News
Betsy DeVos Slashed 72 Rules Protecting Students With Disabilities Because They’re “Unnecessary”
by Mehreen Kasana
10.23.17 On Friday, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services shared a newsletter that sparked outrage among some observers. The newsletter announced that 72 disability memos had been rescinded by Betsy DeVos, the Department of Education secretary. These were major guidance documents meant to help and protect the rights of students with disabilities. The two main legislative acts under attack are the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, otherwise known as IDEA, and the Rehabili… Continue Reading
DeVos rescinds 72 guidance documents outlining rights for disabled students
by Moriah Balingit
10.21.17 The Education Department has rescinded 72 policy documents that outline the rights of students with disabilities as part of the Trump administration's effort to eliminate regulations it deems superfluous. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services wrote in a newsletter Friday that it had "a total of 72 guidance documents that have been rescinded due to being outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective - 63 from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and 9 from the Rehabilita… Continue Reading
Default Crisis for Black Student Borrowers
by Paul Fain
10.17.17 Two analyses of newly released federal data on student loans reveal serious default problems for African-American borrowers. Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics published a report on patterns of student loan repayment for two groups of borrowers who first enrolled in college in 1995-1996 and in 2003-2004. Historically the department has not collected much data on student debt that can be broken out by the race or ethnic background of b… Continue Reading
White House tells court it is immediately stopping ACA cost-sharing subsidies
by Amy Goldstein
10.13.17 The Trump administration informed a federal appeals court on Friday that the government would immediately halt payments to insurers that help millions of lower-income Americans afford coverage under the Affordable Care Act, formalizing a decision that could upend individual insurance markets across the country. In the filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, officials wrote that the Health and Human Services Department has stopped what's known as cost-sharing reduction payments… Continue Reading
Democrats Decry Betsy DeVos' Move to Prioritize 'Privatization'
by Alyson Klein
10.12.17 The leading Democrats on K-12 issues in Congress are not happy that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos wants to make school choice a top priority when it comes to doling out federal grant money on a competitive basis. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., say that the move would help DeVos further "privatization" of public schools, without congressional approval. Earlier this year, lawmakers rejected Trump administration budget proposals to create a new voucher program a… Continue Reading
Trump tries to weaken federal unions, but membership grows in reaction to GOP actions
by Joe Davidson
10.09.17 President Trump and Capitol Hill Republicans have been good for federal unions, even as they attempt to undermine the labor organizations and the public servants they represent. With the GOP running the White House and Congress, membership in federal unions is on the rise, fed by an administration and legislature that leaves the workforce anxious about budget cuts, layoffs and an erosion of civil service protections. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the biggest federal e… Continue Reading
Trump’s Cuts to Health Law Enrollment Efforts Are Hitting Hard
by Robert Pear
10.09.17 WASHINGTON - Michigan Consumers for Health Care, a nonprofit group, has enrolled thousands of people in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and was honored last year as one of the nation's top performers - a "super navigator" that would serve as a mentor to enrollment counselors in other states. So the group was stunned to learn from the Trump administration that its funds for assisting consumers ahead of the open enrollment period that begins Nov. 1 would be cut by 89 percent, to $1… Continue Reading
Another Michigan official to face manslaughter charge in Flint water crisis
10.09.17 A special prosecutor says he'll add a charge of involuntary manslaughter against Michigan's chief medical executive in a criminal investigation of the Flint water crisis. Dr. Eden Wells was in court Monday for a key hearing on other charges. But the hearing was postponed after the announcement by Todd Flood. Wells' lawyer couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Five other people have been charged with involuntary manslaughter tied to an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area … Continue Reading
Transgender students prevail with school policy in Maryland
by Donna St. George
10.08.17 When James van Kuilenburg used the bathroom at his Maryland high school, he always worried. Would he be taunted by his classmates? Would he be shamed or beaten? Most of the time, he avoided the risk altogether. "You don't feel safe," the teenager said, five years after coming out as transgender. But van Kuilenburg and others in Frederick County hope this year marks a turning point across the Maryland system's 67 schools as a new policy takes hold that is regarded as one of the most progres… Continue Reading
Graham-Cassidy is dead. Now stop treating Obamacare like the enemy and help get Americans health coverage
by Editorial Board
09.27.17 We may never know how many Republicans in the U.S. Senate would have voted against the latest ill-conceived and disruptive proposal to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act. But we know the three whose public opposition kept the measure from reaching the Senate floor this week - Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Although they disagree sharply over what to do about the ACA, they all deserve the country's thanks for stopping lawmakers from heedlessly … Continue Reading
