Speaker McCarthy says student loan payment pause 'gone' under debt ceiling deal. Here’s what that means. (USA Today)
The debt ceiling deal finalized between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday would reinstate student loan payments and the accrual of interest in late August.
"The pause is gone within 60 days of this being signed," McCarthy told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream. ...
Oklahoma Approves First Religious Charter School in the U.S.
The nation’s first religious charter school was approved in Oklahoma on Monday, handing a victory to Christian conservatives, but opening the door to a constitutional battle over whether taxpayer dollars can directly fund religious schools.
The online school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, would be run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, with religious teachings embedded in the curriculum, including in math and reading. Yet as a charter school — a type of public school that is independently managed — it would be funded by taxpayer dollars.
After a nearly three-hour meeting, and despite concerns raised by its legal counsel, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved the school in a 3-to-2 vote, including a “yes” vote from a new member who was appointed on Friday.
The relatively obscure board is made up of appointees by Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who supports religious charter schools, and leaders of the Republican-controlled State Legislature.
Climate Deniers Are Hounding Educators Again by Anya Kamenetz
June 10, 2023
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) Carolyn McGrath thought she was ready for her testimony in front of the New Jersey Department of Education. An art teacher, she had dressed in a jaunty polka-dot blouse and chunky green necklace, and had a written statement prepared in favor of teaching climate change in every school subject.
She hadn’t expected any controversy. But by the time it was her turn to walk to the podium last month, she was so nervous she visibly shook. “It was such an uncomfortable situation,” she said later. “I don’t like confrontation.”
McGrath is passionate about teaching climate change; she’s given her students assignments like creating portraits of climate activists. So she was delighted this past fall, when the state of New Jersey joined the global vanguard in climate education. New Jersey is the first state in America to adopt standards for learning about climate change in each grade, from K through 12, and across several different subjects, even physical education.
Initially these additions didn’t draw much political heat, possibly because sex education standards were being updated at the same time. But this year, the standards in the core subjects of math and English language arts came up for revision. Proposed draft revisions also include climate change. This is important, advocates say, because these are the core subjects that students are tested on, and for which schools and districts are held accountable.
And this time was different. At the May 3 public hearing, in front of two members of the State Board of Education, supporters of the changes, including McGrath, were blindsided and well outnumbered by organized right-wing activists who testified against teaching climate change.
DeSantis sues Biden administration over university accrediting system
Source: AP
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that the state has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Education over accreditation agencies, which control federal aid for students.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale federal court, challenges a federal law that requires colleges and universities to submit to private accreditors to qualify for federal funding. It targets the U.S. Department of Education, Secretary Miguel Cardona and other federal officials.
The lawsuit comes as DeSantis, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, imposes his conservative agenda on the state’s education system. Earlier this year, he appointed trustees to the board of New College of Florida, a tiny Sarasota school of about 1,000 students that was best known for its progressive thought and creative course offerings. The new board intends to turn the school into a classical liberal arts school modeled after conservative favorite Hillsdale College in Michigan.
Speaking about the accreditation lawsuit on Thursday, DeSantis said he refuses “to bow to unaccountable accreditors who think they should run Florida’s public universities.”
Wesleyan University Ends Legacy Admissions
Source: New York Times
Wesleyan University, a liberal arts college in Connecticut, is ending legacy admissions, which give a leg up to the children of alumni, just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action.
After the Supreme Court decision, legacy admissions came under heavy attack because the practice tends to favor white, wealthy applicants over Black, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American students.
President Joe Biden; Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York; and Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, have all spoken out against the practice.
Polls also show that the public does not support legacy admissions. A Pew Research Center survey last year found that 75 percent of those surveyed believed legacy status should not be a factor in college admissions.
ACT test scores for US students drop to new 30-year low
By Cheyanne Mumphrey
Updated 4:39 AM CDT, October 11, 2023
High school students’ scores on the ACT college admissions test have dropped to their lowest in more than three decades, showing a lack of student preparedness for college-level coursework, according to the nonprofit organization that administers the test.
