Transcripts For CSPAN2 Education 20240703

Minutes. Thank you. All guests should remain in seats until the witness is allowed to leave the room. So the committee stands in recess. The committee will reconvene and come to order following our recess. You are recognized for five minutes. Thank you so much madam chairwoman. Thank you so much a secretary at cardona for being here today. For keeping the focus i know it has been hard theres a lot of questions asked but i keep seeing you keeping the focus on education. Because we know education is the foundation of our democracy as well as the path for prosperity for our families. Now, i wanted to give you the time to answer a bit about the question that came up earlier. You were really not given the time i am sorry the respect to be able to explain the authorities that you have and the under the Higher Education to forgive student loan. And that authority was given to the department to the Higher Education act. Would you like to take a Quick Response to why you are acting regarding Student Loans the 30 areth doing it in question quick spirit looking very carefully at the authorities i have under the Higher Education act of the authority that was used by the last secretary as well. In the crisis that we are in with Higher Education loan system and access to college. We are using our authority carefully to make sure we are making targeted decisions to help students accomplish their goals of reaching college and following up on him bipartisan fashion but was approved to the student loane forgiveness progm but thank you for the opportunity. I think it is really important that congress is constantly assisting different industries, assisting different corporations with the idea we are going to be investing and ourpr future workforce, and our children through education is no different. Had to say americans should not help with this endeavor is very shortsighted because if we do not invest through education and our workforce, we do not have a future so i am glad you are making those decisions. I wanted to touch on another topic. We note during the pandemic it was hard on everybody. Our former president was doing a disastrous job of handling coated. But then President Biden came in under democrat led congress we passed multiple laws we pass the americans rescue plan which gis schools a lot of flexibility how to respond to these dire situations we found ourselvesa n and they used it to accelerate student learning, to address student Mental Health, to support educated workforce. Itto was a philosophy schools themselves would know best where to spend thatt money. I loved reading your testament you think of bilingual, being bilingual as a superpower. I agree. In new mexico some of those emergency relief funds were used for dual language teachers for certification. I am concerned about the Different Things that are going to happen after it expires how is your department preparing to assist schools with things like educator professor development, preparation for dual language teachers. How are we looking at the transition . How does your budget address the issue of transition and a focusing on some of the needed areas . Thank you for the question absolutely bilingualism is a superpower i think what we need to do is make sure we are empowering our students to learn more languages so they can be compared prepared for Global Competitiveness i believe that strongly but our budget does request additional dollars for our office that focuses on english english language requisition while maintaining your native language or learning english so we have a request for 50 million above last years fy 23 budget. We are continuing to support sustainability efforts working with states. As on the phone with the governor of new mexico yesterday talking about how the department of education can support weve seen more gross as a result of the use of those dollars. We have seen since 2009 for students in reading, Mental Health access. The goal is to make sure we are contingent on those efforts that we know at work. After schoolwe program, summer program, Mental Health supports we are working with states on how they can use existing funds our annual budget doesnt show up we are increasing title 3. Title i dollars to make sure schools have the dollars that needs to be successful if it. The title at 1 are so important because if we what america to succeed we need to make sure our working families those families living in the highest thank you very much for your work and i yield back. Thank you, ms. Millet your recognizer fivemi minutes. Misters secretary inn West Virginia five female students were barred from competing in track and field after refusing to compete against biologicalu, mail. In wisconsin, young girls were forced off the volleyball teams because they felt uncomfortable sharing a locker room with the biological males. When the School District was asked about the transgender athlete policy, they said they crafted it according to your title ix interpretation. Mr. Secretary, what consequences will female students face if they do not want to share a locker room with the biological mail under your title ix rule . Question. Schools have the responsibility to make sure all students feel safe including is in the bathrooms and is a lifelong educator these are decisions i have had to make as a School Principal, as a district leader. I am so glad you brought up that you are concerned about the safety of students. But the rule and guidance are putting out that youve been putting out for three years is ketaking away the safety of our daughters in their private spaces, and there locker rooms and showers and taking away theirg athletic and educational opportunities. Girls and wisconsin and West Virginia refused and there kicked off their teams. These schools are basing their decision on your rule. This is happening because if you and joe biden. Soap mr. Secretary, and Health Education class if a teacher says men student was the title a title ixcoroner says he is une the Health Teacher insists men cannot get pregnant what should the title ix coordinator say . To be happy to refer that question to the office for civil rights to provide guidance. I can say with any title ix or rules that were recently put out there is more guidance that goes along with it. I welcome an opportunity for my team to work with your constituents to make sure the implementation of a title ix too. What i want to know in biology class if the Health Teacher or the health class at the teacher says men cannot get pregnant in settlement reports that to the title ix coordinator, what should the title ix coordinator say . Because you are in charge. Ill be very happy to have your constituents get support to make sure the title ix coordinators have information. We have provided a plethora of Technical Assistance were going to continue to support regardless frequent so as you say . What would you say . Should that teacher get in trouble . Was it did not want to comment on hypotheticals without enough d information. But i will tell you is i respect different opinions across the country we are committed to supporting schools but. Youy . Ou respect a health tear or biologydo teacher saying biological mail cannot get pregnant, you arein recognizing biological but in athletics you are wiping out biological and going with gender identity. So i went to know, gender identity is not defined in your rule can you give me the official definition of gender identity . I think you said is inaccurate we have not released our title ix athletic rules. Actually you have for three years youve been putting out title ix guidance rules. I brought them with as you can see it does have to do with athletic teams. So, moving on could you please tell me what the official definition of gender identity is a question or a quick smear in the rulemaking process for athletics as you know that was submitted maybe nine months after the proposed rule for title ix so we are in the process of listening to one or 40000 comments. The schools are being threatened to have their federal funding pulled because they are afraid of the consequences the e realworld consequences of your title ix rule and your guidance you put out two. I do want to know what would you say to a female athlete who would have won a gold medal but is now getting a silver metal because a biological mail took up . Of the said congresswoman arr athletic rules have not been finalized i would be happy to work with whom ever you want our team to work with. I do have to say it you are not protecting everyone. I am here to protect girls and to stand up for families and parents across the country that are outraged over this. You are not protecting girls youre making a choice you are choosing boys over girls you are satisfied with letting a girl take the civil or metal or the biological boy takes the gold but you are going to be remembered as the education secretary under joe biden who erased girls sports for an entire generation but you should withdraw your title ix rule or resign. Thank you and i yield back to doctor fox. Thank you ms. Miller. You are recognizer five minutes. Thank you madame chairwoman. And secretary cardona thank you so much for taking the time to speak to our committee today is not here for the entire hearing i had another hearing across the hall as things work out in congress. I have been briefed on the earlier testimony. I know you have beench asked an andoff a lot of questions about fafsa im going to be limited on that and get to another issue i think is really important but i will say and i know youve heard this from everybody the number of concerned parents as well as the institutions of Higher Learning and my district that i have heard from has been overwhelming. Im sure your job is been quite overwhelming this year giving everything that is going on. On the fafsa issue i do not want to repeat things it mightve been asked and answered but i elhavent heard from some institutionsit about 30 of the additional institutional student Information Records isi are for the benefit of those who may not know that is something produced by the fafsa system. It includes data about students Financial Aid eligibility, right . Yes figure severed about 30 are sent to the colleges have errors and need to be corrected. It might be hired that number it might be higher for institutions that serve low income and first jen students. As the department determined how it will handle instances where institutions award students higher amounts of federal aid due to incorrect isr question. We have corrected that issue. Thank you for that we have corrected that issue. There were several issues in programming there is an issue with information for tax Data Information we have also worked to correct. We are communicating daily with schools. They have been bending over backwards a Financial Aid director and the College President s have been extremely communicatives in terms of assuring what concerns they have in helping us determine what the best support strategies are. I want to commend them publicly and thank them for their patience and flexibility to meet the needs of students. We have communicated colleges directly, spoken over 100 College President s myself to make sure we are hearing what their concerns are and how we can address those. And through daily communication we have been updating information on what their challenges are and how wedi can address them turks or some colleges or institutions of Higher Learning a car theyre having to claw back some of the Financial Aid they had offered to a student . No. We have communicated with them the information they were given could be used. Many schools asked us to reprocess it we have done that reprocessing for schools to have the updated information. Okay. I want to shift gears to another really critical topic, Mental Health. Secretary according to a 2022 study by the National Center for Education Statistics only 13 of Public Schools strongly agreed and 43 moderately agreed they could effectively provide Mental Health services to all students in need. That data deeply concerns me it indicates a significant gap in providing the social support to our students emotional wellbeingly. Can you discuss your department initiatives and addressing Mental Health issues in our schools . Particularly in light of 1 billion allocated to the stronger connection Grant Program . Absolutely thank you. Rightly it communicated we are to youth Mental Healthli crisis. Access to Mental Health support is critically important for our students but we know students are six times more likely to access Mental Health support that they are provided in our schools which is why we are big proponents and supporters and ask for an increase of 200 million for fullel Service Committee schools that connect with Community Partners and provide Mental Health support. The biscuit dollars have been used to increase the number of School Social workers by 40 . The number of School Nurses by 30 for. To what levels are we talkig k 12 . Yes. They are provided access but we are also working to improve scmedicaid reimbursement for sustainable dollars. As the dollars sunset they are sustainable reimbursement dollars for medicaid sober work with hhs. We currently have 13 states have signed on to do that and we are working aggressively to get as many other states signed up to get medicaid reimbursement. The goal is never to go back to a system where we have emergency room model of Mental Health in our schools. Unfortunately have to wait until the trauma happens to provide support. Oversee the dollars used for proactive strategies to support students. Thank you very much with that i yield back manager. Next thank you. You are recognized for five minutes. You are appearing with us today most concerned on our university. When it comes to influence other universities the tip of the iceberg when it comes the billions of funds to submit. More importantly some missions are useless if your department does not take enforcement seriously. Because in fact section 117 and china a single time and your tenant page written testimony today and if i am wrong, please let me know. I am wrong, please your department maintainsin a lt of open section 117 investigations. Every single one has open under Trump Administration. If you added more what i found issue close only five universities. How many are under the investigation and how many added andad how many not . We dont have a Clear Communication between the department and spirit since taking the office, why have you not launched you believe feel relationship with dangerous countries. Like china and other countries of concern that accept same as our allies. Or do you think certain countries are concerned with National Security threats increase scrutiny should those relationships be treated differently. Thank you for the christian congresswoman. Aiken share with you we should not allow foreign influence in our schools. We make sure we protect our schools and students from foreign influence. Too that end the department of education takes veryul seriously the responsibility to provide Public Information on gifts from other countries. I want to make sure i correct that. We have provided almost 39000 foreign gifts totaling over 21 billion in the last three years. Which is much more than the last administration. We are a part of the fbi National Counterintelligence task force. Were they provide and share information if there is a need for investigations that task force is the one that does it. By having transparency not only to that task force but to the public we communicate with foreign gifts are coming from. And the Law Enforcement arms are best suited to investigate. I hope we have much better communication. N. We understand exactly what kindr of tangibles you are taking and your departments. When we see the report and it is not there then we dont know exactly what you are doing and what kind of tangible steps you are taking. And just one more thing i want to ask Charter Schools and last year you came out 82023 found in that Charter School students on average learn the equivalent of additional six days per year. An added 16 days of learning i want to submit this on the record republication. Without objection fabric students in poverty achieve an t additional 23 days of learning however Biden Administration proposed 40 milliondollar cut 40 million cut to thecharter s. Why such excellent results for the students who have to add more Charter Schools. Thank you for the question. I agree with you parents should have options and Charter Schools are Viable Options for. Thank you for agreeing withh that. I have to be very frank for the fiscal responsibility act is something we take very seriously. We have to look at fort where we can provide cuts that are Budget Proposals. That would not impact students for their several we cut comprehensive centers by 9 . Innovation cut that by 5 . The Charter School grant was cut i can assure you it would not impact any bills currently under the grant. The demand for that is increase. We have been on my more information is that largest k 12 competitive grant we oversee at the department of education. As testimony to the fact we do support Quick Service to impact on charterla schools . Cut a lot for the Charter School for. That we had to do and again speaking about the lack of demand, we had to do it using the grant front load dollars it would not affect any of the csp awards for years. Thank youo, my time is up i yield back for. Thank you. Ms. Wilson you are recognized for five minutes. Cardona thank you so much for joining us today. I just loved your visit to my elementary school. And i want you to come back again. I want to express my gratitude for the Biden Harris Administrations dedication to our students. Our formerry secretary of education stated her goal was to eliminate schools. Thats what you call insanity on steroids. The Biden Harris Administration want to be somebody stood in their effort to secure the promise of Higher Education and i thank you secretary for your work on that. On that issue. Inno other president has tackled this debacle that cripples so many. No other president. That is why i have proposed the loan act that would build on this administrations effort to cancel Student Loans. Secretary cardona, last september you and secretary of vilsack sent a joint letter to multiple governors including florida urging investment in hbcus. As you know, President Biden has repeatedly called on raising teacher pay enduring this Teacher Appreciation week i would hope the department of education reaffirms this commitment to our teachers. I want to also thank the department for recent title ix changes that combat Sexual Harassment and discrimination it is crucial that we affirm our commitment to safeguarding lgbtq five plus community combating Sexual Misconduct on College Campuses and i thank you for that. One thing of concern to me is the recent rollout disrupted educationall opportunities for thousands of students. But i know, together this administration with your help will work to deliver for our students toth ensure we delivera highquality education across the United States. My question is, are there any updates or information you want to share with this committee that we have not addressed . The floor is yours for. Thank you very much. Let me startes off by saying we are working around theu clock o get more students to allow fafsa. The delayed frustrations into the families and students who had to deal with that, i recognize how difficult that was prep. I myself have a senior in high school. Should be thinking about college and all that is not the delays. I am proud to say we have processed over 9 million applications. Its decreasing significantly. I have a nationwide strategy now working with our principles, our superintendents, if students go to student a. Gov and fill out fafsa should be 15 20 minute process but if they fill it out by friday the school have their information its up and running. We have allotted 50 million to assist with the implementation. Meaning having people help students get done. This is important to us. I knows a First Generation College student how important is to make sure you have access to fafsa that is a priority. Thank you foror acknowledging Teacher Appreciation week we believe strongly the storage we have in our country is a symptom of teacher respect issue. Im really proud President Biden and doctor biden elevated to a state dinner for National Teachers of the it sends a message major pride agency better working conditions and Competitive Salary to our educators. We arebi strong believers we should defend a Public Education not be funded from thank with supporting our educators to give their best forwe our children. Thank you. I yield back. Think it is wilson mr. Kyle that you are recognized for. A few days i wrote a letter to universities condemning the rise in antisemitism on campuses. He specifically spoke about incidents of students being physically assaulted, simple sud to anti semitic statements being subjected to verbal abuse combining swastika on the storm doors. Each of these and other incidents are up orange they have no place on College Campuses. Im glad you read that letter you recognize the platform that you have to try to influence behavior for the better of our University Campuses however this a lot of things goingor on your letter left unaddressed i want to take a moment to ask you about a few ofca them. For example is it a number of campusesge protesters who have physically blocked jewishr, students from entering campus or entering spaces on campus. You condemn that behavior . Thank you for the question we start up a sink hates has no place in our schools because i understand and think if it can address thebl specific question. Picked you condemn those or physically blocking jewish students and from entering their campuses . Absolutely correct i appreciate that that is a very Important Message how it thenn came at themselves . These protesters have set up tents on campus and refusing to leave in violation of University Rules and often the log you condemn that . I condemn behaviors that are unsafe. I leave it to the University Leaders and the board of governors to address how they handlevi encampments, or other issues happening on campus. I will see if i could finish please. What i will say active intimidation or violence towards jewish students are any students for that matter are not tolerated. President said that is not processing that is creating progress appreciate that thats Important Message. But the encampments themselves in violet University Policies on the log you condemn them . University is a responsibility to uphold their rules on campus. Can you tell me right out yes or no do you condemn the encampments . Again those are decisions for the university is to make. I knowag in some cases universities are engaging in dialogue with students to come up with the strategy out i do not want to get intos . The detas of cases that i do not have a. Chart you just wrote a letter to University Leadership called out things they ought to do im asking is this one of them . For students or whoever they might be who are in these encampments have been told to leave who have been told to disperse and movee along and are refusing, what is your message them . Quick to him its important to think about this from the perspective of given the university the opportunity to engage be keeping students safe. Think about the students who should be thinking about