| | | | | |  | | By Lauraine Genota | With help from Juan Perez Jr. and Bianca Quilantan Programming announcement: Our newsletters are evolving. Morning Education will continue to publish daily for POLITICO Pro subscribers, but starting on July 13th will consolidate to a weekly newsletter for all others. There will be no changes to the policy newsletters available to POLITICO Pro subscribers. To continue to receive Morning Education daily, as well as access POLITICO Pro's full suite of policy tools and trackers, get in touch about a Pro subscription. Already a Pro subscriber? Learn more here. | | | — A majority of American voters are uneasy about schools getting back to business this fall, according to the latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. — Senate HELP Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) threw his weight behind giving schools and colleges billions of dollars to help them reopen safely. — Vice President Mike Pence, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and White House adviser Kellyanne Conway joined a group of educators in Wisconsin to talk up President Donald Trump's support for school choice. HAPPY WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24! WELCOME TO MORNING EDUCATION. Reach me at lgenota@politico.com or @laurainegenota. Share event listings: educalendar@politicopro.com. And follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro. | | | | Get the free POLITICO news app for the critical updates you need. Breaking news, analysis, videos, and podcasts, right at your fingertips. Download for iOS and Android. | | | | | | VOTERS EXPRESS CLEAR CONCERN ABOUT SCHOOL REOPENING: A combined 54 percent of Americans said they are somewhat or very uncomfortable with reopening K-12 schools for the beginning of the coming school year, according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. — Fifty-eight percent of voters said they're uncomfortable with reopening day care centers, according to the online survey of close to 2,000 registered voters. Forty-eight percent said they were very or somewhat uncomfortable with reopening colleges and universities, while 43 percent said they were comfortable with the idea. — Survey results also suggest Black voters hold some of the biggest concerns about schools reopening : 73 percent of surveyed Black voters said they were somewhat or very uncomfortable with reopening day care centers. Sixty-seven percent said they were very or somewhat uncomfortable with reopening K-12 schools. Thirty-five percent said they were very uncomfortable with reopening colleges and universities this fall. Read more on the latest data from Juan. | 
A teacher sits in their empty classroom at Yung Wing School P.S. 124 in New York City. | Michael Loccisano/Getty Images | ALEXANDER BACKS MORE RELIEF FUNDING FOR EDUCATION: Alexander said he would support spending billions of dollars to help schools and colleges reopen safely. He previously said lawmakers should first wait to see how existing relief aid is spent. — The House-passed HEROES Act, H.R. 6800 (116), would provide more than $100 billion to schools and colleges. Senate Republicans have dubbed it a no-go, though. — Democratic Sens. Maggie Hassan (N.H.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.) also published an op-ed in The 74 urging others to approve more aid for schools in the next relief bill. — Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers president, told the House education committee that she thinks schools can reopen safely this fall, but it will cost billions to implement safety guidelines. — On top of the HEROES Act, $116 billion more is needed, she said, and without all the funding, a safe reopening is not going to happen. TRUMP CAMPAIGN PLUGS SCHOOL CHOICE IN WISCONSIN: Trump's education platform is once again leaning on school choice, which arguably was one of his most concrete education policies during the 2016 election. On the campaign trail, Pence, DeVos and Conway joined a group of educators to talk about Wisconsin's statewide school choice program. — This is the second time DeVos and Pence have visited Wisconsin to talk about school choice this year. "Wisconsin has been in the forefront of empowering parents with the right to choose whatever school they want their children to attend," he said. — Pence touted Trump's support for school choice. He said when Trump was considering him to be his VP, school choice was one of the "very first issues that we had very strong agreement on." Pence also said school choice and understanding "the value of empowering parents" is why they chose DeVos to lead the Education Department. — The roundtable gave DeVos another shot to pitch her Education Freedom Scholarships proposal, which would create a new $5 billion federal tax credit to expand school choice. It was introduced in the House as H.R. 1434 (116) and the Senate as S. 634 (116), but is stalled and has no Democratic cosponsors in either chamber. — Trump has mentioned school choice at most of his campaign events these past few weeks. DEVOS VOTES BY MAIL: DeVos, along with Pence and a handful of other senior Trump advisers, have repeatedly voted by mail, according to The Associated Press. — DeVos has permanent absentee voting status in her home state of Michigan and has voted absentee in almost all elections over the past decade. Last month, Trump had threatened to withhold federal funding after the Michigan's secretary of state mailed out absentee ballot applications to registered voters. The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment. — Trump