We Did it: FLOTUS and Cardona hit the road again — Battle heats up over whether DeVos must testify in lawsuit — Biden picks former Rep. Gwen Graham for Education Department role

Apr 19, 2021

Presented by Sallie Mae

With help from Bianca Quilantan

Editor's Note: Welcome to Weekly Education: Coronavirus special edition. Each week, we will explore how the pandemic is reshaping and upending education as we know it across the country, from pre-K through grad school. We will explore the debates of the day, new challenges and talk to movers and shakers about whether changes ushered in now are here to stay.

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BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SPOTLIGHTS COMMUNITY COLLEGE: First lady Jill Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona are heading to Illinois today to visit a community college. Cardona and the first lady will be joined by Democratic Gov. J. B. Pritzker as they visit Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, Ill.

— It's Cardona's first visit to an institution of higher education since he was confirmed last month. He's largely focused his attention on K-12 schools as part of his school reopening tour across the country.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona speaks during a roundtable session in Connecticut.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona speaks during a roundtable session in New Haven, Connecticut. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

— Community colleges have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. While college enrollment overall has declined during the pandemic, the number of students attending community colleges has fallen the most. Enrollment at two-year public colleges fell by nearly 10 percent last fall, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse.

— The Biden administration's focus on community colleges comes as the White House is expected in the coming weeks to unveil its proposal to make community college free for students. "We're expecting an aggressive, high-profile push for America's College Promise and our colleges are extremely enthusiastic about it," David Baime, senior vice president for government relations and policy analysis at the American Association of Community Colleges, told Morning Education.

— President Joe Biden's infrastructure proposal includes major new funding for community colleges. The package would dedicate $12 billion for schools to upgrade their physical and technological infrastructure as well as $48 billion in new workforce training programs.

— But, as Bianca reports this morning, there's a fight already brewing over the push for free community college: Community colleges see it as a boon after years of financial struggles, while some four-year colleges see it as a potential threat to their sagging enrollment.

— "If you really want to screw things up, pit the sectors against one another," said J. Noah Brown, president of the Association of Community College Trustees. "When the sectors are pitted against one another, as you can well imagine, community colleges tend to lose more. I'm very worried about it."

— Meanwhile, federal funding for community colleges will be front and center at a House hearing this week. The Appropriations subcommittee overseeing education funding will hold a hearing on federal investment in community colleges on Tuesday.

IT'S MONDAY, APRIL 19. WELCOME TO MORNING EDUCATION. Please send tips to your host at mstratford@politico.com or to my colleagues, Juan Perez Jr. at jperez@politico.com, and Bianca Quilantan at bquilantan@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro.

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First Look

PROGRESSIVES UNHAPPY WITH BIDEN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT'S STANCE IN COURT: A group of progressive activists this morning is sending another letter to Cardona, saying they're concerned the Biden administration isn't moving quickly enough to dismantle the Trump administration's "disastrous legacy" on student loans and for-profit colleges.

— The groups, led by Demand Progress, are criticizing the Biden administration's defense in court of Trump-era policies, including the repeal of the gainful employment rule and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewrite of regulations governing online colleges. The Biden administration has indicated it wants to change both of those policies, but it has continued to fight legal challenges to them brought by Democratic attorneys generals and other groups.

— The progressive organizations also take issue with the Biden administration siding with DeVos in her legal effort to avoid having to testify about her handling of borrower defense claims (more on that in a bit).

— "The Biden Administration has an opportunity to reverse the damage to the American education system brought on by DeVos's disastrous tenure," the letter says. "In order to do so, the Department of Education must stop doubling-down on defending the Trump Administration's positions in every case involving student lending issues."

In Congress

EDUCATION NOMINEES UP FOR A VOTE THIS WEEK: The Senate HELP Committee has scheduled a vote Wednesday on Biden's picks for the No. 2 and 3 officials at the Education Department. The committee will take up the nominations of Cindy Marten to be deputy secretary and James Kvaal to be undersecretary of Education.

— Both Marten and Kvaal appear to be on track for swift committee approval. Sen. Richard Burr , the top Republican on the evenly divided panel, has said he's likely to support both nominees.

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING : The Biden administration is quickly approaching 100 days in office — has it delivered on its early promises? What tactics and strategies are being debated in West Wing offices? What's really being talked about behind the scenes in negotiations with Congress on the infrastructure plan? Add Transition Playbook to your daily reads for details that you won't find anywhere else that reveal what's really happening inside the West Wing and across the executive branch. Track the people, policies and power centers of the Biden administration. Subscribe today .

