U.S. Department of Education
Ohio AG Dave Yost asks U.S. Dept. of Education not to rescind part of religious rule
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Education sent last week asking to keep a rule from the Trump administration requiring public universities to uphold the First Amendment when it comes to religious groups on campuses. The current rule, which the federal education department is trying to get rid […]
A watchdog says the feds aren’t doing enough to investigate problem colleges
WASHINGTON — Incomplete written guidelines and penalties that had not been updated since 2016. Significant turnover and reductions among staff. Changing agency priorities and department probes put “on hold.” Over the past six years, these problems have stifled the U.S. Department of Education’s investigations team that is supposed to probe colleges that misrepresent themselves to […]
New federal student loan repayment plan aimed at low-income borrowers
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education unveiled a proposal Tuesday that would overhaul a federal student loan income-driven repayment plan, and, if implemented, could help millions of low-income borrowers. However, it’s unclear how the agency would be able to finance the program. Many student debt relief advocates also criticized the proposal for leaving out […]
U.S. education secretary urges boost in teacher pay, touts college debt relief
WASHINGTON — Amid K-12 teacher shortages, book bans and attacks over critical race theory, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona at a meeting with reporters on Wednesday stressed the need for higher salaries to attract prospective educators to the profession. Cardona also touted the Biden administration’s recent student debt relief announcement in late August. The White House said President Joe Biden […]
Ohio Governor joins 17 other governors in fighting federal charter school limits
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is standing with nearly two dozen other governors in fighting against a proposed federal rule limiting charter school creation. The new rule would be a change to the U.S. Department of Education Charter School Program, and would require charters to prove that a school district they want to join is “over-enrolled” […]
Candidate for Ohio governor pushes summer school to account for COVID learning loss
One gubernatorial candidate is saying the state should push for voluntary summer school to account for losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and his running mate, state Sen. Theresa Fedor, D-Toledo, told reporters on Monday that the state has a “moral obligation” to pay for students to hit the books this […]
Pause on federal student loan repayments extended by Biden through Aug. 31
The Biden administration Wednesday announced its plans to extend the pause on federal student loan repayments until the end of August. “I recognized in recently extending the COVID-19 national emergency, we are still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic disruption it caused,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “If loan payments were to […]
Students defrauded by for-profit colleges to get millions in loan repayments
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday that nearly 16,000 student borrowers would receive millions in loan repayments, after the department found that four private for-profit institutions made misleading claims about their job placement rates. “The Department remains committed to giving borrowers discharges when the evidence shows their college violated the law and […]
HBCU leaders decry waves of bomb threats as federal investigators probe origin
WASHINGTON — Hours before the Southern Poverty Law Center held a virtual panel Tuesday about recent bomb threats made to dozens of historically Black colleges, yet another bomb threat was reported — this one to Spelman College, a historically Black institution in Georgia. “This was a racist attack that aims to not only disrupt the start of Black History Month, […]
Biden extends student loan repayment pause three more months
President Joe Biden will continue a pandemic-spurred pause on student loan repayments until May 1, he said Wednesday. Loan repayments were set to restart Jan. 31, following months of the U.S. Education Department not requiring payments during the pandemic. Biden told the department to extend the moratorium initially placed by President Donald Trump’s administration. It […]
Biden administration resists Democrats’ pleas on student debt relief as deadline nears
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats are urging the White House to extend the freeze on student loan repayments, and for the president to cancel up to $50,000 of student debt — but so far the administration is not budging. The standoff is one of the more noticeable splits between President Joe Biden and members of his […]
Biden administration pressures Florida Gov. DeSantis over school mask policies
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has written Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis saying that if his administration withholds state funding from school districts that enact mask mandates, those schools can use federal coronavirus relief dollars to make up for the penalties. In a letter to DeSantis and Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote […]