Latest news with #Biden-HarrisAdministration
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
As part of $1 billion in school mental health cuts, Wisconsin loses roughly $8 million
When the Biden-Harris Administration awarded the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction $10 million over a five-year period to improve youth mental health services in December, it was the largest-ever expansion of K-12 mental health programs in the state to date. And it wasn't just Wisconsin. The investment was poised to help train and hire an additional 4,000 mental health professionals to schools nationally at a time when increasing mental health concerns among students compounded ongoing shortages of school-based mental health professionals. But May 2, it was learned that less than a year into the grant cycle, the federal Department of Education abruptly terminated the grant earlier in the week. Wisconsin DPI received an email titled "Notice of Non-Continuation of Grant Award" informing the state agency that the Trump administration had determined "not to continue your federal award … in its entirety, effective at the end of your current grant budget period." Nationally, the Trump administration discontinued $1 billion in grants that supported school-based mental health programs. The grants were funded through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a landmark gun safety law passed in the wake of a massacre three years ago in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 elementary school students and two teachers dead. Specifically, the Trump administration took issue with programs that educated mental health professionals about systemic racism and trained therapists to focus on race-related stress and trauma, among other things, said Madi Biedermann, a spokesperson for the Education Department, according to USA Today. So far, $2.2 million of the Wisconsin grant had gone toward expanding online certification pathways, developing 'grow your own' university programs for future school-based mental health providers, and offering statewide training and professional development to improve retention rates of mental health professionals. The remaining roughly $8 million will not be awarded. The 2024 grant was built off the success of a 2020 pilot grant from the federal government, which had put an additional 348 new mental health professionals into local education agencies across Wisconsin since the 2021-2022 school year. Wisconsin was one of a handful of states involved in the pilot program. In hiring more mental health professionals, the state also shrunk its troublingly high ratio of students to school-based mental health professionals by 14% at school districts selected for the pilot program. The pilot program was considered so successful that Wisconsin became one of 22 states to be awarded a five-year grant. Nevertheless, the Trump administration says the grant "no longer effectuates the best interest of the federal government.' DPI Superintendent Jill Underly called the decision to eliminate the grant indefensible at a time when communities have been pleading for help serving student mental health needs. 'These funds ― which Wisconsin used to make meaningful change for our schools ― were helping districts and our higher education partners develop new mental health professionals, providing a career opportunity for our current high schoolers," Underly said. "This action takes resources away from Wisconsin and disrupts the success efforts we've made to ensure qualified individuals are serving our kids." Now, DPI hopes that its historic proposal to invest more than $300 million in school mental health programs over the 2025-27 biennium makes its way through the Republican-controlled Legislature. The provision would invest in the now-stymied school-based mental health services program, expand aid for mental health care costs, invest in alcohol and drug abuse programs, add more mental health training across school staff, and extend peer-to-peer suicide prevention programs to middle schools. Success, however, is considered unlikely based on previous years. DPI had requested $278 million over the 2023-25 biennium, but received about $74 million in mental health services across K-12 Wisconsin schools. The 2021-23 biennial budget allocated less than half that amount ― $44 million ― into youth mental health services. 'Kids don't get a chance to do-over their school experience while the federal government recalibrates its political agenda,' Underly said. 'Federal funds are a critical part of our infrastructure, and these disruptions need to stop.' This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump cuts funds for mental health professionals in Wisconsin schools
CNBC
25-04-2025
- Politics
- CNBC
U.S. Education Dept investigates UC Berkeley's foreign funding disclosures
The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley's foreign funding disclosures, the department said on Friday. The investigation, which is seeking records relating to foreign sources of funding to the university, was initiated after a review found Berkeley's disclosures to the government may be "incomplete or inaccurate," the department said in a statement. The department cited 2023 media reports indicating that Berkeley failed to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from a foreign government. The investigation comes two days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to enforce existing laws requiring universities to disclose specific details about foreign funding, including the source and purpose of the funds, amid worries by Trump of foreign influence at universities. "Over the course of the last two years, UC Berkeley has been cooperating with federal inquiries regarding 117 reporting issues, and we will continue to do so," Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof said in an email to Reuters. The department launched a similar investigation into Harvard University last week. "The Biden-Harris Administration turned a blind eye to colleges and universities' legal obligations by deprioritizing oversight and allowing foreign gifts to pour onto American campuses," said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. The Trump administration has launched a crackdown against top U.S. universities, over pro-Palestinian campus protests and a range of other topics like transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding to those institutions. Rights advocates have condemned what they call an assault on free speech and academic freedom.
Boston Globe
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump seeks ‘common sense' discipline in schools; critics warn of civil rights rollback
Advertisement The order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to issue new guidance in place of President Joe Biden's, which had said schools that unfairly discipline students could be violating civil rights law and lose federal funds. The 2014 Obama policy, which later was rescinded by Trump, was based on the theory of 'disparate impact,' the idea a policy could violate federal law just by disproportionately affecting one race or ethnic group, even if the policy is facially neutral and evenly applied. Related : In the decade since, school discipline rates in Massachusetts have gone down for all racial and ethnic groups, and gaps have narrowed among the groups. Biden's recommendations were less sweeping than President Barack Obama's, but the declining discipline rate continued here. Trump's order describes the Obama policy as requiring schools to discriminate based on race and orders McMahon to take action against states and districts that racially discriminate. The Trump administration also Advertisement 'Under the Biden-Harris Administration, schools were forced to consider equity and inclusion when imposing discipline,' McMahon said in a statement. 'Their policies placed racial equity quotas over student safety — encouraging schools to turn a blind eye to poor or violent behavior in the name of inclusion." The order also seems to take issue with data collection encouraged under Biden. Concerns about Nadia Romanazzi, a spokesperson for the social justice-focused Massachusetts Appleseed Center, said her center finds the policies concerning and wants the state to step up. 'There is significant research and data that show that there are large discipline disparities between students of color and their white counterparts, and that these disparities are not necessarily a result of difference in actual behaviors, but rather a difference in the enforcement mechanisms of the discipline policies,' Romanazzi said. For example, she said, the Supporters of the Trump policy argue that in recent years, that script has been flipped, and schools were treating students of color more leniently so those students wouldn't face more discipline. 'Students need to be treated equally,' said Bourne School Committee member Kari MacRae. 'We can't have a certain set of rules for students based on their race. That's really what was happening.' Advertisement MacRae previously worked as a teacher in Hanover but lost her job in 2021 after posting a series of social media videos 'Then it became a directive that we had to manage things in the classroom, because the data was showing we were sending too many students to the principals,' MacRae said. 'The Trump administration is about going back to common sense.' Pam Ahern, president of Parental Rights Natick, said in a statement her group 'supports unbiased school policies and practices that favor the individual versus the collective.' 'We hope the federal government's executive order is a step toward restoring smart, color-blind, and common sense policies that support the safety of all students regardless of their identity traits,' she said. Other advocates, however, said the order is not the solution even if student behavior is a real concern. Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, said by limiting data collection, the order 'takes away our ability to know what the problems are.' Trump's order does not explicitly prohibit collecting data on racial disparities in discipline. But it takes issue with the Biden administration encouraging schools to collect and analyze that data and adjust policies in response. 'The 2023 guidance thus effectively reinstated the practice of weaponizing Title VI to promote an approach to school discipline based on discriminatory equity ideology,' the order reads. Advertisement Tang noted the state has 'You can't erase the impacts of decades of real discrimination,' she said. 'Ignoring the data, or not tracking it, doesn't mean that things are better, or that civil rights are not being violated.' Related : In many schools around the country, Black students have been In Massachusetts, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has a ' 'The goal of Rethinking Discipline is to help reduce the inappropriate or excessive use of long-term suspension and expulsion, an effort that benefits all students," said spokesperson Jacqueline Reis. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Christopher Huffaker can be reached at
Black America Web
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
Trump's Latest EO Promoting ‘Stircter School Discipline' Discourages Schools From Considering Racial Disparities
Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE Source: SAUL LOEB / Getty On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed executive orders purported to promote stricter school discipline — whatever that means. No, seriously, there's nothing in these orders that unambiguously states what constitutes stricter school discipline. The only thing clear about the agenda behind the orders is also the most predictable thing: It's more of Trump's anti-DEI propganda. From CHALKBEAT: The executive orders target civil rights guidance from the Obama administration that Trump revoked during his first administration and Biden never formally restored. Some school leaders, teachers, and conservative education advocates blamed the Obama-era guidance for deteriorating safety conditions in schools, alleging that administrators let bad behavior slide rather than risk additional scrutiny. The most recent federal data, from the 2021-22 school year, shows students report fewer assaults and less harassment and bullying than they did a decade ago. Still, a rise in school shootings along with viral videos of vicious assaults have fueled fears about school safety. Two-thirds of schools reported at least one violent incident on campus in the 2021-22 school year. Under former President Barack Obama, the Education Department warned schools that policies that led to students of certain racial groups being suspended or expelled at much higher rates could be discriminatory. In particular, Black students tend to be suspended at higher rates than other students. This approach to civil rights enforcement is an example of disparate impact analysis, which considers whether ostensibly race-neutral policies affect certain racial or ethnic groups differently. The executive orders ban the use of disparate impact analysis in civil rights enforcement and threaten schools with consequences if they use 'racial discrimination and preferencing' in school discipline. 'Under the Biden-Harris Administration, schools were forced to consider equity and inclusion when imposing discipline,' Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. 'Their policies placed racial equity quotas over student safety, encouraging schools to turn a blind eye to poor or violent behavior in the name of inclusion.' So, just to recap: There is no evidence whatsoever that studying racially disproportionate disciplinary actions made schools less safe, and the data indicates that, at best, the opposite is true. But the Trump administration will do what it always does, which is repeat lies without presenting evidence and then using those lies to justify policy. In this case, Trump's orders not only make DEI unlawful, but they also make it unlawful to observe and study any data that might indicate the need for DEI. Look, the MAGA world will always call it 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' whenever we suggest that the president is dabbling in fascism, but a government leader using government authority to forcibly stifle ideas said government leader opposes is very much a cornerstone of Hitler's guide to beating society into Nazi-esque submission . Also, because white conservatives have generally turned diversity, equity and inclusion into a catch-all umbrella term — just as they did critical race theory and the ubiquoutous thing they call 'woke' — the administration has blindly tossed the 'DEI' label behind disparate impact analysis by requiring that federal officials to author a report analyzing 'DEI-based school discipline and its consequences' to ensure the federal government doesn't fund 'racially preferential policies' such as model school discipline policies. The report should include information about the status of 'discriminatory-equity-ideology-based school discipline and behavior modification techniques in American public education.' (The use of the term 'discriminatory equity' alone tells us that this administration is just throwing words together with no regard to what they actually mean.) And then there's the underlying message: Black kids are bad and studying racial disparities means they won't be punished for it. This goes back to McMahon's baseless assertion that 'racial equity quotas' were prioritized over 'student safety' — an idea that, like all Trump-era ideas, must be backed by a secret database labeled 'Trust Me, Bro' — but it's a narrative that can be traced back to Trump's first administration. More from CHALKBEAT: Trump's first education secretary, Betsy DeVos, rescinded the Obama-era guidance after much public debate and attempts to link less harsh school discipline to school shootings. That guidance led students to be 'disciplined differently depending on their race, and some students who should have been suspended or expelled for dangerous behavior remained in the classroom,' the Trump administration said in a fact sheet. President Joe Biden promised to reinstate the Obama-era school discipline guidance on the campaign trail, but that never came to fruition. In 2022, his education secretary, Miguel Cardona, did call for reduced suspensions and expulsions for students with disabilities — and there is some overlap as Black children with disabilities are more likely to face harsher discipline at school — but his focus was less on race. Still, the Trump administration said the Biden administration used Title VI, a civil rights law that prohibits racial discrimination in schools and other federally funded activities, 'to promote a DEI approach to school discipline, which makes schools less safe.' Again, a Trump 'fact sheet' is not a thing that requires actual facts. During his first term, there was no reason for one to hole their breath waiting for DeVos to cite evidence that, under Obama, dangerous Black students were being kept in the classroom because school officials were afraid of being called racist, and there's no reason to expect McMahon to substantiate the same inherently racist claim now. At the end of the day, these people just don't want racial disparities to be studied at all, because, if they are, it might expose Trump's entire anti-DEI agenda as exactly what it is. A reinforcement of white supremacy. SEE ALSO: Fighting Back: 12 State Attorneys General File Lawsuit Against Trump Administration Over Its Tariff Agenda Rep. Jasmine Crockett Wants To Take On Trump In An IQ Test SEE ALSO Trump's Latest EO Promoting 'Stircter School Discipline' Discourages Schools From Considering Racial Disparities was originally published on
Sydney Morning Herald
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Pope Francis' care for others reflected the best of all of us
Days before his passing, and having only recently left hospital, Francis visited prisoners in Rome and washed their feet as a sign of humility, something he did every Holy Thursday. Throughout his life, he met with transgender people and sex workers, people he would have known when he was a bouncer at a club in his youth, and the same people Jesus spoke about loving unconditionally. His concern for the downtrodden reflected the best of all of us. This, of course, came to a head as he battled, politically and theologically, with the rising tide of authoritarianism around the world, particularly in the United States. As a Jew, I was always impressed by Pope Francis' work to reach out to other faith communities, and people with no religious affiliations. Religious minorities around the world are facing increasing hatred, and his work to stem that, and stand in defiance of it, was important. His work is carried on by people like Father Daniel Madigan, based in Melbourne, a leading Jesuit voice on interfaith dialogue. When you listen to people like Pope Francis or Father Madigan speak about the future, about community and love of humanity, it is difficult to feel cynical. Loading The world in which Francis was elected seems far away these days. His death comes at an important moment where the world seems to be deciding between two potential futures. Between a reactionary, isolationist one that Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Viktor Orban are flogging, or one in which the global institutions we have built in the past century work to uplift and benefit all. As with all institutions, the Catholic Church reflects the society in which we live. The selection of the next pope will tell us a lot about how the largest institution in the world will step into the future and the values it plans to project. As a friend told me recently, it's best not to walk into the future backwards. Cory Alpert is a PhD researcher at the University of Melbourne. He previously served the Biden-Harris Administration for three years.