We Found 154 Incidents Of Hate Speech And Violence At Colleges Nationwide Since Last Fall
09.27.17 White supremacist propaganda and other racist messages flooded college and university campuses in the months following the election of Donald Trump. In the first comprehensive review of hate speech at higher education institutions since the 2016 election, BuzzFeed News has confirmed 154 total incidents at more than 120 campuses across the country. More than a third of the incidents cited Trump's name or slogans; more than two-thirds promoted white supremacist groups or ideology. The spree of ha… Continue Reading
By age 3, inequality is clear: Rich kids attend school. Poor kids stay with a grandparent
by Heather Long
09.26.17 Limos and nannies drop off 3- and 4-year-olds every weekday morning at New York City's most exclusive preschools. Tuition is more than $30,000 a year. The schools boast that young kids learn French, Chinese, violin, yoga and robotics - all before kindergarten. Just a few subway stops away in the Bronx, home to one of America's poorest congressional districts, there's a very different morning drop-off routine going on. Many working parents leave their children with a relative or at the home of a… Continue Reading
If the GOP would only give up on repeal and replace it could actually make healthcare more affordable
by Editorial Board
09.12.17 Time is rapidly running out before health insurers have to commit to the policies and premiums they'll offer next year to roughly 20 million Americans not covered by an employer-sponsored health plan. Although those premiums are expected to jump 10% or more in many states, Congress can rein in that increase significantly - if it acts quickly. Doing so, however, will require Senate Republicans to stop flirting with yet another partisan proposal to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act, and… Continue Reading
Give them the money! Democrats ask Trump to unfreeze Obamacare's cash for sign-up helpers
by Dan Mangan
09.12.17 A group of 31 Democratic members of Congress asked Trump administration health officials Tuesday to unfreeze millions of dollars in grants for a program that gives Obamacare customers hands-on help signing up for health insurance. The letter from the House members came four days after a news story detailed how the administration had "quietly stopped funding for the outreach" effort known as the Navigator program. And it comes less than two months before the Nov. 1 start of open enrollment in h… Continue Reading
Don’t Suspend Students. Empathize.
by David L. Kirp
09.02.17 To his teachers at Ridgeway High School in Memphis, Jason Okonofua was a handful. During class, his mind drifted and he would lose the thread of the lesson. He slouched at his desk and dozed off. His teachers seemed to take it personally, as a sign of disrespect. He earned detention and was suspended several times. Jason wasn't trying to rile his teachers. He wasn't paying attention in class because his thoughts were being consumed by his friends' misfortunes - one had just been arrested, anot… Continue Reading
Policy Priority: Improving Access To Healthy Foods In Schools
by Rep. Bobby Scott
08.31.17 Bobby Scott is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 3rd congressional district. Our work to reauthorize federal child nutrition programs presents a great opportunity to continue improving the way America's children eat, expand their access to nutritious meals, and end child hunger in our country. We are never going to make progress on these goals by walking away from successful public policies that benefit vulnerable students or by rolling back evidence-based healthy meal standards that we kno… Continue Reading
Congressional Democrats press DeVos, Sessions on affirmative action policies
by Michael Stratford
08.21.17 The top Democrats on the congressional education and judiciary committees say they're concerned about the Trump administration's possible efforts to target university affirmative action policies - and want more information about where the Education and Justice departments stand on the issue. The lawmakers write today in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that they have "serious outstanding concerns about the Trump Administration's intention regarding … Continue Reading
Democrats Press Trump Administration on Plans for Affirmative Action
by Alyson Klein
08.21.17 Top Democrats in Congress on education and justice issues want answers on just how the Trump administration is planning to proceed when it comes to race-based college admissions. Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and John Conyers, D-Mich., along with Senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sent a letter to both U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking for more information on how their departments plan to approach "cases and matters involv… Continue Reading
Democrats press Justice Department on higher ed affirmative action policy
by Sean Higgins
08.21.17 Congressional Democrats pressed the Trump administration for answers Monday regarding any shift in policy on affirmative action and higher education, reacting to reports that the Justice and Education departments may expand investigations into discriminatory admissions policies at universities to include ones that harm white applicants. The letter, jointly signed by Reps. Bobby Scott of Virginia, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, John Conyers of Michigan, and Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Dia… Continue Reading
How the current minimum wage hurts kids
by Aoarna Jonnal
08.02.17 This month school resumes for many kids. I remember spending those bittersweet late summer days gathering school supplies and clothes. My family couldn't afford luxury items, but we always had what we needed. Many of my classmates fared very differently. I was regularly asked for paper, pencils and lunch money by kids for whom these essentials were luxuries. The kids from the poorer neighborhoods struggled through a myriad of obstacles that effectively guaranteed academic failure. They came to … Continue Reading