U.S. Department of Education Archives

Commentary: Vo-Tech Education is Taking Off, and It’s Not Your Dad’s Shop Class Anymore

August 23, 2024 RealClearWire

Jon Graft is on a mission to reignite the passion for learning by pushing a long-denigrated classroom practice: vocational education.

The superintendent of the Butler Tech District of high schools in Ohio is a leader in the growing movement to revive public education, marred by low test scores and high absenteeism, through a hands-on approach to learning that prepares students for careers in today’s tech-driven economy. Traditionally a means of funneling disadvantaged kids into outdated shop classes and dead-end jobs, vocational education is being reimagined by Graft and others in sophisticated career and technical education (CTE) programs nationwide, offering high school students of all academic abilities training in healthcare, computer science, engineering, skilled trades, and even the arts.

Commentary: Abiding Child Abuse in Schools

May 31, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

The stories of pedophile teachers not being held accountable for their abominable crimes are endless. In an in-depth piece, reporter Matt Drange investigates the issue and what he finds is positively revolting.

A case in North Carolina is typical. In Durham County, a student at Neal Middle School said her chorus teacher, Troy Pickens, had groped her, only disclosing a few years later that he’d raped her. James Key, the school’s principal, didn’t open an investigation until the child’s mother got involved, and even then, according to a subsequent civil suit that settled out of court, the principal “failed to report the groping allegation to law enforcement or child protective services, as required by state law.” Instead, Key allowed Pickens to resign, paving the way for him to remain in the field.

Feds Refuse to Drop $37 Million Fine, Lawsuit Against GCU Despite Audit Finding No Fault with Christian School

April 8, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

A state auditor’s office recently completed a review that found no proof there is any wrongdoing on the part of Grand Canyon University, but two federal agencies are continuing with their campaigns against the Christian university despite the findings.

The Arizona State Approving Agency, an arm of the state’s Department of Veteran Services, issued a determination Feb. 20 that risks identified by “court actions by the government” could not be substantiated, which means the private nonprofit’s students can still use GI bill funding to pay tuition.

Left-Wing Group Pushed a Policy That Could Shape 2024 Election Outcome—Using Your Tax Dollars

April 5, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

Documents reveal an organization backed by Obama White House alumni such as Valerie Jarrett and bankrolled by liberal dark money donors advocated using tax dollars to pay college students to get out the vote in the 2024 election, doing so before the Biden administration announced the same policy.

The Daily Signal obtained the documents through a public records request in which it sought documents from the Wisconsin Elections Commission related to President Joe Biden’s controversial executive order to promote voting.

Complaint: Minnesota High School Restricts Student Group Entry by Race

February 17, 2024February 16, 2024 The Center Square

Parents Defending Education filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against Burnsville High School in Minnesota based on race and national origin in programs that receive federal financial assistance.

Burnsville High School offers programming to affinity groups only open to some students.

Republican States Weigh Rejecting Federal Education Funds to Block Federal Interference

March 30, 2023March 29, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

Republican states are beginning to consider rejecting federal funding for K-12 education in order to keep out federal interference in the form of the strings attached to the monies.

In February, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton said he had introduced a bill to create a task force to weigh the idea of the state rejecting the roughly $1.8 billion of federal monies it receives for K-12 education.

Medical School Under Federal Investigation over Its Allegedly Racist Scholarship Program

March 19, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched a federal investigation March 6 into St. Louis University (SLU) after a complaint was filed accusing the school of offering a racially discriminatory scholarship, medical watchdog group Do No Harm reported.

The complaint, filed by Do No Harm senior fellow Mark Perry in September, accused SLU School of Medicine’s Scholarship Program for Visiting Medical Students Underrepresented in Medicine violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race-based discrimination, because it is only accessible to students that identify as a specific race, the OCR letter reads. The office “will investigate whether the University discriminates against students based on race, color, or national origin in connection” with the program.

Commentary: Seperating Fact from Fiction

March 11, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

The State of New Jersey recently enacted a law that requires K–12 students to learn “information literacy.” Stated plainly, this is the skills to determine what’s true and what’s not. The law is allegedly the first of its kind in the nation.

The sentiment behind the legislation is admirable, but the law itself is vague and gives the NJ Department of Education broad authority to create these standards. Given the track record of the U.S. education establishment, this could be an epic mistake.

Biden Admin Extends Student Loan Payment Pause Again

November 23, 2022November 22, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Biden administration extended the student loan repayment pause to until the end of June 2023 while the administration’s student loan forgiveness plan is tied up in court, according to a Tuesday press release from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

Under the extension, loans do not need to be paid until 60 days after June 30, 2023, or whenever “litigation is resolved,” according to the DOE press release. The extension of the repayment pause comes as the Department of Justice (DOJ) urges the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling which blocked the student loan forgiveness plan.

Group Sues U.S. Department of Education over Biden’s Student Loan Cancellation Plan

September 28, 2022September 27, 2022 The Center Square

A nonprofit legal group filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Education to block its move to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for some borrowers.

