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NZ Herald
23-05-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
US Education Department must reinstate nearly 1400 fired workers
Joun also agreed that the coalition of states, school districts and unions – who filed separate lawsuits that have been consolidated – are likely to suffer irreparable harm as the cuts result in financial uncertainty, impeded access to vital knowledge and the loss of essential services provided by the Office of Federal Student Aid and the Office for Civil Rights. Department employees, university leaders, state education agencies, union members and educators provided testimony in support of the coalition. 'This decision is a first step to reverse this war on knowledge and the undermining of broad-based opportunity,' said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the groups suing the department. 'For America to build a brighter future, we must all take more responsibility, not less, for the success of our children.' The Education Department denounced Joun's ruling, saying it was not in the best interest of American students and families. The agency plans to challenge the order on an emergency basis. 'Once again, a far-left judge has dramatically overstepped his authority, based on a complaint from biased plaintiffs, and issued an injunction against the obviously lawful efforts to make the Department of Education more efficient and functional for the American people,' Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the department, said in an email. 'President Trump and the Senate-confirmed Secretary of Education clearly have the authority to make decisions about agency reorganisation efforts, not an unelected Judge with a political ax to grind.' The ruling directs the Education Department to file status reports on their progress complying with the order within 72 hours and weekly after that until the department is restored to 'the status quo prior to January 20, 2025'. Sheria Smith, president of AFGE Local 252, which represents Education Department employees, welcomed the order. Smith, an attorney in the Office for Civil Rights who was herself laid off, said she expects all impacted members to have their jobs restored. 'Today's order illustrates that the work our members performed was critical to states, school districts, students, and our fellow citizens – despite this administration's statements to the contrary,' she said in a statement. The ruling arrives a day after the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators released a national survey of members who said the staff cuts at the department have led to breakdowns that could affect the processing of aid this year. About 59% of the 909 financial aid offices surveyed reported delays in processing timelines and responsiveness since the layoffs. Hundreds of staff in the Office of Federal Student Aid, which is responsible for administering student loans and Pell grants, have been let go. In April, college and university financial aid officers reported they were experiencing disruptions that slowed their ability to calculate financial aid offers and get timely answers from the department about everything from adding academic programs to remaining eligible to receive federal aid, the Post found. 'This is a huge rebuke and powerful ruling for all of us, but in some ways a lot of the damage has been done,' said Rachel Gittleman, who worked in Federal Student Aid's ombudsman office before the cuts. 'Even if we go back, will we be able to do the work we were doing?' Gittleman, who helped pull together employee declarations in the states' case, said many of her colleagues have been traumatised by the experience and worry about returning to a hostile work environment only to be let go again. One attorney at the agency's Office for Civil Rights who was laid off said she looks forward to returning to her job and hopefully resuming work on cases that she was forced to abruptly abandon. 'I think many of us will go back in the hopes that we will be able to be reassigned to the cases that we already have and we hope to be able to continue working on and get some resolution for people,' said the attorney, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. 'We want to do the work that Congress directed us to do.'
New York Post
22-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Cheers for school choice — competition makes ALL education better
Now that Texas and South Carolina have passed school choice bills, parents will be able to choose the best school for their kids in 17 states. Why not all states? After all, competition improves services. Advertisement The Post Office couldn't get it there overnight. Then FedEx showed it can be done. Quickly, UPS and DHL did it, too, and now even the Post Office does . . . sometimes. Advertisement Consumer choice is a big reason capitalist countries outperform socialist ones. But in most of America, parents have little or no choice when it comes to which school their kids attend. Bureaucrats decide, based on where you live. Live in a neighborhood with lousy schools? Advertisement Too bad for your kids. Some parents, desperate to get their kids out of a bad school, are jailed for lying about where they live. All parents should get to choose which school their kids attend. But in most states, government bureaucrats won't let them. Advertisement Sometimes, it's because they get big political donations from teachers unions. Unions don't want competition. Years ago, New York City's teachers union staged a protest outside my office because I did a TV special about school choice. I'd confronted union boss Randi Weingarten about how hard it was to fire even a terrible teacher. Instead, principals sneakily transfer them to another school. 