Scores have been falling for six consecutive years, but the trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students in the class of 2023 whose scores were reported Wednesday were in their first year of high school when the virus reached the U.S.
“The hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success in college and career,” said Janet Godwin, chief executive officer for the nonprofit ACT.
The average ACT composite score for U.S. students was 19.5 out of 36. Last year, the average score was 19.8.
More Than 400,000 Student Loan Borrowers Had Wrong Monthly Payments
The Education Department said miscalculations had caused many borrowers to see higher monthly payments than they actually owed.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters says that the new standards could be putting pressure on these manufacturers.
“It’s a pretty easy, clear directive we put out there. We want to teach the basics, math, reading science and history but apparently these textbook companies don’t think they can do that,” said Walters.
Walters tells NewsChannel 8 these withdrawals will give students access to better material but State Representative John Waldron has a different opinion on what this means for education.
“In the marketplace of ideas, we’re gonna have access to fewer ideas in the forms of textbooks for our students. He is shutting down this marketplace and narrowing it down to only the choices he approves of. That kind of political oversight, over free ideas does not belong in a democratic society,” said Waldron.
Walters believes that the companies are not participating any longer because their curriculum doesn’t align with Oklahoma’s current standards.
“We are not going to allow indoctrination in the classroom. We’re not gonna do business with companies that are pushing left-wing indoctrination on our kids and any vendor that does business with the state of Oklahoma and education they’re gonna abide by those rules,” said Walters.
In Kansas school board races, voters reject candidates pushing culture war issues
TOPEKA — Kansas communities rejected multiple far-right candidates for school boards in what a national education group has characterized as a U.S.-wide trend of demanding “real solutions” on the local level.
In many of Tuesday’s statewide school board races, conservative candidates who campaigned on culture war issues, backed by national right-wing groups, were defeated by their more moderate opponents.
Candidates with connections to Moms for Liberty failed to gain much traction in the state. The extremist group platforms against LGBTQ and racially inclusive school curriculum and has advocated for book bans. MFL was started by Florida women who opposed pandemic-era school closures and mask mandates.
The American Federation of Teachers said school board elections across the U.S. reflected a pushback against outside conservative influences.
Biden administration to forgive $4.8 billion in student loan debt for 80,300 borrowers
Source: CNBC
Published Wed, Dec 6 2023 2:45 PM EST
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it would forgive an additional $4.8 billion in student loan debt, for 80,300 borrowers. The relief is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s fixes to its income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
“Before President Biden took office, it was virtually impossible for eligible borrowers to access the student debt relief they rightfully earned,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “This level of debt relief is unparalleled and we have no intention of slowing down.”
More than $2 billion of the aid will go to nearly 46,000 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. Those plans are supposed to lead to debt forgiveness after a set period, but this often didn’t happen because loan servicers failed to keep track of borrowers’ payments, experts say.
In addition, 34,400 borrowers who have worked in public service for a decade or more will receive $2.6 billion in loan cancellation, the U.S. Department of Education said. Borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program have also struggled to get the debt erasure they’ve been promised due to errors in their payment counts and other issues. The Biden administration has now cancelled nearly $132 billion in student debt for more than 3.6 million Americans.
New FAFSA launches after a long delay -- but with 'some minor issues,' Education Department says
Source: CNBC
Published Mon, Jan 1 202411:25 AM EST
A simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid is finally online after a significant delay. However, as part of a “soft launch,” the new FAFSA form has only been periodically available.
It’s likely few, if any, of the millions of students applying to college for the 2024-25 academic year have been able to successfully submit an application, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
“I am convinced that nobody has been able to submit the form,” he said. “Congress required the FAFSA to be available before Jan. 1, 2024. They missed that deadline,” Kantrowitz said.
“Leading up to and as part of the soft launch, we have identified some minor issues,” the U.S. Department of Education said in a statement Sunday . “We are aware of these issues and are working to resolve them.”
