Posts Tagged: the New England Council

Lawmakers, AGs Stand Up to DeVos on Religion and Title IX

DC Shuttle ... Democratic Lawmakers and Attorneys General Demand Education Department Withdraw Religious Exemption Draft Rules. Sixteen Democratic senators wrote a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over her proposed draft rules in relation to Title IX and religious institutions and groups. The proposed rules would expand eligibility for institutions claiming a religious exemption f...

House Boosts Holocaust Education Amid Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes

DC Shuttle ... House Passes Holocaust Education Bill. The U.S. House voted 393 to 5 to pass the Never Again Education Act, a bipartisan bill granting $10 million over five years to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The bill (HR 943) provides the funds to the museum in order to expand resources and programming to teachers for education about the Holocaust and preventing future incidents of pre...

College Board Study Reaffirms ROI of Higher Ed

DC Shuttle ... New Data Released on Returns of a College Degree. A report released this week showed new findings on the return-on-investment of a college degree. The report, released by the College Board, shows, amid other research indicating that students and their families are questioning the worth of a college education, that a bachelor's degree significantly increases median lifetime earnin...

Trump Signs Order that Some Say Could Chill Speech Critical of Israel

DC Shuttle ... Trump Signs Executive Order on Campus Anti-Semitism. President Donald Trump signed an executive order focused on anti-Semitism on college campuses. The order threatens to cut off federal funds to schools that don't curb discrimination against Jewish individuals. The Anti-Defamation League, a group that fights anti-Semitism, welcomed the executive order citing their reports of an in...

DeVos Wants a New Banker

DC Shuttle ... DeVos Calls for Federal Student Aid Office to Spin Off into a New Agency. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos pitched a proposal for federal student loans to be operated by "a stand-alone government corporation, run by a professional, expert and apolitical board of governors," instead of by the Education Department's Office of Federal Student Aid. At the department's annual conf...

Keeping Score

DC Shuttle ... Ed Dept Updates College Scorecard Database to Include Average Debt, Earnings of Specific College Programs. The U.S. Department of Education announced that its database College Scorecard will now let users compare data on the average student loan debt and postgraduate earnings by program of students within institutions. The site's new update reflects the bipartisan push for trans...

Could DACA Doubts Reign Supreme?

DC Shuttle ... Supreme Court Hears DACA Case, Reveals Little Hope for Program's Survival. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the oral arguments of a case to evaluate whether the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) decision to shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy is lawful. The conservative majority on the bench expressed little to no support of the plaintiff's co...

House May Subpoena Ed Secretary

DC Shuttle ... DeVos Declines to Testify Before House Panel; Subpoena Possible. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos turned down House Education Committee Chair Bobby Scott's (D-VA) request that she testify in front of the committee in regard to the Education Department's role in the erroneous collection of student loans from former Corinthian College students. House Democrats scheduled a heari...

Hassan Co-Sponsors Bill to Boost Dual Enrollment

DC Shuttle ... Bipartisan Senate Bill Introduced to Expand Dual Enrollment. U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced the Fast Track To and Through College Act that would create a grant program to help more students earn college credits while still in high school. Under the bill, states would be able to compete for grants to implement comprehensive early-college progra...

FAFSA Simplification Advances; Plus DeVos Under Fire

DC Shuttle ... Alexander Introduces Bipartisan Standalone FAFSA Bill. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) outlined a new higher education strategy on the Senate floor, introducing a bipartisan bill with Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) to simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSA simplification has been a top priority for the chai...