'Dance of the lemons,' they call it. Weingarten just replied, smugly, 'We'll police our own profession.' Her protesters then picketed ABC News headquarters, shouting, 'Shame on you, John Stossel!' Advertisement 'They don't want people to be able to take their kids somewhere else because they know that they're failing your children,' says education researcher Corey DeAngelis. 'Money doesn't belong to the government schools. Education funding is supposed to be meant for educating children, not for propping up and protecting a particular institution. We should fund the student, not the system.' Then, parents can take education funding to a charter or a private school. Schools get better when they have to compete for your kids. Advertisement A recent study found that 'more education freedom is significantly associated with increased NAEP scores.' [The National Assessment of Educational Progress is known as the 'gold standard' of US K-12 education.] Florida's math and reading scores were once among the worst in the nation. After it expanded school choice, says DeAngelis, 'They ranked No. 1 . . . And it's not a money issue. They spend about 27% less than the national average, and they're knocking it out of the park.' Advertisement A study on Florida's expansion of school choice found 'benefits include higher standardized test scores and lower absenteeism and suspension rates. Effects are particularly pronounced for lower-income students.' When there's choice, public schools get better, too. Twenty-nine studies looked into the impact of school choice on test scores; 26 found a positive effect. Advertisement Wait. I shouldn't call them public schools. They're government schools. They're less 'public' than a 'private' supermarket. Markets are often open 24/7. Anyone can enter. Try that with a government-run 'public' school. School bureaucrats and teachers unions say that 'choice takes money away from public schools!' But that's not true: Government schools now spend about $20,000 per student. School choice vouchers average just $8,200. So, when a student leaves and takes voucher money with them, government schools are left with more money per student. As DeAngelis puts it, 'They get to keep thousands of dollars for students they're no longer educating.' Ignorant media leftists insist that schools are underfunded. 'If we want our public schools to get better, we can't take money out of the system,' they say. But no one is taking money out of the system! Inflation-adjusted funding per student doubled over the past 40 years. 'Government schools in the United States now spend around $20,000 per student per year,' says DeAngelis. 'That's about 60% higher than average private school tuition!' $20,000 per child. Where does that money go? 'To administrative bloat,' says DeAngelis. Since 2000, student enrollment rose by 5%, but the number of administrators increased by 95%. 'The best solution to this problem is to make the funding portable,' says DeAngelis. 'Let funding follow the child. Then maybe administrators will have an incentive to up their game . . . Competition is a rising tide that lifts all boats.' John Stossel is the author of 'Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.'
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Funds for Low-Income Students Are on the Chopping Block in Trump's Budget
President Trump's budget proposal would shrink the Education Department, which he has called on Congress to eliminate, by slashing its funding by 15 percent, or $12 billion. The most significant chunk of that reduction, about $4.5 billion, would come from the Title I budget for high-poverty schools, a cut of nearly 25 percent at a time when the rate of children living in poverty in America is on the rise. The administration said this reduction would come from a plan to provide 'streamlined, flexible funding to the states' and relieve the federal government of the responsibility of administering the money and enforcing compliance. Mr. Trump would save $1.6 billion by cutting programs aimed at supporting low-income students and preparing them for college. The administration said these programs, known at TRIO and GEAR UP, were 'a relic of the past' because access to college was not 'the obstacle it was for students of limited means.' Other significant cuts come from slashing nearly $1 billion from federal work-study programs; $910 million from a program for college students with exceptional financial need; $890 million from services to help immigrant students become proficient English speakers; $729 million from adult education services; and $315 million from preschool development grants. The budget proposal also would cut $64 million in funding for Howard University, the nation's only federally chartered historically Black college and university. One corner of the education budget that the Trump administration would like to boost is charter schools. His budget proposal would increase federal support for new charter schools by $60 million, or about 8.3 percent. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the proposal 'cuts much of what helps poor, working-class and middle-class Americans get ahead.' 'Our concern when the president started dismantling the Department of Education was not the bureaucracy, but the funding,' Ms. Weingarten said. 'And now we know, he's actually shortchanging kids. He would gut K-12 programs by $5.4 billion. Support for student aid is slashed.' Linda McMahon, the education secretary, said the budget proposal reflected her mandate to 'serve as the final secretary of education.' Closing the Education Department would require approval from Congress, which has been opposed to such a move. 'President Trump's proposed budget puts students and parents above the bureaucracy,' Ms. McMahon said in a statement. 'The federal government has invested trillions of taxpayer dollars into an education system that is not driving improved student outcomes. We must change course and reorient taxpayer dollars toward proven programs that generate results for American students.'
