Posts Tagged: New England Council (NEC)

U.S. Ed Dept Calls for Remaking University Middle East Programs with More Focus on “Positive” Aspects of Judaism and Christianity

DC Shuttle ... Ed Dept Orders Two Universities to Overhaul Middle East Programs. The U.S. Department of Education ordered Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to remake their Middle East studies program run jointly between the two schools. The letter sent to the universities reveals that the Education Department found the program to have a biased curriculum that d...

“Jump Start on College Act” Would Fund Dual Enrollment, Early College High Schools

DC Shuttle ... House Passes Bill to End Sexual Harassment in Science - On Tuesday, July 23rd, the House passed the Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act by voice vote. Introduced by House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK), the bill takes recommendations offered in a National Academies of Sciences, Enginee...

How Do Lawmakers Spell Relief?

DC Shuttle ... Warren and Clyburn Introduce Bicameral Student Debt Relief Bill. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) introduced bicameral legislation that would expand student loan forgiveness to 42 million federal and private borrowers. The Student Loan Debt Relief Act would automatically cancel up to $50,000 of debt for households with an income under $100,0...

Teachers Sue DeVos for Deliberately Mismanaging Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

DC Shuttle ... Lawsuit Filed Against Secretary DeVos. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) filed a lawsuit against U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, alleging deliberate mismanagement of the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The PSLF program, authorized by Congress in 2007, was designed to enable qualifying public service workers to discharge the balance on their stu...

Crackdown on Donations-for-Admissions

DC Shuttle ... Legislation Would Require Reporting of Donations to Colleges. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced legislation that would eliminate tax deductions for donations made to colleges unless the institutions have policies asserting that family donations don't influence admissions. The bill, the College Admissions Fairness Act, would amend the Higher Education Act to require colleges r...

A U.S. Wall for Chinese Students?

DC Shuttle ... China Warns Students of Risk in US. China warned students about the "risks" of going to the U.S. China warned students to think about the risks associated with attending college in the U.S., the Washington Post reported. Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Monday, Xu Yongji, an official from the Education Ministry, said that the Trump administration and Congress had "politicized ...

House Dems Would Bump Up Funds for Pell Grants, Federal Work-Study, Teacher Development

DC Shuttle ... House Subcommittee Approves Education Spending Bill. House Democrats released the text of their education spending bill for fiscal 2020, and it was approved at markup by the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee a day later. The full Appropriations Committee will consider the bill at a markup this Wednesday. The legislation would provide $189.8 billion for the...

Pell Grant Experiment Has Offered “Second Chance” to 8,800 Incarcerated Students

DC Shuttle ... Ed Dept Meeting on Pell Grants for Prisoners. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave opening remarks at an Education Department roundtable where officials got an update on an ongoing experiment offering Pell Grants to prisoners. The roundtable addressed a GAO report detailing the experimental program, which was started under the Obama administration and has been extended by th...

Senate HELP Chair Aims to Reauthorize Higher Ed Act, Simplify FAFSA This Year

DC Shuttle ... Alexander Outlines HEA Plans. U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander gave a speech at the American Enterprise Institute to discuss his outlook for the Higher Education Act (HEA). Alexander previewed his intentions for the work of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which he chairs, and said he intends to work on reauthorization of the HEA. He laid out goals for ...

Raising Minimum Wage, Investing in Public Schools Among Topics Unveiled by House Democrats

DC Shuttle ... House Ed Committee Meets to Organize Work Agenda. The U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor held an organizational markup to appoint Democratic and Republican members to Subcommittees for the 116th Congress. During the meeting, Committee Democrats announced the first four hearing topics planned for the 116th Congress: protecting workers with pre-existing conditions; gra...