Tag: Miguel Cardona

Education Secretary Cardona Supports Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations for Eligible School Children

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Sept. 23 shared his support for making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for eligible school children. “Not only do I support it, but I’m encouraging states to come up with a plan to make sure it happens,” Cardona told POLITICO. “I would like governors who hold those decisions to make those decisions now that [vaccines]…


Biden Admin to Provide New Grants for Schools That Defy State Order, Impose Mask Mandate

School districts that defy their states’ orders by implementing mask requirements and other COVID-19 restrictions are expected to receive new financial support from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Education on Thursday announced that it will start a new grant program called Project SAFE (Supporting America’s Families and Educators). In the coming weeks, eligible…


Biden Admin Opens Civil Rights Investigations in 5 States That Ban School Mask Mandates

The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it has opened investigations in five Republican-led states that ban mask mandates in schools, saying such policy could be discriminatory against students with disabilities. In letters sent to chief state school officers of Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights…


Biden Admin to Eliminate $5.8 Billion in Federal Student Debt for Borrowers With Disabilities

The Biden administration on Thursday said it will discharge more than $5.8 billion in student loans, a move that aims to help ease the financial burden on hundreds of thousands of borrowers who have permanent disabilities. According to the announcement by the Department of Education, those classified as totally and permanently disabled (TPD) by the…


Education Secretary Dodges Questions on CRT, Refuses to Say How Many Genders There Are

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Thursday faced a barrage of questions from House Republicans regarding his department’s endorsement of critical race theory (CRT) and LGBTQ activism, which he downplayed, saying he trusts individual educators to decide what they need to teach. During a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on the priorities of the Education…


Top House Republicans Demand Answers From Biden Admin on CCP Influence in Higher Education

Two House Republican leaders are asking the Biden administration whether it has a plan to investigate China’s financial ties with American colleges and universities and counter the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) economic influence in higher education. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the top Republican on the House Education Committee, and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who chairs…


Biden Admin Turns Down Petition to Enforce Title IX Based on Biological Sex

The Biden administration has declined a request by a feminist organization to affirm that Title IX regulations will be enforced based on biological sex, rather than a person’s self-identification as male, female, or anything else. In February, the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) petitioned (pdf) the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to make a ruling…


Education Secretary: Too Soon to Say All Children Will be Back in School in the Fall

It’s too soon to confirm that all K-12 students in the United States can resume in-person learning in the fall, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on Wednesday. “It’s premature to tell. One thing that I know as a former commissioner of education, COVID-19 numbers will dictate how we move to reopen schools. So, it’s not just…


Education Secretary: Premature to Say All Children to Be Back in School in Fall

It’s too soon to confirm that all K-12 students in the United States can resume in-person learning in the fall, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on March 24. “It’s premature to tell. One thing that I know as a former commissioner of education, COVID-19 numbers will dictate how we move to reopen schools,” Cardona said during…


Biden Admin Rescinds Trump Policy, Cancels $1 Billion in Federal Student Loan Debt

The U.S. Department of Education said it has scrapped a Trump-era policy in order to fully erase federal student loan debt for borrowers who claim they didn’t receive the kind of college education they were promised. The change, according to the newly-confirmed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, is expected to ultimately help approximately 72,000 borrowers receive…