graduation. We want to make sure all students have access. To the students have been told to leave her other protesters in camas and refusing to do so, what is your message but unquestionably tell them as a secretary of education they need to leave when they are told to do so . All students whether they have campus have to fold the rules of this collection not engage in behaviors that are unsafe. Students and others are in encampments have been given orders they should leave yes . That they direct them to leave they should leave pickwick think appreciate that. Weve seen examples of faculty of said university of chicago theyre willing to be a rest of bethe students to refuse to leae their encampment. You condemn those faculty members were standing in the wy the rules being enforced . My responsibility under title vi to make sure students are not being attacked or harassed. You condemn faculty members are interfering with the university or Law Enforcement efforts to clear campus quest or no question because i believe University Officials should adhere to the rules and there it university. Thats a guess you condemn faculty members who are interfering with every cyclic encampments . I support University Officials following the rules the University Folks have both of these universities that are negotiating changes in University Policy toward israel as aei demand of those who are n the encampments. You think that is appropriate . Is to enforce it with the office for civil rights violation of title vi. And now even very outspoken on a number of issues. I am asking you your view. Is it appropriate for universities to exceed two demands of those encampments and change in policies towards israel and response question. It is my responsibility to be very clear that we will not accept hate on campus. And we stand against that. Have seen some University Tech by ending study of programs to us was that appropriate question of its title vi make it very clear if you go to our website there is a supporting statement run not ask about your website but how about demands to cut ties do you condemn this demands . The guidance there for universities where the quester ascii makes it clear pickwick short letter it makes it clear certain things are ports on campus without one of them calls for universities to cut ties is that abhorrent to use your words . T violence towards students antisemitism on campus which gives it mr. Secretary you are not willing to condemn calls to cut ties . Will you condemn that yes or no . We are responsible for adhering to title vi and enforcing it. Your support of our budget would help us get to that level instead of creating division as i said in the beginning of my call. I yield back in. Thank you. Thank you mr. Secretary. Some anger reckon us for five minutes thank you madam chair and thank you mr. Secretary for being here today. Mr. Secretary ive just returned from a Holocaust Memorial ceremony in the capitol. It seemed all too relevant today but we were reminded the holocaust did not start with the death camps. It started with juice being demonized, harass, dehumanize, blamed for evils that they did not commit. And over the last few months i have met with jewish students on College Campuses who are being demonized, harass, dehumanize, blame for evils they did not commit. I have visited columbia university. I have seen signs that can only be interpreted as calling for the elimination of the state of israel and genocide against jewish people around the globe. I am pleased you have put out the letter you put out today detailed it contains real world examples of the kinds of things that can be considered worthy of an investigation by theit office of civil rights. I appreciate the detailed examples because we need more reasons for schools to do their job and keep jewish students safe and make sure we stop the antisemitism that is happening on College Campuses. So, what i am interested in today is finding out what more you can do from your position to stop the antisemitism that has exploded on our College Campuses. If you were given the funding that you need, could you enforce more of the title vi requirements and help schools and administrators understand what their obligations are . Absolutely. You mention the Dear Colleague letter was submitted today. There is a letter from myself the College President s on friday with examples. By investigating, which the funding we are asking for will help us to do, we can create case studies or Lessons Learned on cases close their happeningus today. We strongly encourage support of the budget. You know the department ofca education plays a major role in the u. S. National strategy to counter antisemitism. President biden is the first u. S. President ever to issue a National Strategy. I have introduced a bipartisan bicameral bill that would codify the National Strategy and it would designate a senior official at the department of education to serve as your primary advisor on encountering antisemitic discrimination in Higher Education among other duties and this would proactively visite institutions to remind students of their rights. The administrators of their responsibilities. Would having the senior official help you and your obligation to combat antisemitism . Thank you for any resources we can get human capitol to close out cases pickwick specifically ive seen your officials whose job it was to monitor combat antisemitism. Whether that be helpful to you . Absolutely. Absolutely. That person may be bank attention to whats happening daily. Reach out to colleges, students and families in addressing antisemitism erects i understand you deploy personal to several schools that are currently facing protests. Which schools are the apartments employees visiting and how are they working with School Administrators to restore calm and protect your students . Thank you of many open investigations. We have staff in schools with a more detailed list sent to you we are communicating regularly with schools not only to the investigation but also engaging with them around how to use the material we are providing to prevent antisemitism on campus. To testify before the Senate Appropriations committee that school in violation of title vi which protects students from anti semitism will have their federal funding revoked. That is a serious position to take. Where do institutions cross thee line into violating title vi . Are you prepared to enforce the law against institutions that acrossoutline . I am. The goal is to change behaviors and make campuses safe for all students and address the underlying issues that led to the report if a school openly refuses to adhere to title vi revoking funds is something i can do and i would do. Thank you my time iss expired i yield back. Thank you very. Mr. And being you are recognized for five minutes very much thank you very much manager good morning to you, good morning committee mr. Secretary welcome back its great to see seeyou. You, mr. Secretary have a very impressive resume youve been a teacher in connecticut. You have been an administrator. You are a principal would you agree one of the hardest parts of being an educator is the planning, the logistics of how many kids you have, how many little resources you have isnt planning a really tough part of being an educator . Planning is an important part very good to you and agree then when i hear from School Districts of how hard it has been, the massive influx of Illegal Immigrants into our School System you would agree that is real. That is real they are having a hard time managing all the influx of students they did not know were coming. Planning for new students as a School Principal is something that we had to take into account. It is a curveball. Do we know how many Illegal Immigrants are under School Systems right now . I get my staff reach out to about that information. Do