name, full SSN, DOB on a signed privacy release form;
• a brief description of the constituent's concerns with supporting documents, including any difficulty with the handling of their student loans/loans process; and
• an explanation of the constituent's specific request that includes by name the U.S. Department of Education as the "Name of Agency" for the Congressional office to contact.

Civil Rights Complaints

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for serving student populations facing discrimination and the advocates and institutions promoting systemic solutions to civil rights problems. The Office for Civil Rights enforces several Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance from the Department of Education. For more information about the statutes they enforce visit OCR's Overview of the Agency.

An important responsibility of OCR is resolving complaints of discrimination. A number of OCR casework inquiries can be answered by information already available on OCR's website. We recommend that Congressional staff view OCR's Complaint Process for more information.

If however, this website does not answer your specific question, OLCA will need the following information from Congressional offices:

• constituent's name and DOB on a signed privacy release form;
• a brief description of the constituent's concerns, including their case number;
• an explanation of the constituent's specific request that includes by name the
  U.S. Department of Education as the "Name of Agency" for the Congressional office to contact.

Grants

OLCA works with Congressional offices on grants casework inquiries. This would include information about grant opportunities and meeting requests. For more specific information regarding grants and the Congressional notification process please see our "Grants" link above for more information.

Congressional Correspondence

Congress sends hundreds of letters to ED annually regarding policy or oversight matters, such as regulations, Administration policies, ED operations, budget or spending, or other topics. Such letters are frequently signed by multiple Members of Congress. The best way to send a letter to ED, is to email a member of OLCA staff--please see our "Contact Information for OLCA" link above for that listing. If you do not have a direct contact, you may email the OLCA Inbox at OLCAInquiries@ed.gov. If you send the letter by U.S. mail, there may be a delay in the letter reaching OLCA, which will affect processing time. Do not send the letter directly to ED program offices or other non-OLCA staff otherwise you will likely experience processing delays.  

Please attach your signed letter, in PDF format, to your email.  

Public Comments to Regulations 

At times, Congressional offices send ED correspondence with official comment to regulatory activity, such as Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) and Notices of Proposed Priorities (NPPs). If your office wishes to send a letter regarding regulations, please submit the letter to regulations.gov by the deadline specified in the NPRM or NPP. To ensure your comments will be considered in the development of the final regulations or final Notice Inviting Applications (NIAs), the Administrative Procedures Act requires that your office submit such letters through the official comment process by posting the letter to regulations.gov. Also, please send a courtesy copy to OLCA for proper handling.  

Grant Support Letters (Letters of Support) 

Grant support letters express support for an applicant to an ED grant or other publicly available opportunity. Please email such letters to the OLCA Inbox at OLCAInquiries@ed.gov.  

Secretary Meeting Request Process for Hill Offices

If your office would like to request a meeting with the Secretary, please follow the process outlined in this link here. We kindly ask that you submit your request at least five weeks prior to your event to ensure timely preparation. 

OLCA Job Opportunities

There are currently no job postings for OLCA at USAJobs.gov.

OLCA Internships

OLCA hires interns for the spring, summer, fall and winter.  Our office seeks to enlist and engage students with broad and diverse backgrounds to join our team. We are especially interested in students who are pursuing education related or government policy related fields. We have a great, fast-paced office and every day is a learning experience. Our interns do substantive work, learn a tremendous amount about how our government works, and are valued members of our team. We emphasize personal growth and opportunity to experience a wide range of activities. See below for a summary of intern responsibilities. 

Perhaps the most important job of an intern at OLCA is attending congressional hearings on education-related issues, which are typically conducted during the traditional business hours of the United States Congress. These hearings are not only a tremendous opportunity for interns to see their government in action, but the summaries interns are tasked with creating as a result of attending the hearings are dispersed throughout the Department, including the Office of the Secretary.  

Due to the importance of these responsibilities, as well as the overall benefit for students who are fully immersed in the work of the office, we seek interns who are generally available to work full-time, 3-5 days per week during traditional office hours (9am – 5pm). 

While ED cannot provide compensation or housing for the internship program, all interns are eligible for Metro Transit benefits to cover transportation to and from work. Students receiving outside funding (such as a grant) or school credit for the internship are encouraged to apply. We also provide performance reviews for those institutions requiring them. 

OLCA’s internship program is intended to be a positive learning experience for the student.   

OLCA interns will: 

• attend Congressional hearings, markups, meetings, briefings and events both within and outside the Department on matters of federal education policy interest and write reports to summarize those events.   
• have an opportunity to meet with each OLCA staff member for an informative session to discuss each staff member’s background and career path.  
• assist staff with preparation for hearings, briefings and meetings.  
• update staff on current events in various education policy areas.   
• assist staff with ongoing Congressional outreach. 
• assist with the updating of Congressional databases, Congressional biographies and Hill education legislative assistants. 
• occasionally perform various administrative tasks and other duties as assigned, including Hill runs and helping with phones when necessary. 

 For more information on our internship program, please email OLCAInternprogram@ed.gov. 

Intern Meet & Greet on Capitol Hill

OLCA Interns