Latest news with #educationpolicy
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Education advocates press Senate for changes to Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill'
House Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill' doubles down on President Trump's education agenda, including raising taxes on university endowments and overhauling the student loan program, even as colleges are already feeling a funding pinch and borrower defaults are on the rise. Advocates are hoping to seize on the opportunity to have the legislation reformed in the Senate, where GOP moderates and conservatives are calling for significant — and sometimes contradictory — changes. Education experts warn that in its current form the package, which also boosts student vouchers and gives a tax break to religious colleges, will financially cripple student loan borrowers and universities alike. 'The major takeaway is that this bill is going to make paying for college and paying off student loans more expensive and more risky for millions of students and working families with student debt,' said Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director for Student Borrower Protection Center. Student loan borrowers have faced a whirlwind in policy shifts between former President Biden and President Trump, but the current budget reconciliation bill would be an earthquake to the 45 million Americans with student debt. It would reshape repayment options, only offering one income-driven repayment plan or a standard repayment plan; all other options would be terminated. Advocates fear significant increases in monthly payment as more generous repayment plans disappear at a time when default rates are already going up. 'It's very bad for borrowers. I don't want to sugar coat it, you know, it's not looking good,' said Natalia Abrams at the Student Debt Crisis Center. 'It will lengthen the time for undergrads from 20 years to 30 years' to receive debt forgiveness after consistent payments, she added. 'For grad students, from 25 to 30 years. It's really unfortunate that this bill passed, especially by one vote' in the House. The package also intends to end Parent PLUS loans, limit how much federal student loan debt an individual can take out and changes eligibility to Pell Grants. The maximum an undergraduate student could take out is $50,000, with parents able to match the amount. For Pell Grants, the number of credits needed to qualify will increase. Other changes include eliminating subsidized loans. 'One of our big worries is that there will be borrower confusion amidst this return to repayment and with servicers potentially needing to implement, if this reconciliation bill goes through, a new income driven repayment plan that departs significantly from any IDR plan that has come before. And so, I think that borrower confusion is a big problem for policymakers,' said Sameer Gadkaree, president and CEO of the Institute for College Access & Success. Republicans and conservatives have cheered the legislation as a way to simplify student loan repayments and ensure those who did not go to college do not pay off others' debt through their taxes. 'It's time we stopped asking taxpayers to foot the bill for our broken student loan system that has left borrowers in trillions of dollars of debt and has caused college costs to balloon,' said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. 'It's time we stopped asking a factory worker in Michigan or a rancher in Texas to subsidize the student debt of a lawyer in Manhattan. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to end the status quo and get this bill to the president's desk,' he added. Colleges, already beset by the Trump administration, face a financial hit too: tax increases on their endowments ranging from 1 percent to 21 percent, with major universities such as Harvard and Yale at the top end. Those are an addition to the taxes on endowments passed in 2017 during Trump's first administration back. Before then, endowments were never taxed. 'We know that almost 50 percent of endowment spending goes to financial aid. If you add financial aid and academic programs, that's two-thirds of endowment spending, and so, if you take money away from the school, from its endowment resources, it's going to undermine their ability to provide robust financial aid. That's why we call it a scholarship tax, because that's what it is,' said Steven Bloom, assistant vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education. Despite Trump calling for Republicans to unite around the bill, some in the Senate are demanding changes before they'll give it their support. 'I've told them if they'll take the debt ceiling off of it, I'll consider voting for it,' said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The infighting has led to some optimism that there is still time to get some changes. 'It seems like folks in the Senate have a bit of heartburn about the level of cuts to the Pell program, and that there might be a discomfort in adopting what the House has put together on that front,' Canchola Bañez said. 'I would hope that senators would look at the ways in which the House proposal will make it significantly harder for folks to afford to repay their loans. And in a world where these policymakers want to ensure that student loan borrowers can repay their debts, we need to make sure that there are actual safeguards in place,' she added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Early childhood sector facing 'dark future', pay parity to freeze for two years
Early Childhood Education teachers play a crucial role in educating young children, the Teaching Council says. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly The Teaching Council has spoken out, after the government watered down early childhood teachers' pay-parity arrangements. The professional body for teachers said the government must take care not to undermine a well-qualified early childhood sector. Chief executive Lesley Hoskin said early childhood teachers played a crucial role in educating young children. "We urge the government to proceed with caution with any changes that could make education and care centres less attractive places to work in for the qualified teachers that our children need. "Unless they are based upon a strong focus on meeting young children's learning needs, changes in this area risk undermining educational outcomes at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. They could also create a two-tier system, where only families that can afford higher costs receive better learning opportunities." Last year, the government cut relief teachers from pay parity and, this week, it announced newly qualified teachers could be placed on the lowest salary step , regardless of prior qualifications and experience. It also introduced a two-year moratorium