Miguel Cardona Archives - The Minnesota Sun

Despite Supreme Court Smackdown, Biden Admin Plans to Wipe $39 Billion in Student Debt

July 14, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Department of Education (DOE) announced Friday that it will automatically forgive $39 billion of student loan debt for more than 804,000 borrowers, following a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that blocked the administration’s plan to grant forgiveness to nearly 40 million Americans.

The DOE will start notifying borrowers Friday that their federal student loans “will be automatically discharged in the coming weeks,” according to a DOE press release. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that the Biden administration cannot use executive power to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt for non-Pell Grant recipients and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.

Biden Education Secretary Claims Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Ruling ‘Takes Our Country Decades Backward’

June 30, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

Secretary of the U.S. Education Department Miguel Cardona reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the use of race in weighing college admissions with the claim the ruling “takes our country decades backward” because such discrimination based on the color of skin has served as “a vital tool that colleges have used to create vibrant, diverse campus communities.”

U.S. 13-Year-Olds Show ‘Historic Declines’ in Math and Reading

June 23, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

Math and reading achievement for 13-year-olds in the United States is at its lowest level in decades, according to test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) examination, also known as the Nation’s Report Card.

According to results released Wednesday by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the average mathematics score for 13-year-olds plunged nine points between the 2019‒20 and 2022‒23 school years, while the average reading score declined four points over the same time period.

U.S. History and Civics National Test Scores Plunge to Lowest Levels on Record

May 3, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

U.S. Education Department data released on Wednesday finds national eighth-grade test scores in U.S. History and civics dropped to their lowest level on record last year. Compared to 2018, average test scores on the 2022 Nation’s Report Card (National Assessment of Educational Progress – NAEP) declined in both subjects. Additionally, scores dropped for lower- and middle-performing students in civics, and across five selected percentiles, except the 90th percentile, in U.S. History.

Proposed Biden Administration Rule Would Forbid Schools from Banning Trans Athletes to Compete

April 8, 2023April 7, 2023 Just the News

A proposed rule from the Biden administration would forbid states from enacting bans on transgender athletes being able to compete in sports that align with their gender identity.

“Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said.

LGBTQ Activists Cancel ‘Trans Day of Vengeance,’ Blame Reaction to Nashville Shooting by Transgender as Causing a ‘Credible Threat to Life and Safety’

April 1, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

The transgender activist coalition that was planning its “Trans Day of Vengeance” rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Saturday has canceled its event in the wake of the reaction to the killing of three children and three adults at a Christian school Monday by a transgender shooter.

Biden Education Department Abruptly Disbands Parent Council Under Threat of Lawsuit Arguing Its Membership Consisted of Leftist Activists

December 6, 2022December 5, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden education department has abruptly scrapped its National Parents and Families Engagement Council following a lawsuit against Education Secretary Miguel Cardona by parental rights organizations who argued the council’s membership consisted of leftist activists and Democrat donors.

A statement reported by The74 said the education department “has decided to not move forward with the National Parents and Families Engagement Council.”

Parent Leaders Rebuke ‘Teachers’ Unions’ and ‘Fear Mongering Influencers’ for National Assessment Results Exposing Unprecedented Losses During Pandemic

October 25, 2022October 24, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

The director of outreach for Parents Defending Education says results published Monday from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) that revealed significant declines in math and reading scores nationwide were “predictable because people in positions of power allowed teachers unions and other fear mongering influencers to put children last.”

“We knew prolonged school closures and masking would have catastrophic effects on children,” Erika Sanzi said. “And now we have more evidence that they did.”

Biden Administration Awards over $7 Million to ‘Elevate Parent Voices in Education’ After Smearing Vocal Parents as Potential ‘Domestic Terrorists’

September 17, 2022September 16, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden education department announced Thursday it was awarding more than $7 million in competitive grants to eight organizations that have worked to achieve what the department calls “the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing efforts to enhance and increase parent and family engagement in local education.”

Grants from the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program, the announcement states, “provide financial support to organizations that offer technical assistance and training to state educational agencies and school districts that effectively engage families over policies, programs, and activities that lead to improvements in student development and academic achievement.”

Anti-Science Biden Administration to End Protections for Girls Title IX Ensured in 1972

September 7, 2022September 6, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden administration is determined to undermine the science of biology in order to prop up an activist political agenda that will serve up a manufactured concept of limitless “genders” with a side order of government-approved child grooming opportunities.

The proposed Title IX rule, announced in June by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, is designed to overturn the Trump administration’s desire to continue enforcement of Title IX’s protections for girls and women in education. Former President Donald Trump also ensured due process rights protections for those students accused of sexual misconduct.

Biden Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Blames Abysmal U.S. Student National Test Scores on Trump

September 2, 2022September 1, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden education department announced Thursday that U.S. students’ plummeting scores in reading and math during the COVID-19 pandemic is all due to former President Donald Trump.

