President and Administration
Last week, the Biden administration announced two new actions to strengthen school-based mental health services and address the youth mental health crisis…
The Biden administration privately estimated to Congress this month that it may need nearly $7 billion to mount a response to the nation’s monkeypox outbreak that matches “the scope and urgency of the current situation”…
The Biden administration has unveiled a government website, Heat.gov, aimed at helping Americans to prepare for extreme heat and weather conditions this summer, after heat waves were recorded around the world…
Congress
On Wednesday, 7/27, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced “the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” - a reconciliation bill which is slated for the Senate floor this week…
The bipartisan Chips and Science Act, which includes more than $52 billion for U.S. companies producing computer chips, as well as billions more in tax credits to encourage investment in chip manufacturing, was passed in the House and the Senate last week…
Education
Last week, the Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Puerto Rico Secretary of Education Eliezer Ramos Parés announced that $215 million in previously awarded American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds would be disbursed to schools across the island ahead of the new school year…
Officials at the Education Department have developed plans to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers, awaiting a final decision from President Biden. Biden is considering providing $10,000 of debt relief per borrower, a decision he said he will make before the pause on student loan payments ends Aug. 31…
Before the nationwide pause on federal student loan payments, one-third of the nation’s nearly 43.4 million borrowers in repayment before the start of the pandemic had defaulted at some point…
Last week, ED released proposed regulations that would implement critical changes in the American Rescue Plan that better protect veterans and service members from being subject to aggressive targeting practices by requiring private for-profit institutions to obtain at least 10 percent of revenue from non-federal sources…
The Education Department projected that student loans would generate $114 billion in income over the last 25 years…
A new Government Accountability Office report has found that over 7,800 predominantly same-race schools are located within just five miles of a different same-race school…
The push to get rid of the Education Department is bubbling up again, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress…
A new RAND report found that districts continue to struggle with how to manage teacher shortages, political polarization in schools, student and staff mental health concerns, and pandemic-related student learning loss…
A June 2022 national EdChoice poll found that teachers report spending over $500 of their own money in the last school year on classroom materials, and they spent around $300 on professional development…