| | | | | |  | | By Juan Perez Jr. | With help from Nicole Gaudiano and 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. | | | — American campuses and classrooms are empty and quiet as protests continue over George Floyd's death in police custody. — Arizona is joining several other states that are rejecting private school funding guidance from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. — Administrators at New York colleges are planning for classes to resume, but they're grappling with a number of variables and unknowns. IT'S TUESDAY, JUNE 2. President Donald Trump urged broader National Guard deployments and promised military support to "dominate" the streets in a prime-time Rose Garden address, hours after he derided the nation's governors as "weak" and demanded tougher crackdowns on protesters. The forces unleashed by Floyd's death are already rattling Minnesota — and presidential — politics. Here's one take on why politics keeps tanking a bailout idea that works. 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. | | | WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? American families and teachers are struggling yet again with what to tell their children and students about this country's history with racism after days of protests and unrest over Floyd's death. — It's not just a conversation for dinner tables. Classrooms and quads are ideal stages for the insightful — and loud — discussions prompted by history's tensest moments. But schools are closed, depriving students of a critical venue to express their anguish and ask some of life's most difficult questions. — "While adults are struggling to make sense of the killings of black people , schoolchildren see the violence — in their communities and on television — and they rightfully ask, 'Why is this happening?'" National School Boards Association chief Anna Maria Chávez said in a statement on Monday. "That is a question that requires a thoughtful answer." — "I'm challenging our community — parents, teachers, students — to call racist behavior out when we see it," Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson wrote to families. "We've tolerated intolerance for far too long, and the time has come for us to act." — Chicago's school system suspended its grab-and-go meal program on Monday, following weekend demonstrations that saw the city scale back public transportation, enact a citywide curfew and restrict access to downtown. Temporarily closing more than 270 food distribution sites prompted a stream of criticism, and school officials said they would reopen meal sites today, "pending any significant developments." — A Confederate statue on the Ole Miss campus was vandalized during protests, leading university police to arrest a Mississippi public school teacher. The statue had the words "spiritual genocide" written out in black spray paint, along with red handprints, the Clarion-Ledger reported. — "If, going forward, we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation's long journey to live up to our highest ideals," former President Barack Obama wrote in a Medium post. LATER TODAY: The Minneapolis Public Schools board will meet to discuss a resolution to terminate its school resource officer contract with the city's police department. You can watch here starting at 6 p.m. ET. — "Recent actions of officers in the Minneapolis Police Department run directly counter to the values the District seeks in partners," the proposed resolution says. | | | | TOMORROW – GET A FRONT ROW SEAT FOR A LIVE INTERVIEW WITH U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION ELAINE CHAO. What does it take to lead a major government agency during a pandemic? Join Playbook co-authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman as they kick off our "Inside the Recovery" virtual interview series, with special guest Secretary Chao. The conversation will explore the role the Department of Transportation plays in the recovery, the state of the nation's infrastructure, and whether an infrastructure focused relief package can happen before the November election. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | MORE REJECTION FOR DEVOS GUIDANCE: DeVos wants to steer a greater share of coronavirus relief to private school students than usual under federal education law, but Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman advised school districts to follow the CARES Act, H.R. 748 (116), requirements. — The Arizona Department of Education is joining multiple other states in rejecting DeVos' guidance on giving emergency relief to private school kids. Meanwhile, the state superintendent in DeVos' home state of Michigan encouraged school districts to seek legal advice. — "The Department believes this approach is consistent with both Congressional intent and the U.S. Department of Education's longstanding interpretation" of education law referenced in the CARES Act," an Arizona Department of Education spokesperson wrote in an email on Monday. — The states are bucking DeVos as she crafts a new emergency rule that will be harder to ignore. Michael Rice, Michigan's state superintendent, wrote in a memo to districts that DeVos' argument "sounds reasonable but is not" and encouraged them to set aside the additional money that would go to private school kids. — Rice wrote, "MDE strongly recommends LEAs seek their own legal advice on the distribution and encourages LEAs to adopt an approach that protects them from exposure should USED's interpretation prove to be upheld." — Education departments in Maryland and Delaware also say they're following the CARES Act requirements. Wyoming hasn't determined how to distribute funding to support private school kids, but "as of right now, the Superintendent believes USED's guidance is contrary to the intent of Congress," Dicky Shanor, chief of staff at the Wyoming Department of Education, wrote in an email. | | | CONSUMER GROUPS SEEK INQUIRY INTO INCOME-SHARE AGREEMENT PROVIDER: Two consumer advocacy groups have formally asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Vemo Education Inc., a leading provider of income-share agreements. The National Consumer Law Center and Student Borrower Protection Center filed a complaint against Vemo with the FTC, accusing the company of misleading consumers about the true cost of its products and their federal student loan options. — Income-share agreements are contracts under which an investor provides funding to students to cover tuition that they then repay with a percentage of their future earnings. Proponents have been pushing the products as flexible alternatives to financing college, but some Democrats and consumer groups say they don't provide sufficient legal protections to students. — Vemo provides income-share agreements to students at a handful of colleges and universities, most prominently Purdue University, as well as coding bootcamps. — Jeff Weinstein, Vemo's co-founder and VP of strategic analytics, responded to the complaint in a statement: "Vemo Education has long advocated for strong protections for students who use income share agreements and a legal framework to establish guardrails for institutions and providers. Reflecting that commitment, we work tirelessly with our school partners to ensure that income share agreements (ISAs) are explained clearly and fairly to students." | | | BANKING ON IN-PERSON CLASSES: Colleges across New York are betting that they'll be allowed to reopen campuses in some capacity in time for the fall semester, POLITICO's Nick Niedzwiadek reports. — Yet administrators are still confronting a number of variables and unknowns, and they acknowledge things may be in flux right up until the start of class. — "I don't think any one of us want to open up in an online format," said Tim Lee, vice president for enrollment management at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. "You pick an institution for very specific reasons, and often that's the community." BUDGET WOES AT STANFORD: Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Provost Persis Drell addressed the school community on Monday, days after Tessier-Lavigne announced that the coronavirus pandemic has left the institution facing a "negative financial impact" of $267 million by the end of August. — " We must plan not just for a temporary budget blip that disappears by this fall, but rather an ongoing challenge that requires us to re-set expectations and chart a new steady state for the university's operations," Tessier-Lavigne said in a recent message to campus that warned of possible job cuts. RAISING ARIZONA: The Grand Canyon State is the latest to release guidelines on how K-12 schools might reopen this fall. The 41-page document hews roughly to CDC guidelines ; staggered scheduling and smaller class sizes are also part of the plan. One problem? Arizona state law "does not fully accommodate the need to implement new and multiple types of instructional models, including for distance learning," the guidelines said. WEEKEND CLASSES IN OKLAHOMA? The Oklahoma State Department of Education recently approved a waiver that authorizes school to be taught on Saturday, and count for attendance purposes in meeting state school year requirements. | | | | THE CRITICAL COVID-19 FACTS AND PERSPECTIVE YOU NEED, NIGHTLY: The coronavirus death count passed a grim milestone in the U.S. as a growing number of regions reopen parts of their economies. The debate on wearing masks continues to rage and schools are indefinitely closed. For critical Covid-19 insight, context and analysis from experts across our global newsroom choose POLITICO Nightly. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | — Opinion: States — not universities — should decide when campuses reopen: POLITICO Pro — Bipartisan House group pushes for budget reform in next pandemic aid bill: POLITICO Pro — High court backs Puerto Rico oversight board in blow to hedge funds: POLITICO Pro — New Jersey adopts stricter rules to limit PFAS chemicals in drinking water: POLITICO Pro | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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