Tag: Department of Education

Virginia Department of Education to Eliminate All Accelerated Math Courses as Part of ‘Equity’ Plan

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Child working on math problems

The state of Virginia is set to eliminate all accelerated math courses in the state’s public schools before the 11th grade, ostensibly as part of an “equity” plan to make math classes easier for all races, according to Fox News.

The change was made by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), and was announced by multiple county-level school districts and officials. Formally known as the Virginia Mathematics Pathway Initiative (VMPI), this plan essentially removes all options for students who would normally elect to take a more advanced level of math if they have demonstrated a proficiency in the subject, and instead keeps the curriculum at the most basic level for every grade up to 11th grade.

Ian Serotkin, a member of the Loudoun County school board, commented negatively on the change in policy on Facebook Tuesday. “This initiative,” he explained, “will eliminate ALL math acceleration prior to 11th grade. This is not an exaggeration, nor does there appear to be any discretion in how local districts implement this. All 6th graders will take Foundational Concepts 6. All 7th graders will take Foundational Concepts 7…Only in 11th and 12th grade is there any opportunity for choice in higher math courses.”

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Exclusive: Alliance Defending Freedom Files Motion to Intervene in ‘Radical’ Lawsuit Attacking Religious Schools

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Football player kneeling, praying on bench seat

Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a motion to intervene in a “radical” lawsuit attacking the religious freedom of both religious colleges and students attending these schools, ADF senior counsel David Cortman told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday.

Former and current students of evangelical colleges filed a lawsuit last week against the Department of Education asking that a Title IX law that gives exemptions to religious educational institutions be declared unconstitutional.

The law currently forbids educational institutions receiving federal funds to discriminate on the basis of sex but exempts religious groups if the law “would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization.”

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Violent Crimes Spike in Cities That Defunded Law Enforcement; Burned-Out Police Leaving in Droves

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Group of police officers with cars stopped, one holding a gun

Crime is skyrocketing in cities where police departments have been defunded, crime statistics show.

Since career criminal George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis, last summer, many liberal city councils have voted to “defund” their police departments, allocating or redirecting municipal funds away from their police bureaus to other government agencies that serve “the community.”

More than 20 major cities have slashed their police budgets in some form, though the circumstances vary, according to Fox News.

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Joe Biden Expected to Name Current Connecticut Education Commissioner to Lead Education Department

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President-elect Joe Biden is poised to select Miguel Cardona, the current Connecticut education commissioner, to lead the Department of Education in his administration, CNN reported.

Miguel Cardona, who has served as head of the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) since August 2019, will be President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to lead the federal government’s education department, multiple sources told CNN. Cardona would be the latest Latino to receive a high-ranking position in the incoming Biden administration.

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Guidance for Masks in Schools Varies Widely Across US States

The Associated Press

School districts that plan to reopen classrooms in the fall are wrestling with whether to require teachers and students to wear face masks — an issue that has divided urban and rural schools and yielded widely varying guidance.

The divide has also taken on political dimensions in Iowa, among other places, where Democratic-leaning cities like Des Moines and Iowa City have required masks to curb the spread of the coronavirus, while smaller, more conservative communities have left the decision to parents.

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28 Congressional Democrats Sign Letter Demanding Department Of Education Allow Biological Males in Girls’ Sports

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Twenty-eight congressional Democrats signed a letter Wednesday condemning the Department of Education for ruling that public schools that allow biological males who identify as transgender to play girls’ sports are violating Title IX civil rights legislation.

Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal joined 27 House Democrats in signing the letter, which charged that the department’s order “discriminates against transgender youth” by restricting girls’ sports to biological females.

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Eden Prairie School Board Member Criticizes ‘Unacceptable’ Lack of Direction from Walz Admin on Upcoming School Year

Anthony Gockowski

An Eden Prairie School Board member broke his silence Monday after learning that the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) won’t be releasing state guidance on the upcoming academic year until July 27.

Three scenarios are possible for the 2020-21 school year, including continued distance learning, the resumption of in-person instruction, or a mix of the two.

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Commentary: Enemies of Homeschooling Are Scared – and They Should Be

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Nearly every family with kids has gotten a taste of homeschooling over the past two months. In an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, at least 124,000 schools have closed for over 55 million children in the U.S. At the same time, opponents of homeschooling launched several unfounded attacks on the practice. For example, The Washington Post ran an opinion piece claiming “homeschooling during the coronavirus will set back a generation of children,” and a Salon article said that “homeschooling as a result of the pandemic will likely worsen education for students and pose serious problems to the economy and nation’s social well-being.”