“Congress did not authorize the executive branch to unilaterally cancel student debt,” Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Caleb Kruckenberg said. “It’s flagrantly illegal for the executive branch to create a $500 billion program by press release, and without statutory authority or even the basic notice and comment procedure for new regulations.”

Biden Admin to Investigate Major University for Alleged ‘Hostile Environment of Anti-Semitism’

August 2, 2022August 1, 2022 Admin

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating the University of Southern California in Los Angeles for allegedly creating a “hostile environment of anti-semitism” on campus, according to a press release.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a complaint in November 2020 to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for Rose Ritch, a USC student who was forced to resign from her role as student body vice president after students allegedly harassed her for being a “Zionist” and excluded her because she is Jewish, according to the press release. The OCR notified the Brandeis Center that it will investigate the university on Tuesday, the center announced.

Commentary: Louisiana’s Bold Move to Overhaul High School Career and Technical Education

April 19, 2022April 18, 2022 RealClearWire

America’s high schools have problems. Nearly twenty years ago, Bill Gates observed that the existing model is obsolete — that, even when high schools “work,” the results are too often mediocre. In 2016, The Education Trust found that 47 percent of high schoolers graduated prepared for neither college nor a career. In 2018, Gallup reported that two-thirds of high schoolers described themselves as wholly or partially disengaged. And, just last month, the National Center for Education Statistics concluded that high schools are plagued by grade inflation: Over the past decade, grades have risen to a record high even as math and science performance by 12th graders has edged down.

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.

Biden Education Department ‘Declares War’ on Charter Schools as School Choice Becomes Overwhelmingly Popular in America

March 30, 2022March 29, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

As more families and teachers flee government schools, the Biden administration – bound to the teachers unions – has now “declared war” on charter schools, as Robert Maranto, editor of the Journal of School Choice, wrote at National Review Monday.

The Biden education department is now on a path to sabotage the federal grant program that funds charter schools, public schools that are privately managed, with its proposal of new rules that appear to actually deter applicants from seeking grants.

Minnesota College Ends Segregated ‘Anti-Racism’ Training Program After Civil Rights Complaint

February 14, 2022February 13, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

A liberal arts college in southeastern Minnesota ended its “anti-racism” training program following a civil rights complaint.

Carleton College, located in Northfield, held racially segregated “mandatory monthly affinity groups” as part of its “anti-racism training series” for employees and staff throughout the spring 2021 semester (January through May 2021).

ANALYSIS: A Look at Universities’ Foreign Contribution Filings

January 4, 2022January 3, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

Data collected by the US Department of Education show that during 2021, colleges and universities amassed a total of $1.3 billion in contracts and gifts from foreign sources, including $337 million from foreign governments.

The U.S. Department of Education has expressed concern about foreign nations using funds to influence American institutions of higher education. “For at least two decades,” the Department said in a report published last October, “the industry has been on direct notice that at least some of these foreign sources are hostile to the United States and are targeting their investments (i.e., “gifts” and “contracts”) to project soft power, steal sensitive and proprietary research, and spread propaganda.”

Campus Reform has covered how China uses Confucius Institutes to exert influence on American schools. Needs a line about what Confucius Institutes are Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated the program as “part of the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence and propaganda apparatus.”

Teachers Get Raises, Bonuses From Federal COVID Relief Funds Meant to Reopen Schools Safely

December 20, 2021 Admin

This week’s Golden Horseshoe once again goes to the U.S. Department of Education for allowing school districts to use pandemic relief funds for pay raises and bonuses for teachers despite the funds being appropriated to reopen schools safely.

Schools nationwide received $190 billion through three relief packages passed. Of that total, the largest sum, $122 billion, was from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

Report: More Than Half of Federal School COVID Relief Funds Used for Non-Pandemic Purposes

December 13, 2021December 12, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

This week’s Golden Horseshoe Award goes to the U.S. Department of Education for approving pandemic relief spending plans by school districts that include millions for upgrading athletic facilities, installing security cameras, purchasing floor shiners and other non-pandemic related projects.

Approximately $190 billion in pandemic funding under both the Trump and Biden administrations was allocated to schools to safely reopen and protect teachers and students.

Federally Funded Critical Race Theory Program Removes ‘Critical Race Theory’ from Description

December 1, 2021November 30, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Five years ago, the U.S. Department of Education approved a grant application for a summer research program whose “core feature” was introducing student fellows to “critical race theory.”

The feds approved a five-year extension of the original grant for the Research Institute for Scholars of Equity (RISE) this year, with one notable and unexplained omission: the term “critical race theory.”

Federal Taxpayers Pay Millions to Fund Program That Funds Students to Promote Critical Race Theory

November 29, 2021 The Center Square

Federal grant records show the U.S. Department of Education has awarded millions of taxpayer dollars to fund critical race theory training for future educators at several colleges across the country.

In 2016 under the Obama administration, the federal government awarded its first five-year grant of $1,116,895 to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) for “training” college students in critical race theory.