to prevent services moving from a lower-paid to higher-paid tier of the graduated parity system. Early Childhood New Zealand Te Rio Maioha, which represented hundreds of early childhood centre owners and managers, said the sector faced a dark future as a result of the changes and the budget's below-inflation 0.5 percent increase to the sector's subsidies. Organisation chief executive Kathy Wolfe said the government demonstrated that it did not believe decades of evidence that showed high-quality ECE led to better outcomes for children. "This government appears to be saying that experience and education no longer matter, that quality early childhood education can be sacrificed in the name of government cost-cutting," she said. "The announcement to freeze pay parity for two years is also a further sign that the government's aim is to reduce their future investment commitments. "This is purely a fiscal decision for the government. Employers now cannot opt into funded higher parity options to value their teaching staff." Some ECE centre owners said pay parity was difficult to afford , because the associated government subsidies were inadequate. However, Ministry of Education figures showed the number of centres opting into the highest tier of parity had increased by 400 since 2023 to 1484 in March 2025. They also showed the sector employed 23,699 qualified teachers last year and 9610 people who worked with children in teaching roles, but were not qualified. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Youngkin signs Virginia law limiting 'bell-to-bell' cellphone use in public schools
Print Close By Deirdre Heavey Published May 30, 2025 Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill into law Friday limiting cellphone use for all Virginia public elementary, middle and high school students. Youngkin, who built his political career championing parents' rights in education, ceremoniously signed two versions of the bill, HB1961 and SB738, at the Carter G. Woodson Middle School in Hopewell, Virginia. Youngkin said it was a fitting location for a day filled with such "hope." "When we come together — elected officials, administrators, teachers, parents and all of you — we can move mountains, and we can change something that needs to be changed, and that is to find freedom, freedom from cellphones," said Youngkin, who was flanked by his wife, Virginia first lady Suzanne S. Youngkin; public school students; education advocates; and local politicians. "We come together in order to move a mountain," Youngkin said, as he highlighted the negative effect of cellphones in schools on mental illness, conduct in class, academic performance and interpersonal relationships. TEENS SPEND MORE THAN A QUARTER OF THEIR TIME AT SCHOOL ON PHONES, NEW STUDY FINDS The bill strictly limits the use of phones in classrooms to reduce distractions and disruptions, codifying Youngkin's executive order signed last year "to protect the health and safety of students in Virginia's K-12 public schools by issuing guidance on the establishment of cellphone-free education policies and procedures." DC COUNCIL PROPOSES BILL TO BAN CELLPHONES IN DISTRICT'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS "We are building on the foundation laid by Executive Order 33 to make Virginia the national leader in restoring focus, academic excellence in the classroom and restoring health and safety in our schools. This legislation ensures that every school division adopts a full bell-to-bell policy and removes cellphones from classrooms, creating a distraction-free learning environment," Youngkin said as he signed the bill into law. Research indicates using cellphones in the classroom can have a negative effect on students' grades, social skills, emotional development and mental health. In a 2024 Pew Research Center study, more than 70% of high school teachers said cellphones distracting students in the classroom is a major problem. "This wasn't just an issue. It's a crisis. And when we have a crisis, we have a unified call for action, and that's what this gathering is all about, this unified call for action," Youngkin said Friday. Hopewell City Public Schools adopted a "pouch system" in its secondary schools at the start of the 2022-2023 school year, which has been used as a case study and potential model for the Virginia Department of Education's cellphone-free education rollout. "I want to add my appreciation for Hopewell's leadership because it was your leadership that inspired the executive order that I wrote last summer," Youngkin said. The statewide legislation requires school boards to develop and public schools to enact policies to restrict student cellphone use during the school day. The law includes exceptions for students with individualized education plans, Section 504 plans or health conditions, so cellphones can be used when medically necessary. The law also prohibits schools from suspending, expelling or removing students from class for violating cellphone policies. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Florida became the first state to pass a law regulating cellphone use in schools in 2023. More than half of all states now have similar laws in place. Print Close URL
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Schools blame tariffs for rising costs and supply woes
School districts across the country are grappling with how to navigate President Donald Trump's tariffs, which have led to higher costs for everything from Chromebook parts to juice boxes — leaving educators worried that supply shortages may affect safety and achievement. The price hikes and uncertainty have many schools wrangling with tough questions: whether to postpone replacing laptops, how to meet federal school meal nutrition regulations with current funding and whether to cut staff in the face of rising costs.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump suggests Harvard should have cap on international students
Donald Trump says Harvard University should have a 15 per cent cap on the number of foreign students it admits and that the Ivy League school needs to show the administration their list of students accepted from outside the United States. Speaking on Wednesday, 28 May, Mr Trump said, 'They should have a cap of maybe around 15 per cent, not 31 per cent. We have people want to go to Harvard and other schools. They can't get in because we have foreign students there.' The president suggested the reason for the checks was due to domestic safety concerns. 'I want to make sure that the foreign students are people that can love our country. We don't want to see shopping centres exploding,' he said. His comments came days after the Trump administration moved to block Harvard University from enrolling any international students, a decision that has been put on hold by a federal judge, pending a lawsuit.