Education Department

BIDEN PICKS FORMER MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO LEAD EDUCATION LEGISLATION AFFAIRS: Biden plans to nominate former Rep. Gwen Graham (D-Fla.) as the assistant secretary of Education for legislation and congressional affairs, the White House announced on Friday.

— It's an unusually high-profile pick for the role, who acts as a liaison between the Education Department and congressional offices. Graham, the daughter of Bob Graham, former Florida governor and U.S. senator, ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for governor in 2018.

— Graham tweeted on Friday: "I'm so humbled to be nominated by President Biden to help serve America's students, educators, and families. If confirmed, I'll throw myself into this position, and fulfilling the President's commitment to education, with all of my heart and soul."

— Cardona praised in the nomination in a statement Friday: "Graham's prior service to her local communities and to our country will be instrumental in shaping and implementing the Department's legislative goals and strategies. I am thankful for her willingness to serve our nation's students at the Department and look forward to her swift confirmation."

In the courts

LEGAL BATTLE OVER DEVOS TESTIFYING IN STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS CASE HEATS UP: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied DeVos' request that it immediately intervene in an ongoing fight over whether she must testify in a class-action lawsuit about the Trump administration's handling of borrower defense claims.

— DeVos last week asked the appeals court for "urgent intervention" to halt the transfer of her subpoena dispute from a federal court in Florida to the judge in California who has been overseeing the lawsuit. That judge, William Alsup, has issued rulings critical of the Trump administration's sweeping rejections of loan forgiveness claims and he's previously signaled that he's open to requiring DeVos to testify in the matter.

— The 11th Circuit on Friday issued a two-page order denying that request to immediately halt the transfer of the subpoena dispute to Alsup while the appeals court considers the entire emergency request made by DeVos. DeVos has also asked that the 11th Circuit strike down the subpoena compelling her to testify.

— Meanwhile, over the weekend, DeVos' personal attorney asked Alsup to suspend his consideration of the subpoena fight until the 11th Circuit rules.

Higher Education

CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS OUTLINE STUDENT DEBT CANCELLATION PROPOSAL: A coalition of education and civil rights groups this morning is calling on the Biden administration to cancel $50,000 of student loan debt per borrower — and to make sure the benefit applies to borrowers broadly and equitably.

— The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an umbrella group of civil rights organizations, unveiled a new set of principles on student loan debt cancellation. They said that student debt cancellation should extend to all borrowers, regardless of their income, the type of school they attended or the degree they received. And they urged the Biden administration to pair sweeping loan forgiveness with policies to address long-term affordability of higher education. Read the full document here.

— Vanita Gupta, the president and chief executive officer of the Leadership Conference, is Biden's nominee to be the No. 3 official at the Justice Department. The White House has said DOJ and the Education Department are reviewing whether to recommend that Biden take executive action to cancel student loan debt.

DOJ UNVEILS CHARGES IN TEMPLE BUSINESS SCHOOL U.S. NEWS RANKINGS SCANDAL: Federal prosecutors on Friday announced fraud charges against the former dean of Temple University's business school, accusing him of conspiring to provide false information to U.S. News to artificially boost the rankings of the school's online and part-time MBA programs.

— Moshe Porat, who was dean of the business school from 1996 until 2018, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams said in a statement that Porat misrepresented information about the business school "in order to defraud the rankings system, potential students, and donors."

— Porat's attorney, Michael Schwartz, said in a statement to Bloomberg that his client "looks forward to defending himself against these charges and to clearing his name."

— Prosecutors also charged a former statistics professor at the school and a former finance manager with conspiring with Porat in the alleged scheme.

— Flashback: Temple last year agreed to pay $700,000 to resolve Education Department findings that it intentionally falsified and misled students about the U.S. News' rankings of its business school. The Trump administration said at the time that some students who attended the school could be eligible for loan forgiveness because of the school's misconduct. The university previously reached a settlement over the issue with Pennsylvania's Democratic attorney general , and it paid more than $5 million to settle a private class action settlement to former students.

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Movers and Shakers

— Kaitlyn Vitez has joined the American Association of University Professors as government relations officer. She was previously the higher education campaigns director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

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