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COVID-19: Rep. Mark Green Sends Letter to Department of Education Asking for Recognition of Schools’ Ability to Administer Statewide Assessments

Julie Carr

On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Michael Patrick Leahy spoke to U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-7) regarding his recent letter to the United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

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Department of Education Going After Elite Colleges for Allegedly Taking and Hiding Foreign Cash

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by Luke Rosiak   The Department of Education is going after U.S universities over supposed ties to foreign governments, after some allegedly took huge quantities of foreign cash and hid it from regulators. At the top of the list are Georgetown University and Texas A&M, which have taken hundreds of millions of dollars from the government of Qatar, a middle eastern nation with suspected links to international terrorism. Both schools received letters from the Department of Education Thursday saying they should have disclosed that funding but their filings “may not fully capture” the activity, the Associated Press reported. The letter warned that they could be referred to the attorney general to “compel compliance.” Georgetown was also asked about possible ties to Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, as well as Saudi Arabian money. Both schools were ordered to disclose funding from Huawei and ZTE, Chinese firms suspected of spying. Top Foreign Funders of U.S. Universities, 2011-2016 (Source: Department of Education) Country Amount Qatar $1,024,065,043 England $761,586,394 Saudi Arabia $613,608,797 China $426,526,085 Canada $402,535,603 Hong Kong $394,446,859 China In February, a Senate investigative subcommittee released a bipartisan, 100-page report that found that not only had China been pouring money into the U.S. for a…

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Marcia Fudge Accuses Betsy DeVos of ‘Picking Winners and Losers’ in Education Budget

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH-11) grilled Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during a recent hearing before the House Education and Labor Committee over her new “Education Freedom Scholarships” incentive. The scholarship program was included in the Trump administration’s federal education budget, but there has been much debate about how exactly the program will work. The Department of Education describes the program as a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for individuals and businesses that donate to state-identified Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). “A private donation isn’t a public resource. Is a donation to a non-profit that you claim on your taxes a public resource?” the Department of Education said on Twitter in response to claims that the new program will use public resources to expand school choice. A private donation isn’t a public resource. Is a donation to a non-profit that you claim on your taxes a public resource? — ED Press Secretary (@EDPressSec) April 4, 2019 “Despite what some may try to tell you, Education Freedom Scholarships are privately funded and do not take any money from public schools,” DeVos herself wrote on Twitter along with a graphic explaining how the scholarships are funded. Despite what some may try to tell you…Education Freedom Scholarships…

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Former Ohio State Senator Randy Gardner Now Highest Paid Member of DeWine Administration at $190,000 Salary

Anthony Gockowski

Former State Sen. Randy Gardner, who was picked by Gov. Mike DeWine to lead the Department of Education, is currently the highest paid member of the new administration. Gardner will receive a base salary of $190,008, which is more than $100,000 higher than the average $87,600 salary he made as a state senator, and nearly $15,000 more than the $176,115 salary his predecessor made. State pensions are factored on the highest three years of pay, meaning if Gardner can hold down his current position for three years, his pension will be based solely on his time running the Department of Education. Gardner has been in Ohio politics since 1985 as either a state representative or senator, but was apparently a high-school teacher before entering the political scene. The numbers were obtained by Cleveland.com, and show that Gardner will make more than both DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who are paid $154,248 and $176,676 respectively. Husted’s salary is higher because he was tapped to lead InnovateOhio, a new state agency housed in the Governor’s Office. As such, he can receive the salary for that position in lieu of the lieutenant governor’s salary. The only other cabinet-level officials who will make…

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Taxpayer-Funded Tennessee School Board Association Lobbies State Legislature for More Money and Greater Control

Laura Baigert

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The Tennessee School Board Association, funded through membership dues paid with tax dollars allocated for school systems, lobbies the Tennessee General Assembly on various issues many of which work against taxpayers’ interests. This week, the Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA) held their annual Day on the Hill with approximately 250 attendees primarily made up of school board members from the organization’s 141 member boards around the state, although superintendents are also permitted to attend. The registration fee was $100 per person, and a block of rooms were made available at the DoubleTree Nashville Downtown at a rate of $219 per night, plus tax. The event, which started Monday evening with a program on this year’s proposed legislation and a reception, continued with Tuesday’s “Call to Action: Conquering the Hill,” during which attending school board members and superintendents broke out to meet with their legislators and attend legislative committee meetings. The packet provided to attending school board members, in addition to general logistical information like an agenda, area map and a list of legislators, included more than 20 pages of materials detailing bills that TSBA supports or opposes, TSBA’s 2019 legislative agenda and an issue brief on each…

