| | | | | |  | | By Nicole Gaudiano | With help from Michael Stratford Editor's Note: Morning Education is a free version of POLITICO Pro Education's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. | | | — Democrats urged Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to take "immediate and aggressive action" against Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, which lowered the credit scores of millions of borrowers after payments were suspended under the CARES Act. —The U.S. Department of Education has threatened Connecticut's high school sports authority and a half-dozen local school boards with legal action or a loss of funding, after concluding their adherence to a state transgender athlete policy violated federal sexual discrimination laws. — The Education Department says the rule Secretary Betsy DeVos will issue to boost emergency relief for private school kids will be an "interim final rule," which suggests it could take effect immediately. IT'S FRIDAY, MAY 29. WELCOME TO MORNING EDUCATION. Got news to share? Please send tips to your host at ngaudiano@politico.com or to my colleagues, Juan Perez Jr. at jperez@politico.com, Michael Stratford at mstratford@politico.com and Bianca Quilantan at bquilantan@politico.com. Share event listings: educalendar@politicopro.com. And follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro. | | | | CRITICAL COROAVIRUS NEWS & ANALYSIS, NIGHTLY: The federal government is slowly coming back to work. Democrats want a lot more federal assistance, but Republicans aren't there yet. Some retailers are ending hazard pay. Sports leagues are figuring out what comes next and how. For critical Covid-19 insight, context and analysis from experts across our global newsroom choose POLITICO Nightly. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | DEMOCRATS URGE DEVOS TO PUNISH GREAT LAKES OVER CREDIT-REPORTING ERRORS: Democrats are urging DeVos to take "immediate and aggressive action" against the student loan company that incorrectly dinged the credit reports of nearly 5 million borrowers whose payments were automatically suspended under the CARES Act. — POLITICO reported last week that the Trump administration was rushing to fix errors made by Great Lakes Educational Loan Services in how the company reported information about federal student loan borrowers to credit bureaus. The error lowered borrowers' credit scores in some cases. — Sen. Elizabeth Warren and several other Senate Democrats on Thursday asked DeVos to "take immediate action to fully remedy this issue, hold Great Lakes accountable for this inexcusable blunder, and provide Congress with a detailed accounting of how this breakdown occurred." Democrats want DeVos to consider "any consequences or penalties allowed under the Department's contact with Great Lakes, which may include the reduction of loan volume." — Great Lakes and the Education Department have insisted that there was little or no damage to borrowers' credit scores. But Senate Democrats said that's not the case. "It is difficult to know how far reaching the consequences of this error will be for millions of borrowers who might attempt to purchase a home, start a new job, or take out a loan to stay financially afloat during this economic crisis," the senators wrote in their letter. — The department didn't immediately have a comment on Warren's letter. Angela Morabito, a department spokesperson, last week said that providing incorrect information to credit bureaus was "total unacceptable" but that Great Lakes had "quickly corrected the coding issue" and sent corrected information to the credit bureaus. Michael Stratford has more. | | | TRANSGENDER ATHLETE POLICY TARGETED: The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights decision, released publicly Thursday, strikes a blow against Connecticut policy that allows students to play on teams that match their gender identity. —Government investigators said the state rules allowing "biologically male students" to compete in girls' track competitions discriminate against female student-athletes. —The department's pending enforcement action under Title IX likely won't halt a conservative group's separate and ongoing federal lawsuit to challenge a policy that allegedly puts female athletes at a competitive disadvantage. The Education Department's findings, dated May 15, said none of the defendants would sign proposed government agreements to resolve the dispute. —The Office for Civil Rights said it would either start proceedings to suspend or terminate financial aid to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference division and a group of high schools — or refer the cases to the Justice Department for court proceedings if the complaints aren't resolved. Juan Perez Jr. has more. | | | ED TO MOVE QUICKLY ON CONTROVERSIAL RULE: DeVos last week notified the Council of Chief State School Officers that she would issue a rule "in the next few weeks." DeVos has been at odds with education groups, Democrats and more than one Republican over her policy calling on public schools to steer a greater share of coronavirus relief support to students in private schools, regardless of their wealth. — The interim final rule will be open for public comment for a minimum of 30 days, Morabito told POLITICO on Thursday. — Agencies often use the term "interim final rule" when they find they have "good