not have at the top of my head too. You have any idea is it in that millions is that hundred thousands to have a general idea . Heres the thing i should know the answer but i dont know i have gone online to try to find the answer. Do not know theid answer. I would assume the department of education you would know what you dont know how many are here to be happy to make team follow up with the specifics. Actually i am sincere when i say i would like to know. Does there come a number is there a number in the future that you would say we just cannot take anymore as they area number that you would agree we just cant take anymore . It is causing our numbers, teaching our kids too suffer but we cannot logistically plan for the future is there a number that you would say enough isac enough . There is not a number . The responsibility of educators the School Principal i can type what you take everybody you bro and i the law or in any way that comes you take them but is there a time you were going to say enough. Weve got the call timeout until joe biden time out we are stressed progresses educators its really important we meet the needs of our students were. There is no number i was hoping to tell me theres a number so i can say help was on the way or will hit that max but there is no end in sight. We are all on our own are you aware how many schools have been either shut down or partially taken over to house Illegal Immigrants . Question because imaware of ca. You have many question whatsapp the top of head i dont backwards it is a bunch one will be too many forgr those students who have to do that present something to be aware that is when i hear educators we have a lot of struggles with numbers right now i chair the subcommittee on k12 in our numbers since covid have plummeted. Th weve got work to do mr. Secretary. This is something hopefullyly ty will not have to do a pretty wood to congratulate you because you have done something you have united republicans and democrats, house members and senators on coming together to say the department of education does not have the authority to give money that is not there is a way in the terms of Student Loans. Are you aware even the Supreme Court is come out and said this is outside of your authority . Are you aware of that question with the highest court in the land has said the department of education, this is not your purview of this is not your money to sponsor congress are you aware ofy . That mr. Secreta . With the decisions to be in court was in reference to the heroes act i am acting to Higher Education provokes your interpreting a different you are saying you Trump Congress and you trump the courts is that what youre saying mr. Secretary . That is notfe what im saying pickwick that is what it appears that as a people are struggling with it. People think is arbitrary. Yet you have picked winners and losers of who you allow to forgive the money that is not ours. It is the taxpayers is not forgiven it comes back to us. First of all are you aware that a lot of times, ive been in hearings ith was a banker and me loans a lot of Student Loans do not actually go to fund educations for the students are enrolled in credit card debt, taking trips or boxcars are you aware is not all going to education you may not be aware. Ive been to hearings in the way they do it you have picked winners and losers. For those students youve not forgiven and their loans for is a sure way of declaring war on those that pick a Religious School or private school . Absolutely not we are working for the working class folks. Who need a break considered tax breaks to millionaires areg trying to focus on helping those who are trying to get their education and not be in a lifetime of debt pickwick so want to make you aware of so many things out there. Thank you very much better material back very. Thank you. You are recognized for five minutes. Good to see you mr. Secretary pete thank you so much for joining us i got a little jealous and fun thank you for coming to their district we should soon see you and cd5. A i wanted to talk a little bit about the rise in targeting and haras o campus that arei protesting against te genocide taking place including jewish students, black, brown, and Muslim Students emotions and fears are running high as students of all backgrounds say they are fearful of escalation of antisemitism, islamic phobia and bigotry. My office has received countless stories from jewish students, Muslim Students who have been targeted, harassed and alienated reon campus. Just because they are standing against the genocide happening in gaza. I know youve been meeting with students, parents, leaders is there something you can share with us about the rise of antisemitism and some of phobia on College Campuses . En thank you for the opportunity. What a from students and families directly as they are scared. They are scared safety on camps is something they dont feel like they should compromise. We strongly condemn any acts of violence or discrimination on campus. Weve been very clear about that what im hearing from families as theyfe are scared. Children are having to hide symbols of their faith on their way to class so they are not targeted. As a father and educator something i am against. Casino the administration has condemned a lot of speech on campus. What i have not heard be condemned is statements like kill all muslims. Kill all arabs. Level gaza do youno condemn thoe kind of comments . Absolutely think it will give your commitment to this committee and the American People that the department will investigate complaints of islamic phobia, anti palestinian and anti arabs termination . Yes it. What Additional Support can congress provide forla you to be able to ensure robust oversight investigation accountability carried out . Lets thank you for that but we are asking for 22 million no increase in our budget we flat funded last year. 2000 ambien 58 more investigators and one third of the cases we have today. In 2019 their 10,000 cases a year, 2021 and 22 there were 19000 increase is extremely high we need additional investigators to close out these cases and make sure we are providing support for students. Do you have an idea of the number of cases that are pending at theti moment quest requesting excuse me one of 45 cases shared interests ancestry open focus on College Campuses . On College Campuses yes. Croissant to pivot last time we were here i asked you about the frustration a lot of borrowers were experiencing, feeling their rights were being violated. We talked about how concerned i was about renewing their contract and of the department has done some work and taking in takingsome of the cases off. It seems like you all are going through some processing pauses as the transition happens. How are you ensuring the borrowers do not have an interruption as the transition . Thank you for that let me go back with one or 45 open cases. One hundred cases since october 7. They may include k12. But 100 cases since and i believe those are caused by get that information to you. We are transitioning some cases i was requested to other services where communicate with borrowers to try to minimize disruption for Public Service loan forgiveness. I amin wondering how the department is planning to make sure those who remain are able to receive Better Service . Looked very part of the fixing of a broken Higher Education system is making sure were looking at it from the froe perspective of the consumer. We need toto improve student borrower services. A lot of the work we are doing at fafsa is to improve services or help holding folks accountable for all servicers. The rapid payments we withheld because servicers are not great for borrowers for your whole is a more accountable and providing more resources as you mentioned we are moving some cases over at the request to make the process