New York Post
25-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Quit gaslighting us — elite groupthink drove the COVID disaster
Five years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit our shores and forced us into our homes, we're in the midst of a strange sort of denialism. You may remember schools being shuttered, small businesses being destroyed, and small children developing speech impediments because they were unnecessarily forced to wear masks. I certainly do. But now it turns out no one supported any of that, and none of it was anybody's fault. Advertisement It's not just Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who's been popping up every few weeks to lie that she super-duper, really and truly, wanted schools open in 2020 and 2021, despite actually being the villain who kept the poorest kids out of classrooms for years. City schools are still trying to readjust years after the COVID-19 pandemic. Daniel McKnight Atlantic columnist Jonathan Chait and others have attempted it, too. Now influential economist Tyler Cowen says we're being too hard on the people who caused us so much needless pain and misery. Advertisement 'A lot of people do not want to admit it,' he wrote this week in The Free Press, 'but when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, the elites, by and large, actually got a lot right.' Cowen weaves many unrelated pandemic measures together into a narrative that neatly absolves the elites of blame. Yes, Operation Warp Speed produced a vaccine quickly — but no, most of the economic activity our businesses lost was not 'going away in any case,' as he asserts. Advertisement Sure, he admits, 'most states should have ended the lockdowns sooner' — then claims they 'mattered less' than we all recall. Furthermore, he declares, 'those restrictions on our liberty proved entirely temporary.' Gaslighting at its finest. Advertisement When our family fled for Florida in January of 2022, my children were still forced to mask between bites as they ate their lunches outside on the frozen ground at their New York City public schools. New York and California have still not recovered from their long forced shutdowns. Their unemployment rates have remained stagnant since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, unemployment in Florida and Texas has declined. Turns out it's not as easy as it looks to switch an economy off and then on again. Cowen does admit, 'Not reopening the schools was a big mistake and meant a lot of lost learning' — but insists, 'plenty of elites protested at the time.' Did they? When? And where were these elites 'protesting,' exactly? Some of them were in my direct messages on social media, saying they agreed with me on sending kids back to school but obviously couldn't say so lest they be excommunicated from their liberal tribe. And that, in fact, was the core problem of that era: Many of the 'mistakes' made during COVID were actually just the shoring up of political alliances. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Advertisement Toward the end of President Trump's first term, groupthink on the left had become overwhelming, as virtue-signalers policed one another to make sure no one stepped out of line. The COVID era collided with cancel culture and created a uniquely poisonous herd mentality. In his new book 'Abundance of Caution,' David Zweig lays out how one narrative developed to enforce the liberal line on COVID policies. On June 29, 2020, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement to support reopening schools in the fall. The group 'strongly advocate[d] that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.' Advertisement But when conservatives cheered, the AAP realized that opening schools was becoming a Republican-coded ideal — and, to its horror, Trump started citing the AAP statement to push local political officials into following its recommendation. Just two weeks later, on July 10, the AAP issued a coded about-face: 'Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics.' That statement was joined by three powerful special-interest groups that don't normally act in concert with the AAP — Weingarten's AFT, the National Education Association, and the School Superintendents Association. Advertisement It was clear the unions had gotten the pediatricians' collective ear. And of course, the new missive pushed for more federal funding for schools. Anthony Fauci, too, politicized school openings, flip-flopping on the issue before ultimately, in February 2021, settling on an argument that then-President Joe Biden's boondoggle spending plan would have to pass Congress before kids could go back to class. By then, of course, schools had been safely operating for months in red states. So which elites, exactly, were right in all this? Advertisement All of us, of course, were operating in the dark when the pandemic first hit. We didn't know a lot, and the fear was very real. But some of us adjusted to new information as it became available — and didn't put politics first. No one is waiting for the left to take responsibility for their devastating COVID actions. But the ongoing history rewrite cannot go on unchecked. Mistakes were made, yes — and the people who made them should get no pass. Karol Markowicz is the host of the 'Karol Markowicz Show' and 'Normally' podcasts.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal Courts Block Education Department From Pulling Funds Over DEI
States and school districts resisting a U.S. Department of Education ultimatum regarding diversity, equity and inclusion got a temporary reprieve Thursday. Two federal judges — one in New Hampshire and another in the District of Columbia — blocked the department's ability to withhold federal funding from those that didn't sign on to its interpretation of non-discrimination laws or agree to end what officials called 'impermissible' DEI programs. A third judge in Maryland suspended for now a Feb. 14 'dear colleague' letter warning districts against racial diversity efforts. The deadline to sign a form certifying compliance was Thursday. States and districts are 'no longer under the immediate threat' of losing funds if they 'continue to offer long-standing lawful programs or don't sign' the form, said Katrina Feldkamp, assistant counsel at the Legal Defense Fund. Representing the NAACP, the law firm is among several groups, including unions, school districts and advocacy groups, involved in three separate lawsuits over the department's anti-DEI guidance. In a statement, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers — part of the Maryland case — called the court's ruling 'a huge win for students, families and educators.' The department's follow-up Q&A document on Feb. 28 appeared to soften officials' stance on practices it considers illegal, saying cultural and historical observances were acceptable as long as all students were welcome to participate. But the certification requirement took a firm tone, cautioning states that they could face substantial financial penalties if they sign it and are then found to be in violation. 'The court finds that threatening penalties under those legal provisions without sufficiently defining the conduct that might trigger liability violates the Fifth Amendment's prohibition on vagueness,' Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said in her oral ruling granting a preliminary injunction. The department's documents, she said, 'placed a particular emphasis on certain DEI practices without providing an actual definition of what constitutes DEI or DEI practice.' At the time of publication 12 states, including Arizona, Arkansas and Montana, and the District of Columbia, had signed the certification. Twenty-two, including California, Michigan and New Mexico, declined to sign, and 17 either hadn't announced their decision or did not respond to calls or emails from The 74. Madi Biedermann, spokeswoman for the Education Department, said she didn't know if officials would share the full count of states complying. She didn't respond to a request for comment on the court rulings. Signing the form indicates compliance with Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin, as well as the department's view of a 2023 Supreme Court ruling against racial preferences in higher education admissions. State chiefs who didn't sign argued that the Education Department didn't clearly define DEI and ignored proper procedures for collecting such information. Overall, the documents have left leaders bewildered over whether they stand to lose millions in federal funds. In Denver Public Schools, for example, roughly $36 million in Title I funds for high-poverty schools and another $20 million for special education services are at stake. Like state chiefs in several other blue states, Colorado's Susana Córdova declined to sign the document. 'I think all districts across the country are forced to grapple with this question of 'What would you do without it?' ' said Chuck Carpenter, chief financial officer. Related Title I funds in his district, Colorado's largest, cover salaries for school social workers, help to reduce class sizes and support interventions for students who are behind academically. 'These are very much on-the-ground expenses,' he said. 'This doesn't get caught up in the bureaucracy. This is for real kids and real people.' Several GOP state chiefs welcomed the department's message. Arizona state Superintendent Tom Horne jotted down, 'Thank you for fighting for our Constitution and laws!' along with his signature. Oklahoma chief Ryan Walters posted a video of himself at his desk signing the form. 'No DEI in Oklahoma schools,' he said. 'We will talk about merit and American exceptionalism, and we'll have the best school system possible, thanks to President Trump.' While some state and district leaders likely viewed the form as a 'box to check,' others may see it as 'provocation,' said Jackie Wernz, a civil rights attorney and consultant who worked in both the Obama and first Trump administrations. 'The department's shifting guidance in recent months has created a lot of confusion in the field,' she said. 'It's not always clear whether this is a legal compliance issue or a political messaging moment.' Even some critics of DEI agree. Steven Wilson, a senior fellow at the free market-oriented Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research in Boston, argues that many schools, including high-performing charter networks, went astray by embracing anti-racist teaching approaches. He pointed, for example, to author Tema Okun's argument that 'worship of the written word' is evidence of white supremacy and framing math word problems around social justice issues. 'These teachings are enormously destructive,' said Wilson, who founded the Ascend charter school network in Brooklyn, New York. 'I would be hard pressed to think of a more damaging message to impart to teachers of Black and brown children than that the worship of the written word is whiteness.' But Wilson views the department's threat to federal funding as equally harmful. 'The audacity' of tying the compliance form to funding for programs that serve students in poverty and those with disabilities, he said 'has to be vigorously contested.' Title I, the biggest federal education program, totals over $18 billion. Part of the 1960s War on Poverty, it has 'really been a cornerstone of federal funding in K-12 for the better part of a century,' said Jess Gartner, founder of Allovue, a school finance technology company that's now part of PowerSchool. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, currently funded at $15 billion, came a decade later in 1975. Officials can't withhold those funds with 'a wave of the hand and a strike of the pen' or because 'someone won't sign a form,' Gartner said. 'There is a process for reporting, investigating and determining that discrimination has actually occurred.' In 2023, under former Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, the department withheld federal funds from Maine for not meeting state testing requirements. But that was after two years of being out of compliance, and officials pulled a quarter of the Title I funds the state could reserve for administrative costs — not the money that goes to schools. The Trump administration has demonstrated that it will abruptly cancel funding that has already been approved by Congress. That's why finance officers like Carpenter in Denver are on edge about how the department will respond to states that didn't sign the form. Related Title I funding supports about half of the Denver district's 207 schools, where immigrant and non-English-speaking parents especially rely on liaisons like Boni Sanchez Florez. He helps them access after-school classes, mental health services and low-cost internet. But Florez also encourages them to take leadership roles and speak up about issues that affect their children, like school closures. 'It's hard enough for them to walk in a building with a staff that is predominantly 80% white. How do you build that trust in a community that doesn't trust the system?' asked Florez, who moved to the U.S. from Mexico as a child. 'If I'm in my dad's shoes 30 years ago, I would want people to reach out to me.' Nearby in Jeffco Public Schools, Colorado's second largest district, roughly 100 staff members are directly paid with Title I funds, said Tara Peña, chief of family partnerships and community engagement. They include three 'family ambassadors' who work out of a mobile welcome center — a customized bus that hosts enrollment fairs, book giveaways and what Peña called 'goodwill events.' The welcome center staff signs families up for Medicaid or free lunch programs and teams up with other community groups to distribute school and hygiene supplies. 'A loss in federal funding would be very destructive and be very impactful to the supports and the services that we provide to our most vulnerable students,' Peña said. 'The students who've been historically underserved would continue to be the ones that would be harmed.' The potential cuts to funding also come as districts across the country are finalizing their budgets for the upcoming school year, with federal funds in mind. Before McMahon announced the certification requirement on April 3, most had already issued contracts for staff for this fall. In California, which receives over $2 billion in Title I funds and almost $1.6 billion from IDEA, the deadline to issue any layoff notices was March 15. That means districts would still be obligated to pay employees whose salaries come from those sources 'whether they get funding or don't,' said Michael Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, a state agency responsible for financial oversight of districts. 'Districts did not contemplate such a loss before the March 15 layoff window.' Districts in Michigan, another state that declined to sign the form, are in the same predicament. For now, the Detroit Public Schools Community District — where roughly 25% of the budget comes from federal sources — has committed to not letting any employees go. But Jeremy Vidito, chief financial officer, said that could just be a temporary solution if the department fully cuts Title I. 'Maybe we can bridge two years with our fund balance. But four years? There's no way,' he said. 'It will mean school closures. It will mean reduced services for our kids and walking back the intervention programs.' Related With a student poverty rate of more than 80%, the nearly $125 million Detroit receives in Title I funding pays for counselors, social workers, and art and music teachers, as well as high school administrators who are focused on keeping ninth graders on track for graduation. For LaQuitta Brown's son Kermari, a 7 year old with autism, art has been especially important. He struggled to speak until last year, but he could communicate with his mother by drawing pictures, Brown said. Through special education, he receives speech and occupational therapy. His mother also depends on a mobile vision screening program for his checkups. 'He wouldn't be where he would be without those services,' she said. 'It takes a village, especially when you have a child needing special attention.' Title I also supports high-dosage tutoring in Detroit, one of the reasons, Vidito said, why the district outperformed most other large, urban systems in a national study from researchers at Harvard and Stanford universities. Last school year, the district also saw greater gains in reading than the state as a whole. 'We are seeing results,' he said. 'We have committed to educating all kids, but if we start to defund education, then we're stepping back from that commitment.' Most right-leaning think tanks, like the Heritage Foundation, welcome the department's certification requirement and its interpretation of the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision. That opinion didn't mention K-12 schools, but it has 'broad implications for the use of racial preferences in public education services at the K-12 and postsecondary levels,' said Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. 'The majority opinion and supporting opinions deal with rooting out racism writ large from education.' But Wilson at the Pioneer Institute said the AFT lawsuit is 'one of those relatively rare moments' of agreement he has with AFT President Randi Weingarten. She said the anti-DEI directives would hamper schools' efforts to teach accurate history, including the harms of slavery and persecution of minority groups. 'If that is what [the department] has in mind as a federal prohibition, that would be devastating.' he said. Trump, is 'claiming, rather flamboyantly, to devolve education back to the states while announcing this unprecedented intrusion into what schools and districts may teach.'