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Education Department Wiping Clean $150 Million In Student Loans After Obama-Era Rule

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by Neetu Chandak   The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday it will forgive $150 million in federal student loans. Nearly 15,000 former students whose schools shut down prior to graduation between Nov. 1, 2013 and Dec. 4 will now have their loans cancelled, the Education Department announcement said. Borrowers will find out about the loan forgiveness over email Friday, CNBC reported. “For them, it’s going to be a very nice Christmas present,” former Education Department official Clare McCann said, according to CNBC. The rule, initiated by former President Barack Obama’s administration, is called the Borrower Defense to Repayment. The rule helps students defrauded by for-profit colleges to have their loans cancelled after three years, CNN reported. “About half of those borrowers received loans for attendance at Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (Corinthian) schools that closed on April 27, 2015,” the announcement said. Corinthian was a for-profit chain. The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), a national accreditor for nonpublic colleges, was shut down in 2016. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos reinstated the college watchdog on Nov. 21 after the Obama administration claimed ACICS had poor oversight and shut it down. About $80 million will be erased for students who attended Corinthian schools, the announcement said. Students can apply for the loan forgiveness anytime, but generally…

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Student Debt in the United States Tops $1.4 Trillion

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by Andrew Kerr   Students continue to struggle mightily to repay their student debt amid a booming economy, according to a report released Tuesday by the New York Fed. Outstanding student loan debt stood at $1.41 trillion at the end of June, making it the second largest category of household debt behind mortgages. Americans collectively hold more student debt than they hold in credit card and auto loan debts, according to the report. More concerning is the troubling rate at which student loan borrowers are entering default. Nearly 11 percent of all student debt was either 90 days delinquent or in default at the end of June, making it the 24th consecutive quarter the New York Fed has recorded a student loan delinquency rate above 10 percent. Mortgage default rates, in comparison, have dropped dramatically since the subprime mortgage crisis that contributed heavily to the 2008 recession. At its peak, 8.9 percent of all outstanding mortgages were in delinquency in the first quarter of 2010 and steadily dropped down to the 1.1 percent delinquency rate as of the end of June. Students’ struggles to pay off their student loans can be attributed in part to the fact that the federal government does…

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Rumor Control: Setting the Record Straight on PreK/Kindergarten Portfolios

JC Bowman
JC Bowman

Social media was hard at it this weekend over the PreK/Kindergarten Student Growth Portfolio Model.  While Professional Educators of Tennessee is not sold on the portfolio process, it is the current law (see T.C.A. §§ 49-6-103–49-6-110).  We believe the current portfolio system takes up too much time for our educators.  However, the inaccurate information about pre-K and kindergarten portfolios was spreading way faster than a speeding bullet.  So, let’s set the record straight with some accurate details. There was no computer glitch or computer error related to portfolios. We confirmed this with a simple phone call to the Tennessee Department of Education.  There statement was:  “There was no error by our vendor, and there was no computer glitch.”  The Department further explained:  Teachers receive an overall portfolio growth score based on their scores on four separate collections, which look at students’ growth over the course of the school year on specific standards. Some teachers mismatched students and/or standards when they were inputting their portfolio information. In those cases, the issue was flagged by a peer reviewer and the teacher received a score of a 1 on that specific collection, which was by design if this mismatch occurred. For example, a…

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One-Fifth Of North Carolina Students Aren’t Going To Traditional Public Schools

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by Rob Shimshock   Almost 20 percent of K-12 students in North Carolina are not attending traditional public schools. Enrollment in the state’s traditional public schools has fallen during the past few years as more and more students attend private, charter or home schools, The News & Observer reported Friday. North Carolina’s proportion of students enrolled in traditional public schools now sits at 80.8 percent. “Families are more attuned to and used to having choices at their fingertips, and that is entering education as well,” Parents For Educational Freedom Interim President Brian Jodice said. “We’re no longer in this mindset that because I live at this address or this ZIP code I have to attend this particular school that works for many students but doesn’t have to be the only choice.” The National Center for Education Statistics anticipated that out of the 3.6 million students expected to graduate from high school in 2018, 3.3 million graduates would receive their degrees from public high schools. This proportion is over 10 percent higher than the aforementioned North Carolina rate. Not everyone is pleased with the trend. “North Carolina has already embraced the privatization, the [American Legislative Exchange Council] agenda of dismantling public schools in favor of…

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Commentary: United States Department of Education and the Circular Firing Squad

JC Bowman

The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Can you list an irrefutable positive consequence on the academic performance of school children in the United States as a direct result of the involvement of the federal government since the creation of the United States Department of Education?

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