smoother for our borrowers for quick thank you wonderful i yield back. Thank you. You are recognized for five thank you madam chair mr. Secretary, since coming to congress i have. Been when peoe ask me what are your thoughts . One of the things i have taken away from this place and tried to convey back home is the shocking amount of espionage and activity from foreign adversaries in the United States. Some of the briefings we have had includedes here in the Education Committee particularly when itan comes to china and thr involvement their form of elite capture thatie occurs. So my question has to do with section 117 of the Higher Education act that mandates the universities and colleges must report twice each year to the secretary or whatever they receive foreign monetary or nonmonetary gifts in excess of twon and 50000, correct . Correct very. In october of 2020 the department of education, under the Trump Administration conducted a study they issued a report entitled institutional compliance with section 117 of the Higher Education act of 1965. This is a copy of the study im sure you review the study before. Ive been briefed yes. Med and charlie to enter this into the record progress without objection. Thank you. So, in the study they document a shocking number of universities and colleges that were out ofha compliance with section 11770 comments regarding that question. Yes thank you. I share your concern. Im a big bully but we have to stop any foreign influence in our schools. We are committed to that. You to make sure we communicate what we are doing on that. I could say the department of education has taken it seriously we provided for in gift reports of almost 39004 gifts that were given to universities over 21 billion. So, this is something we communicate openly we believe the transparency. Additionally sir part of the fbi National Counterintelligence task force to make sure our agency is working with Law Enforcement, the investigative arm to make sure not only are we transparent about the information and clear which universities or unit which gifts from which countries but the arm that does the investigation has the information. We take it very seriously we will continue to do that. Thank you have you followed up on the report and the information with an updated report . Critically what im interested in is how many universities are in compliance today versus were in compliance in 2020 . I could have that information sent to sir. Okay. So if you have not done a report would you agree youd be willing to do a followup report on that . I be happy to have some followup with you on the questions that you have. You agr you would be willing to do a followup report on that . I would be happy to have some followup with you on the questions that you have. Im not trying to be rude, im asking a legitimate question because i would think based on what came out of this report, you would generally want to know where the universities stand and how many of them are in compliance with section 117. We are definitely interested in making sure foreign influences out of our schools, which is why we have reported more gifts than the previous administration. We are going to continue to work with the fbis National Intelligent task force. With my limited time, i want to go into an extension of this which has to do with what we are seeing is the uprise on antisemitism on College Campuses. There has been some connections made to groups like students for justice in palestine. Are you investigating any foreign involvement or connections between foreign entities and funneling mentally and money into some of these groups . We have 145 open investigations. Ma broaden it so i cant comment specifically on your question. I can tell you that thats within the scope of information that wee received from schools. These groups can receive the money, only directly through universities, is that correct or can they receive money directly from the outside . I would have my team follow up on you on that information . Okay, that would be good to know. Sure. My time has expired. Mr. Scott, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you, thank you amaam made chair. You also heard about the student debt problem and whether or not the taxpayer ought to be paying for the for the loan forgiveness, do you hear the republicans about the trump tax cut for 80 of the benefits went to top percent and 99 actually paid for that or did you hear them complain about the ppp loans, people who dont own a business had to pay for the forgiveness of those ppp loans, did you hear any complaints about that . , no sir, i dont. How many colleges and universities are there in the United States . Well over 5,000, sir. How many campuses are there active encampments or protests . I couldnt tell you off the top of my head but a small number. 30, 40, 50 maybe. 1 . On those campuses how many students are actually participating in the protest . Well, it would fend on campus but small percentage. Okay, youve been asked to highly intervene on how the current campus should be handling these without much information and varies from case to case. If a student lad a protest on better food in the cafeteria would you be expected to intervene and tell the college how to deal with that . I would likely not, sir. You indicated that all students have a right to be safe from campus, that means they all have the right to be protected under title 6 and title 9, that means free from antisemitism but also islamophobia, homophobia, did i hear you say that there are about 140 140 some cases of would you say shared yes, 145. And that would include all of the antisemitism cases . Correct. And how many how many open cases do you have on Everything Else . We have 145 under shared ancestry, i can have that information, i dont have the number in front of me. Over 10,000 im assuming . Ev the number of cases closer to 19,000. Okay. Under the implementation, disrupt bid the pandemic it had 3 major provisions one is that theof you have to ascertain whether or not there are achievement gaps and have credible strategies or to something about it and resource equity. How are we getting back on track to implement provisions of every student that succeeds act . Thank you, ranking member. We take very seriously the accountability that the students are making gains. Academically we have been paying attention to not only nate data but statewide data that tells us that students are recovered. A third of theic pandemic, math, quarter in reading, gains have been twice as high in math in typical years and reading five times as much growth. We are seeing growth based on the implementation of dollars, however, thats its important that we continue to use the assessment data that is provided by states that are elementary and secondary education that have meetings with states to monitor growth and subgroup information in terms of students some of thatco growth because we had significant funding in the American Rescue plan act . Sir, i would say it was because of additional funding and educators of the field. Can you say a word of Afterschool Program . We spoke last year and i want to follow up and are aware of title 9 rule proposed by the biden on administration in apris published and the final rule dramatically and title 9 regulations, it weakens protection for women and girls and dilutes due process protections for those accused of Sexual Harassment as defined under the regulations. The rule also expands the definition of sex to include gender identity as you well know. This is going to result in the removal of female only spaces. Its atrocious in my opinion. I want to two back to what you said last year when we talked about i asked you specifically about local control and you stated, quote, when i was at the local level and even at district and state level i prefer those decisions be made