| | | | | |  | | By Juan Perez Jr. | Presented by AccessLex Institute | With help from Bianca Quilantan and Michael Stratford Editor's note: Weekly Education is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro's daily Education policy newsletter, Morning Education. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that 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. | 
A mother holds the hand of her daughter as she received a Covid-19 vaccination dose in New Orleans, La. | Mario Tama/Getty Images | TO MANDATE, OR NOT TO MANDATE — Covid-19 vaccine requirements for eligible students could be coming to a school system near you … if you have a Democratic governor. — California just took a major step in the fight against the pandemic. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who just survived a recall effort, announced last week that Covid-19 vaccines will be added to the state's list of immunizations required for school attendance. According to Newsom's office, middle- and high-schoolers will need to get vaccinated before the 2022-23 school year. — Covid-19 requirements have been taking hold across the country. Some local U.S. school systems and the state of Hawaii have begun to require teen athletes, band members and after-school program participants to get vaccinated. — But whether mandates like California's will catch on quickly is less clear. One reason: Republican lawmakers in broad swaths of the country have proactively outlawed Covid-19 vaccine mandates for schoolchildren and college students. Those laws won't be easy to unwind. — Pfizer and BioNTech recently submitted safety and efficacy data on the use of their vaccine in children between 5 and 11 years old to the Food and Drug Administration, and an agency decision is likely just weeks away. That vaccine is fully approved for those aged 16 and older, and available under an emergency authorization in adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15. But as Hemi Tewarson, the executive director of the National Academy of State Health Policy, told your host, not even a fully authorized vaccine for school children will be "the silver bullet" for imposing sweeping mandates. — "It will likely be more localized where we'll see action," she said. "I don't expect, at least in the immediate future, that we'll see 20 states coming forward and doing statewide mandates for kids." IT'S MONDAY, OCT. 4. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. White House officials do not have a timeline for passage of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda, White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond said. Reach out with tips to today's host at jperez@politico.com and also my colleagues Jessica Calefati ( jcalefati@politico.com), Michael Stratford (mstratford@politico.com) and Bianca Quilantan (bquilantan@politico.com). And don't forget to follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro. | | A message from AccessLex Institute: AccessLex Institute works to maximize the value and affordability of a law degree through policy advocacy, research and student-focused initiatives. With the cost of college and graduate school increasing, we routinely weigh in with policymakers about how to make higher education more accessible and affordable. You can make your voice heard, too, using our #MakeTheCase advocacy tools. | | | | | | | 
| THE STATE OF THE PANDEMIC — On Oct. 13, a new Ohio law will take effect, barring public schools from requiring anyone to get a vaccine that doesn't have full FDA approval. Schools also can't "discriminate against" unvaccinated individuals by requiring them to sit out of activities open to those who are vaccinated. — Because the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is now fully approved for people 16 years of age and older, some high schoolers, college students and school workers could still be subject to a vaccine mandate if their Ohio institution chooses to impose one. But younger children, for whom the Covid vaccines have only an emergency use authorization, would be exempt from vaccine mandates under the law. — Ohio's carefully-crafted statute is just one example of the kinds of Covid-19 vaccine prohibitions that keep local school systems or cities from requiring students to be immunized. Sixteen states prohibit some form of Covid-19 vaccine mandate for K-12 or college students, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy. — In Arizona, the same law that bans schools and cities from requiring face coverings also bars school districts and charter schools from requiring students or teachers to get Covid-19 vaccines in order to attend in-person classes. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has also signed a measure that specifies vaccines issued under emergency use authorizations cannot be required for school attendance. Local courts temporarily blocked Arizona's laws from taking effect, following a lawsuit from the state's school board association and its National Education Association affiliate, along with child advocates and parents. The measures must now come before the state Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments on Nov. 2. — In Florida, a law that expands on prior executive orders from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis now prohibits schools from requiring students to "provide any documentation certifying Covid-19 vaccination or post-infection recovery for attendance or enrollment," or to access entry or services from educational institutions. — In South Dakota, an executive order from Republican Gov. Kristi Noem prohibits state entities and local governments from requiring individuals to show proof of vaccination to enter government property or receive government services. — And in Tennessee, the state legislature and Republican Gov. Bill Lee approved a law that restricts the state and schools from requiring Covid-19 vaccines. — "I think there were state leaders that felt that we didn't have enough information about vaccines," when vaccine bans were instituted during state legislative sessions earlier this year, Tewarson said. There's also an "open question" about vaccine availability for very young children, she said, which could be part of why even states that permit schools to require Covid vaccination are "slow-walking" broader mandates. — Most state legislatures are now out of session, so unwinding vaccine requirement bans won't be easy — even if momentum somehow materializes to do so in conservative-led states. — "When there's a state law that prohibits requirements around vaccines, that essentially ties the hands of the local school districts," Tewarson said. | | | | INTRODUCING CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. GET A FIRST LOOK AT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | | | | | 