cause" to issue a final rule without first publishing a proposed rule, according to a guide prepared by the Office of the Federal Register. "This type of rule becomes effective immediately upon publication," the guide says. "In most cases, the agency stipulates that it will alter the interim rule if warranted by public comments." — Morabito said she didn't have information on when the interim rule would take effect. "Some interim final rules take effect immediately, but some do not," she wrote in an email. DEVOS GRANT RESTRICTIONS 'UNPERSUASIVE': A nonpartisan congressional agency has concluded that DeVos' restrictions on coronavirus relief grants for college students are vulnerable to legal challenge because they reflect an "unpersuasive" interpretation of the law, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO. —The Congressional Research Service examined, at the request of Sen. Patty Murray's staff, DeVos' guidance from April that excludes undocumented students and other students who are ineligible for federal student aid from receiving emergency grants under the CARES Act, H.R. 748 (116). —Murray (D-Wash.) and other Democrats have charged that DeVos exceeded her authority in limiting the $6 billion emergency relief program only to those students who qualify for federal financial aid. Michael Stratford has more. | | | COLLEGES SEEK LIABILITY PROTECTIONS: Higher education groups sent a letter to congressional leaders Thursday, calling for temporary liability protections related to the Covid-19 pandemic. —Dozens of groups including the American Council on Education wrote that colleges and universities are facing "enormous uncertainty" about standards of care "and corresponding fears of huge transactional costs associated with defending against COVID-19 spread lawsuits." —They asked Congress to enact liability protections for higher education institutions "to blunt the chilling effect this will have on otherwise reasonable decision-making leading to our nation's campuses resuming operations in a safe and sensible manner." —Last week, Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) told reporters that limiting liability for colleges that reopen this fall and providing greater flexibility for federal relief money would be top Republican priorities in any new Senate coronavirus relief package, though he said it's an "open question" whether there will be more funding for states and schools in new legislation. More from Bianca Quilantan. COLLEGE STUDENTS GRILL NEWSMAKERS ON 'MEET THE PRESS': NBC News and Meet the Press today are launching a new digital series in which college journalism students from across the country join host Chuck Todd for the next five weeks to interview newsmakers. —Todd is joined in the first episode of "Meet the Press: College Roundtable" by Gabe Fleisher, an incoming freshman at Georgetown University; Aiyana Ishmael, a rising senior at Florida A&M University; and Sami Sparber, a rising senior at the University of Texas at Austin. They interview Wayne A.I. Frederick, president of Howard University, and Robert Robbins, president of the University of Arizona, both medical doctors. New episodes will be available every Friday on NBC News' digital platforms. | | | | WINNERS PLAY THE LONG GAME: If there is one thread linking the greatest challenges facing our society, economy and planet, it's the tension between short-term and long-term thinking. "The Long Game," presented by Morgan Stanley, is designed for executives, investors and policymakers who are leading the conversation about how our society can thrive in the future. Engage with the sharpest minds on our biggest challenges, from pandemics to plastics, climate change to land use, inequality and the future of work. Searching for a nuanced look at these issues and possible solutions? Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | COMMITTEES RATED IN NEW INDEX: The Lugar Center, founded by the late Sen. Richard Lugar, (R-Ind.), has a new rating index gauging how well congressional committees conduct oversight, and grades for education committees in the House and Senate couldn't be further apart. The Democratic-lead House Education and Labor Committee is getting an A this Congress, while the GOP-led Senate HELP Committee so far is getting dinged with an F. Check out the group's analysis of committee hearings here. | | | — Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond has been named the new president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. She is retiring as president of Central State University in Ohio on June 30 and will begin her new position on Aug. 1. | | | — The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is out with a new analysis, "The Great Recession Badly Hurt Kids' Schooling; Today's Recession Could Do Much Worse." | | | — U.S. to Expel Chinese Graduate Students With Ties to China's Military Schools: New York Times — White House to skip economic forecast this summer showing depth of the downturn: POLITICO Pro — Texas tells ISDs to follow DeVos guidance boosting relief funding for private schools: Houston Chronicle — Every state except Florida has applied for K-12 education relief: POLITICO Pro — California students to wear masks, get daily temperature checks under Newsom rules: POLITICO Pro | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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