at the local level. Thats exactly what you said, those were your words and you went further last year and said, quote, we are working with local School Boards to make sure we are staying in our lanes, our country was design today have local control. Frankly i was shocked that you would tell me that, i was glad that you said that and so now i have even more problem with whats going on not in the words you gave last year but in the actions to have department of education and in particular in this new rule. You still standby those statements that you made last year . Absolutely. All right. Having stood by those statements im going tell you what my districts back home are telling me, ive got two letters i want stto introduce, madame chairwomn i ask unanimous consent to introduce into the record letter bym tyler isd which is my largt School District. Without objection. I also ask for unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from van independent School District dated may seventh, 2024. Without ly tell you some of the statements that are made by the superintendent to me as it relates to this title 9 atrocious rule, talks about it being constitutionally overreaching and illegal that is so offensive to daughters, wives and mothers. I can assure you the rest of my School Districts share that opinion. Also it is an inexcusable federal assault. Thats what the local communities in texas, in east texas where i represent, what they think about the title 9 letter. From van independent School District, the changes to title 9 forces schools to treat boys as if they were girls and sub declared gender identity and ive said before and say again today proudly, i say that i believe men and women were created by god with equal and eternal value but very different, very different and its not up to us to try to change that identity and our humanity. Do you agree with that or do you disagree with that . Thank you foror having the opportunity to respond. I want to correct some of the provisions under title 9. Its creating greater protections. You mentioned that i asked you about my statement, do you agree or disagree with the statement that i made about your creator creating men and women differently but equally . I can tell you what as a School Principal too that i do believe in local control but i dont im asking you very specific question about the creation by god of men and women and whether or not they are equally but differently created. Its my responsibility to protect all students not just the one that people pick and choose. That should be an easy question. Weve seen this before. Our panel, weve seen it with the College President s here recently where there are moral truths, moral foundations that seem very evident to a lot of folks that people that somehow sit in your chair cannot answer directly. Its atrocious in my opinion. I want to end my Statement Today because this is Teacher Appreciation week by saying this, because i do appreciate all of the hard work that all of our teachers across this United States actually does for our students day in and day out and in the state of texas well over 300,000 teachers that serve our 5 Million Students and i met with a a lot of teachers acrossy district and like you said last year they dont want the federal government telling them how toat do their job and what their job is. Th its unfortunate that this administration continues to do just that and issue rules and regulation that are contrary not just to local control but frankly morality. With that, i yield back. Thank you. Ms. Stevens youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you, madame chair. Good to see you, mr. Secretary. I appreciate your written testimony. I just like to reflect, there are so many critical topics that intersect with your purview and we appreciate that youre here to review the president s annual Budget Proposal and answer some of the questions from us. Recognizing that there are parents of students going to college, parents who still have Student Loan Debt themselves but yet their student doesnt qualify for Financial Aid and ii calm with this idea while knocking doors and i reached a uaw household, both home and dad work withan uaw in various automotive plants and tad had said to me, hailey, we are excited to send kids to Michigan State and we didnt i want to remind you that in michigan, our governor has been dedicated and has really accomplished some incredible things free and reducedd lunch within the department of agriculture, largely something that you care deeply about, prek as well as free affordable twoyear degree programs particularlyis h the Community College level and lastly in michigan we have been rocked by school shootings, Michigan State and and february 23 and, of course, the oxford shootings. I was marching for their lives in detroit after the parkland shooting and we know that we have a great runway following the bipartisan passage of a gun safety bill and particularly Additional Resources that are going to communities to tackle school shootings, sir, i just want to commend you for your leadership and thank you so much and then with my remaining time i just want today givear you a w minutes to talk about your work and the administrations work and particularly the budget on funding for ida, really near and dear to my heart, something that i have rallied all the Oakland County School System around in terms of full funding for idea and just wanted to get some or your input here on better coordination of services, what we will get from this Budget Proposal, you know, thrill today see some of the numbers in here with 15. 4 for ida as wellof different components that are coming down. Thank you for that opportunity. Working as teacher and School Principal i remember countless meetings with families and parents whose children are receiving special Education Services and its important to remember that they receive the core curriculum first. We are asking for increase in fy2024. So the increases, we recognize that not yet keeping with what the federal commitment was set to be, but we are seeking more dollars than has ever been asked before. We know casemm loads of special education teachers across the country is exceedingly high. Idea, support for students with disabilities is critical for us to in our budget and the work that we do ahead. Yeah, and we recognize thatts the president makes a series of tradeoffs and its our responsibility authorizes on the committee who knock on the doors of appropriators to really push that original mandate, that 50year mark that we are about to hit of fully funding special education of the United States of america. This will be a gamechanger for our schools, our educators, i certainly call my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to push for that as appropriations, the season is upon us and with that i yield back. Ms. Stevens. Thank you, maam ma damai chair. Its been a busy time for you and not for very good reasons. The committee both you and your staff in handling, debacle and rising antisemitism but i want to start with fafsa. My district has been handling a number of cases and how to deal with your department. They cant get a real person on the phone. They spend hours on hold and told issues are technical glitches all the while their kids meet early acceptance deadlines because they didnt know how much Financial Aid they were going to be working with. That part really frustrates me, actually when i think about do i get mad about certain things, those are the things of unresponsiveness and 100 to my office of nonresponsiveness, not even a confirmation, i pride myself on case work, sometimes allows to leave a message but no one ever calls us back so ive been frustrated. Other agencies respond theyll get back to me with an answer and so i ask myself who did you hire because it seems unacceptable and really quite frankly ive hired and fired throughout my career people and seems pathetic to not be able to hire people that cannot return a message. The department ofo education if it exists is to increase access to education and you and your staff seemed to have failed unfortunately in the case work in clearing that part. Let me talk about another low bar the department seems to be struggling after october 7th antisemites came out in drove. About a week ago one rabbi affiliated with Colombia University advised jewish students to leave for passover. Last week, Gw University relocated final exams to undisclosed and secure location. Our schools in oregon are dealing with a similar situations and ive talked to the University President s and what the future could look like. It really is the greatest crisis in American Education in decades. Last week before Senate Appropriations subcommittee you mentioned the departments Office Civil Rights roughly had 145 investigations into the universities and schools and the School Districts for potential title 6 violations. This, of course, is legal basis regarding discrimination based on race or religion. Countless jewish students, what is the timeline for the resolution of these investigations and when will penalties if appropriate be announced and imposed and i really would hope that you dont answer if you give us more money youll have knows answers. Thank you for the question. I agree with you that hate has no place in our campuses and we must act. I just want to go back and say that this is the administration that reopened schools, provided debt relief and while delayed we are working 24 7 to serve your people the people that you represent and im committed that you have information. Ly ask someone from my teach to reach out to you this week on your questions. With regard to the antisemitism, its unacceptable and we take a very strong stance on that. We have more cases open. We are committed to it. We have guidance within two clicks of our website that provides colleague letter, a letter i sent out friday, this is something that we take seriously as well. Thank you, so the reason these investigations are important to get through is because it really doesnt seem to protect students when they need it most. Thats immediately. On december 6th you received letter from the jewish orthodox, jewish congregation of america, they asked you to issue the guidance and im glad to see you issue the guidance from prek to post grad to fulfill title 6 obligations. Mr. Secretary, exactly howam may forms of guidance have you now circulated since october 7th . Weve had over a hundred actions. At least 3 or 4 that i can think of off the top of my head. There could be more. Theres a whole list for you. Schools have responsibility to address and protestors shout from the river to the sea at jewish students and yet out of roughly examples this new guidance provides the chant is never mentioned. Two final questions before my l time is up. Does the department recognize the seat, schools do not follow the guidance, will you impose penalties such as withholding funding as youme committed to congresswomanth manning that you will to that . We stand against those and brought forward as you committed to or if schools refuse to adhere to title 6, absolutely. Thank you, madamee chair, i yield back. Thank you. Thank you. Im sorry, mr. Smocker, after your questioning we will take a break and come back. Thank you. Thank you, secretary for being here today. Im deeply concerned about the fact that your the president failed two financial audits for two consecutive years after inspecting your department numbers, your independent auditor was unable to pleat the audit and instead was forced to issue whats known as disclaimer of opinion which hasnt happened in two decades and its a really big deal in the auditing world. Your auditors said in effect they have no confidence in your numbers and how the the president carries out estimates and assumptions for the direct ffel studentin Loan Portfolios. My staff followed up and spoke with the auditor and learned tugger the course of 2023 audit your audit discovered anomalies in the data, basis for student portfolio and your the president discovered another 8 million anomalies in the data. This means that the underlying data that you were feeding into the student Loan Portfolio was simply filled withur errors. All in allom a very highly irresponsible Financial Management from the department particularly of a 1. 6 trillion portfolio owned by 43 million borrowers. If the department were a private bank you would be held accountable toom your investors and youd be out of business by now and it certainly undermined any confidence that anyone could have in these portfolios. Why should the department of education and the office of student aid be treated differently than a private Financial Institution . Thank you for the questions. I agree with you thats really important to make sure that we are up to date on our financial audits and i just want to correct the statement. It wasnt a failure, it was a i disclaimer of opinion. It was two Different Things. We are doing new things that have never been done at the department of education. Number 2, the error is in the data, youre absolutely right. Im proud that our team found this and is correcting. Its been there for several administrations. Our team found it and is fixing it. We operate on twowo tenths of 1 of a budget for 1. 6 trillion portfolio. We are not being treated like other banks. Youre not treated how im sorry. Fundingwise to administer 1. 6 portfolio we are operating on two tenths of 1 for administrative costs. We are asking for additional dollars to help make sure that we can but not only implement the the comments from auditors but also improve services. How do you think we should be providing additional funding . Do you think the american taxpayer should be satisfied with the funding that you have today with the way that youre handling 1. 6 trillion in taxpayer dollars . We found the errors and we are correcting them. We are providing Better Service and its our goal to do a better job providing services for our borrowers. Your support of the budget would help that. I want to get to the clockhour rule which is the department reverse the clockhour rule and Education Programs that are offered at Community Colleges and Career Colleges to provide students with the education with amount of hours that they feel the students need to be successful in the career and specifically to extend the number of hours to more than 150 of the states minimum and additional hours to be adequately prepared so i think that result in less students having access to education and lead them to goodpaying jobs. In response to industry concerns, the the president announced that it will use and, quote, Enforcement Discretion when enforcing the rule between july 2024 and january of 2025 but theres no guaranty for schools that theyll be given the time they feed to get all the necessary approvals by state legislators accrediting agencies and regulators. Thank you for that question. I think we are on the same page. We want to make sure while we are providing greater opportunities we are providing highequal programming but what im hearing fromyo you is theres concerns and we want to make sure that we are listening and response to concerns. I want to ask one additional question im running out of time. You mentioned discretionary enforcement. I dont know exactly what that means. Can you simply delay the full implementation of the rule until january 2025. Thank you, i will have my team follow up. We do have members that are coming back for votes, we will take a break and be back. Five minutes after the third vote begins. Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for coming back after our break for vote. I recognize mr. Comer for five