A pharmacist administers a Covid-19 vaccination dose to a teenager at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital in Lake Charles, La. | Mario Tama/Getty Images | LOOKING AHEAD — On Oct. 26, the Food and Drug Administration's independent vaccine advisory committee panel will discuss Pfizer's request to the FDA to authorize its Covid-19 shot for 5- to 11-year old children. — Covid booster shots for adults will also be part of the FDA's discussions this month, POLITICO's Katherine Ellen Foley reports , setting up a rough timeline for a slate of decisions that could help the country avoid another winter surge — and ultimately help bring the pandemic to an end. — "The vaccine could make a big difference for the health of our kids and for the peace of mind of parents everywhere," Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told reporters last week. "The Covid-19 vaccines are FDA's top priority, and they know the urgency with which our children need a vaccine," he said. | | | | A message from AccessLex Institute:   | | | | | | | 
A student works on a computer at Freedom Preparatory Academy in Provo, Utah. | George Frey/Getty Images | DEMOCRATS PRESS EDTECH SURVEILLANCE COMPANIES — A group of Democratic senators are urging four companies that sell software used to monitor students' online activity to ensure this technology isn't used to unfairly profile students or illegally violate their privacy. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a list of demands in letters to Gaggle, GoGuardian, Bark Technologies and Securly Inc. — "Education technology companies have developed software that are advertised to protect student safety, but may instead be surveilling students inappropriately, compounding racial disparities in school discipline, and draining resources from more effective student supports," they wrote. "We are concerned these products may extend far beyond the direction in federal laws to monitor online activity to protect children from exploitation and abuse." — The lawmakers want the companies to describe how their programs work to identify threats to students and how to flag them to schools or law enforcement. They also took issue with 24/7 surveillance of students on personal devices when they are signed into certain school accounts. Warren had also previously sent a letter to Zoom asking about its student safety and privacy protections during the pandemic and signed on to a letter about student privacy and racial bias in exam-proctoring software. | | | FIRST LOOK — DELAURO DINGS CARDONA DRAFT OVERHAUL OF 'BORROWER DEFENSE': Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, is urging the Biden administration to toughen up the consequences for colleges that the Education Department determines have defrauded or mistreated students. — In a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, DeLauro said she's concerned that the agency's plan to rewrite "borrower defense" rules governing loan forgiveness for defrauded borrowers would let the colleges responsible for the fraud off the hook too easily. — The administration's proposal "could render the recovery process toothless and fail to establish a strong deterrent effect that protects student borrowers," DeLauro wrote. She urged the department to "establish an expectation that there will always be straightforward, substantial consequences for the predatory actions that lead to a successful borrower defense claim." — The issue is among more than a dozen topics that a federal rulemaking panel will discuss this week as it debates the Biden administration's sweeping overhaul of federal higher education policy. The Education Department last week circulated draft proposals that will serve as a starting point for negotiations. — Education Department spokesperson Kelly Leon said in a statement that the administration believes "it is critical that any borrower defense rule contain a process for recouping funds from institutions for the cost of approved claims." She added: "We have received the letter and look forward to responding directly to its author." MOVEMENT ON MASK RULES — A Georgia Democrat is pressing the Biden administration to find ways to nudge colleges to require masks or Covid-19 vaccines on their campuses — especially in places where statewide mandates are banned, our Daniel Payne reports. — In a letter to Cardona on Friday, Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux asks whether the Biden administration's Covid-19 action plan — including vaccination, masking and testing requirements — would apply to colleges that accept federal grant money, according to a draft of the letter shared with POLITICO. Grant funding could soon become yet another arena in which Biden and Republican state leaders battle over how closely schools should follow CDC guidance. | | | | INTRODUCING OTTAWA PLAYBOOK : Join the growing community of Politicos — from lawmakers and leaders to pollsters, staffers, strategists and lobbyists — working to shape Canada's future. Every day, our reporting team pulls back the curtain to shed light on what's really driving the agenda on Parliament Hill, the true players who are shaping politics and policy across Canada, and the impact it all has on the world. Don't miss out on your daily look inside Canadian politics and power. Subscribe to Ottawa Playbook today. | | | | | | | | THE NEEDS OF IMMIGRANT STUDENTS — Approximately 321,000 undocumented and asylum-seeking children from Central America and Mexico were enrolled in U.S. schools in 2020, according to a new RAND Corporation report. — An estimated three-quarters of the recent arrivals settled in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Georgia, North Carolina and Louisiana. — These children have a federal right to access public education, regardless of their immigration status. But to maintain teacher-student classroom ratios and accommodate recent arrivals, multiple states would have needed to hire an additional 1,000 teachers, according to the report. The two school districts with most new arrivals — Los Angeles County and Harris County, Texas — would also have each needed to hire at least an additional 1,000 new teachers from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2019. | | A message from AccessLex Institute: As policymakers debate various issues and negotiate different pieces of legislation, it is critical they hear from constituents. If you are a student loan borrower or higher education administrator, it is important to call or email your representatives and tell them how changes in higher education policy will impact you.
Whether it's fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, ensuring that graduate students have access to federal financing and benefits, or improving income-driven repayment plans to make repayment truly manageable, it is important you make your voice heard!
Reach out to your elected officials today to #MakeTheCase for policies that work better for students and student loan borrowers. Not sure how to get started? Check out AccessLex Institute's advocacy resources. We make it easy with fact sheets, tips on effective advocacy and an online tool you can use to email your representatives. | | | | | | — In a California desert, sheriff's deputies settle schoolyard disputes. Black teens bear the brunt: ProPublica — Georgia parents sue major school district for not ordering masks: Associated Press — Less than one-third of New Mexico State University's students submitted proof of vaccination by deadline. Why so few?: Las Cruces Sun-News — Nevada's higher education system approves employee Covid-19 vaccine mandate: Las Vegas Review-Journal | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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