has made it clear that he doesn't support letting voters mail in ballots , even during a pandemic. He has claimed that it will lead to voter fraud and that it would help Democrats but prevent Republicans from winning. | | | | BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE - A DIFFERENT KIND OF NEWSLETTER : Are you interested in creating a sustainable future for generations to come? Our sustainability newsletter, "The Long Game," is designed for executives, investors and policymakers who lead crucial conversations about how society can continue to thrive. Join the sharpest minds for a discussion about the most significant challenges from pandemics to plastics, climate change to land use, inequality and the future of work. Winners play the long game, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS TO ARGUE IN HARVARD AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASE: DOJ asked the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals for permission to present a 10-minute argument in favor of reversing a district court's judgment that sided with Harvard University last fall in a high-profile affirmative action case. — In February, DOJ filed an amicus brief backing Students For Fair Admissions, which is suing Harvard over its use of race in admissions decisions. DOJ wrote the U.S. has a "substantial interest in protecting its citizens from racial discrimination." — The case is widely believed to become the Supreme Court's next opening to potentially ban affirmative action. "The United States filed amicus briefs and participated in oral argument in the Supreme Court cases that are central to the disposition of this appeal," wrote Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, in the motion. Dreiband would present the argument in court. — Both SFFA and Harvard are asking the judge to allow their amici time for oral arguments . Each side asked for 25 minutes for their amici to present arguments, but to keep the total time the same for each side. Because Harvard has two amici, "Student, Alumni, and Prospective Students of Harvard College" and "Coalition for a Diverse Harvard, et al.," that requested to participate in oral arguments, they would share the allotted time while DOJ wouldn't have to. | | | |  | | | | | | SCHOOLS ARE 'OPPORTUNISTIC TARGET' FOR CYBERATTACKS: K-12 institutions are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks as remote learning continues during the coronavirus pandemic, the FBI warned. — Because of remote learning, limited cybersecurity budgets and high susceptibility to extortion, schools "represent an opportunistic target," according to the bureau. The pressure to avoid exposing students' data also makes ransomware an especially serious threat to schools. — Schools rank second only to city governments on the list of ransomware's biggest targets. The FBI said it's "observed an increase in ransomware attacks targeting K-12 schools" that have caused a wide range of damage, including a "complete shutdown" of school networks. | | | HHS, MOREHOUSE TO FIGHT VIRUS IN MINORITY COMMUNITIES: The Trump administration is launching a three-year, $40 million program with Morehouse College, an HBCU, to provide coronavirus information to minority and rural communities, as well as to fight the spread of the virus. — The partnership comes as more data shows that Black Americans have been disproportionately affected by the virus. — The program is set to begin in July, and the budget for the first year is $14.6 million. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BOWS OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE : University President Mark Schlissel said in a letter that "we feel it is not feasible for us to safely host the presidential debate as planned," because the school is trying to ensure a "safe and healthy fall" for its students and because of public health guidelines and advice from experts. — The debate will now be held in Miami on Oct. 15. | | | | JOIN TODAY 1 p.m. EDT - THE SPEED OF SCIENCE POST-COVID-19: What does the future of science in a post-Covid-19 world look like? What lessons can we learn to accelerate medical research outside of the coronavirus? How can newly developed drugs and vaccines be distributed equitably? What can we do to minimize misinformation from flawed or inaccurate scientific studies published during a public health emergency? Join Patrick Steel, CEO of POLITICO, and Alexander Hardy, CEO of Genentech, for this critical and timely discussion. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | PERKINS LOAN RELIEF BILL INTRODUCED: Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) and Alma Adams (D-N.C.) introduced a bill that would expand the reach of the student borrower protections in the CARES Act to allow borrowers with Perkins loans to forgo making payments until October. LAWMAKERS ASK DEVOS FOR CLEARER GUIDANCE ON SCHOOL REOPENING: Reps. Josh Harder (D-Calif.) and Van Taylor (R-Texas) sent a letter to DeVos urging her to take a more active role in how schools will reopen safely. They asked DeVos to help schools answer key questions about social distancing, acquiring PPE, daily health checks and more direction on implementing remote learning. | | | — Instagram accounts detail Bethesda students' experiences with racism: Bethesda Magazine — Why there's a push to get police out of schools: NPR — Whistleblower: Education Department killed website that made applying for loan forgiveness too easy: U.S. News and World Report | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment