| | | | | |  | | By Juan Perez Jr. | With help from Nicole Gaudiano and Bianca Quilantan 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. | | | — The Kansas Board of Regents huddled in secret for hours on Wednesday but did not remove Wichita State University's president from his post, after he canceled a commencement speech scheduled to be delivered by Ivanka Trump. — Another day, another Title IX lawsuit. The latest legal challenge to a new rule from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos arrived as an influential group of college leaders asked her to stave off the rule's looming effective date. — Educators forecasting that schools will take a massive hit amid state budget cuts took their case to Capitol Hill. WELCOME TO THURSDAY, JUNE 11TH. The coronavirus is still killing as many as 1,000 Americans per day — but the Trump administration isn't saying much about it. Fury over George Floyd's death provides a sudden opportunity for a national movement that has tried to remake the criminal justice landscape through high-profile prosecutor races. Governors and local officials are struggling to meet payrolls amid a pandemic that has dramatically hiked government costs and sapped tax revenues. Here's your daily reminder to send tips to today's host at jperez@politico.com — and also colleagues Nicole Gaudiano (ngaudiano@politico.com), Michael Stratford (mstratford@politico.com) and Bianca Quilantan (bquilantan@politico.com). Share your event listings with educalendar@politicopro.com. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro. | | | | HAPPENING TODAY 12:30 p.m. EDT - PLANNING FOR FUTURE HEALTH CRISES: As the U.S. confronts the worst public health crisis in modern history, lawmakers race to shape the next phase of health care modernization to prepare the country for future emergencies. Join POLITICO Live and POLITICO's newest division, AgencyIQ, for a live virtual interview with Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.). Hear about possible updates to the landmark 21st Century Cures Act and about the concept paper co-authored by Upton and DeGette that creates a framework for sweeping changes to medical product development and health care access in the U.S. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | SCRAPPED IVANKA TRUMP SPEECH STIRS FUROR IN KANSAS: Wichita State University President Jay Golden's future is unclear after a marathon— but largely closed to the public —meeting of the Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday. — The decision adds a bit of confusion to a flurry of controversy from the past week. It began, the Wichita Eagle reports, when the school announced that Trump would be the commencement speaker at its separate trade school campus. | 
Jay Golden. | Jamie Green/The Wichita Eagle via AP | — Golden canceled Trump's keynote speech on June 4, the Eagle reported, "following swift backlash from faculty, students and alumni about the Trump administration's response to protests against racist policing and concerns that violent protests could erupt at the university." Trump later released her speech online , but donors threatened to cut ties with the university and a former state regent reportedly asserted the cancellation threatened the school's multimillion-dollar relationship with Koch Industries, the Eagle said. — Koch Industries spokesperson Jessica Koehn said the global corporation would continue its commitments to Wichita State, but the company "object[s] to speaker disinvitations." "Limiting access to unpopular speakers, viewpoints, and scholarship doesn't protect students, it cuts off the chance to engage, debate, and criticize," Koehn added. "I live and I own this decision," the Eagle reported Golden as saying during a town hall meeting this week . "But I also want to say to the faculty and staff and students that we are focused on diversity, and we are going to be focused on diversity of our workforce, our student body, but also in regard to diversity of thought. We're not going to back down." — A group of students rallied in support of Golden prior to Wednesday's regent meeting, The Sunflower reported. — Following their virtual meeting, regents issued a curt statement that said they were "committed to working with all our universities and colleges to support and promote freedom of speech and diversity and inclusion." — "During these unprecedented times, our universities have been forced to make quick decisions and act swiftly without the normal process of including all our stakeholders in decision making," regents said. | | | | WINNERS PLAY THE LONG GAME: Interested in building a sustainable future for generations to come? "The Long Game" is designed for executives, investors and policymakers leading the conversation about how 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. Subscribe today for a nuanced look at these issues and possible solutions. | | | | | | | | 4TH TITLE IX CHALLENGE FILED: The National Women's Law Center sued DeVos and the Education Department Wednesday, asking a federal judge to declare the Trump administration's new Title IX rule, which mandates how schools must respond to reports of sexual misconduct, illegal. "The Final Rule will reverse decades of efforts by Congress, the Executive Branch, and state and local governments, to combat the effects of sex-based harassment on equal access to education," NWLC lawyers wrote on behalf of the Victim Rights Law Center, Legal Voice and Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. — The ACLU was the first to sue over the rule, followed by New York Attorney General Tish James and the attorneys general of 17 states and the District of Columbia. Bianca Quilantan has more. AN ARRAY OF HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERS CONTINUED THEIR PUSH TO DELAY THE TITLE IX RULE in a Wednesday letter to DeVos that asks the department to stave off the deadline. — "Now is not the time to add to [economic] burdens by requiring campuses to implement the most complex and challenging regulations issued in the Department's history," said a letter signed by leaders of multiple organizations including the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, American Council on Education, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and the United Negro College Fund. SENATE PASSES CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE LIMITS: The Concerns Over Nations Funding University Campus Institutes in the United States, or CONFUCIUS, Act, S. 939 (116), was passed by unanimous consent, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) announced Wednesday. — The legislation, which comes as Republicans have scrutinized academia's relationship with China, would require universities to have strict contracts with Confucius Institutes on their campuses or risk losing out on some federal funding. Bianca breaks down the bill here. NLRB RULES IT HAS NO JURISDICTION OVER WORKERS AT PRIVATE RELIGIOUS COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: The NLRB on Wednesday overturned a 2014 ruling, which previously found faculty members petitioning for a union would be under the NLRB's umbrella unless they perform a "specific role" in the school's religious education. — The case stemmed from an unfair labor practice complaint filed against Bethany College in Kansas , which alleged the school had prohibited workers from disclosing the details of a proposed tenure plan and discussing their working conditions. POLITICO's Rebecca Rainey has the story. | | | THE CHALLENGE TO REOPEN K-12 SCHOOLS AGAIN TOOK CENTER STAGE ON CAPITOL HILL on Wednesday. — Reopening elementary and high schools will require everything from personal protective equipment to additional support for students as the nation grapples with systemic racism, education leaders told senators during a Senate HELP committee hearing. — "Unfortunately what we're seeing in a lot of places is a degree of paralysis, because if you're anticipating a 20 to 30 percent cut in state aid, that will be devastating," said John King Jr., the president and CEO of the Education Trust and former Education secretary. "That will mean layoffs, program elimination. And so districts are, in a sense, stuck waiting to see if Congress will help states." — Here are five essential takeaways from Wednesday's hearing, courtesy of Nicole Gaudiano. COMMISSION CALLS FOR CIVIC EDUCATION INVESTMENTS: A bipartisan group convened by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has released 31 recommendations for "reinventing" American democracy that include expanding voting instruction for teenagers, revamping civic education and investing more in professional development for teachers. | | | NEW YORK CITY MAYOR REJECTS CALLS TO REMOVE NYPD FROM SCHOOLS: Bill de Blasio said he was not prepared to take security at public schools away from the city police department and put the Department of Education in charge, POLITICO's Erin Durkin reports. — "I personally believe that the better approach is to continue what we have but improve it, reform it," de Blasio said Wednesday. "The safety issue is not resolved in schools at this point, and ... school safety is necessary in its current form to keep ensuring the safety of our kids." — School safety officers employed by the NYPD have patrolled city schools since former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's administration. De Blasio has in recent days received harsh criticism for his defense of the NYPD's forceful response to protests against police brutality, losing support from New Yorkers who voted for him as well as his own staff. | | | — FutureEd and Attendance Works have a new report examining how schools should measure attendance in distance learning and how to adapt existing strategies to the new realities. | | | — All eyes on Congress: For schools, the next stimulus package will shape the future: Chalkbeat — Why You Should Take Advantage of Slashed Student Loan Interest Rates: U.S. News — My Mom Is 55, Is Black, and Just Returned to Work in a Doctor's Office in New York City. That's Why I'm Scared: The 74 — Catholic School Closures Rise Amid Covid-19, Recession: Education Week — Brown University will reinstate the varsity status of its men's track, field and cross country teams: Brown University | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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