“Today’s data confirm the significant impact the prior Administration’s mismanagement of the pandemic has had on our children’s progress and academic wellbeing,” said Biden Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Thursday, following the report that U.S. students showed their steepest decline in decades in math and reading scores during the COVID school shutdowns.

White House Equity Initiative Celebrates ‘B.L.A.C.K. to School’ Event to Recruit and Retain Black K-12 Teachers

August 20, 2022August 19, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

The White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans is featuring a “roundtable” event that seeks to promote K-12 public school systems that recruit and retain black teachers.

The invitation for the event, scheduled for Tuesday, August 23, says “B.L.A.C.K. to School” seeks to support “Black school, district, and state educational leaders and creating K12 systems that effectively recruit and retain Black teachers.”

National Education Association President: ‘Radicalized Supreme Court Issuing Decisions That Do Not Reflect Views or Values of America’

July 8, 2022July 8, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

The president of the nation’s largest teachers’ union told union delegates at the start of the Representative Assembly (RA) Sunday that 2016 was the year of a “fateful election,” one that made clear the U.S. Supreme Court would become “radicalized.”

In her keynote address Sunday in Chicago, National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle targeted former President Donald Trump for his choices in appointing Supreme Court justices.

Biden Administration Proposes Rule to Replace Trump Administration’s Title IX Sex Discrimination Policy in Schools

June 24, 2022June 23, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

Taking aim once again at the Trump administration, the Biden education department released its proposed rule to revise how Title IX sex discrimination regulations will be enforced in education.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement Thursday his department was releasing the proposed rules in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

Biden’s Education Secretary Calls Arming Teachers ‘One of the Stupidest Proposals’ Ever

June 13, 2022June 12, 2022 Admin

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona criticized proposals to arm teachers to stop school shootings during a Thursday appearance on “The View.”

“Those are some of the stupidest proposals I’ve heard in all my time as an educator,” Cardona said when asked about arming teachers by co-host Sunny Hostin. “So that’s my answer to that. Listen. We need to make sure we’re doing sensible legislation, making sure our schoolhouses are safe as much as possible, but to say that we’re going to arm teachers to protect students, what happens when a teacher goes out on maternity leave?”

Biden Administration Endorses Transgender Hormones and Surgeries in Children

April 2, 2022April 1, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden administration released documents Thursday that endorse children and adolescents with claims of gender dysphoria to experience “gender-affirming care,” including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and body-mutilating transgender surgeries, including elective double mastectomies and castrations.

Biden appeared in a video endorsing transgender treatments and surgeries for children.

Vaccinating Kids as Young as Five Would Be a ‘Game Changer,’ Biden’s Education Secretary Says

September 26, 2021September 25, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

President Joe Biden’s Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for children would be a “game changer” for students in the U.S.’s public school system, U.S. News reported.

Pfizer announced Monday that a smaller dose of its vaccine has generated an immune response in 5 to 11-year-old children during the clinical trial. The company said it plans to submit data for approval in the next few weeks.

States Banning Mask Mandates Could Face Civil Rights Probes, on Biden’s Directive

August 20, 2021August 19, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

President Biden is ratcheting up opposition to Republican governors blocking COVID mask mandates in schools, putting in charge the Education Department, which is raising the possibility of using its civil rights arm to oppose such policies.

Biden on Wednesday ordered Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to “assess all available tools” that can be used against states that fail to protect students amid surging coronavirus cases.

Biden’s Education Secretary Voices Support for Schools That Force Mask Mandates

August 19, 2021August 18, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Joe Biden’s Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, admitted to having spoken directly with faculty members from school districts that are defying the law and forcing mask mandates on their students, even if their states have banned such mandates, ABC News reports.

Cardona said that some such schools fear repercussions from the state governments if they continue defying the bans, including in Texas and Florida. “I have had the conversations with superintendents,” Cardona said in an interview on Tuesday. “And they have asked, if this goes in that direction, how do we get support? My message is, open the schools safely; we got your back.”

Cardona had previously sent a letter to several school districts in Florida promising that the federal government would fund the schools directly in the event that Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) follows through on his promise to suspend the salaries of all superintendents who force such mandates onto their students in defiance of state law.

Parents Concerned About Critical Race Theory in Schools, Poll Says

July 23, 2021July 22, 2021 The Center Square

The Biden administration has sparked controversy for endorsing elements of critical race theory in education programs, and the latest polling reveals a source of that concern.

A poll released by Convention of States Action found that many Americans are opposed to critical race theory in curriculum, and are open to removing their kids from public schools to avoid it.

Joe Biden Expected to Name Current Connecticut Education Commissioner to Lead Education Department

December 23, 2020December 22, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

President-elect Joe Biden is poised to select Miguel Cardona, the current Connecticut education commissioner, to lead the Department of Education in his administration, CNN reported.

Miguel Cardona, who has served as head of the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) since August 2019, will be President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to lead the federal government’s education department, multiple sources told CNN. Cardona would be the latest Latino to receive a high-ranking position in the incoming Biden administration.