Filling vacancies. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] thee good morning. Im the Washington Bureau chief of the Christian Science monitor. Our guest is Miguel Cardona secretary this state. Its his first appearance at a monitor breakfast so welcome. Secretary cardona celeb long resident of where heres a fourthgrade teacher will and im sure thats your toughest job yet principal and assistant superintendent of schools been 2019 governor lamont appointed dr. Cord on the commissioner to the state of the net in march of 2021 he was was confirmed in the nations 12th secretary of education. As a father to schoolaged children he seen me pandemics impact on education. How old are your children . My son will be 18 in the month of my daughter just turned 20. Thank you again for doing this in before he delivered the ground rules i must note the breakfast will last for 45 minutes i will have a hard stopp at 9 45 when the secretary has to leave. Now for the ground rules. We are on the record. No liveas blogging or tweeting while the breakfast is underway and with the session ends there is no embargo. We will email a ref transcript to all reporters here shortly after we conclude in as many of you know if youd like to ask a question just send the signal and i will call on as many as time permits. Secretary cardona if youd like to make your brief opening remarks the floor is yours. Thank you very much and a4a get started i want to say thank you to all of you. A very important job especially norse or country recovers from a once unlike time pandemic. Thank you for what you do and does linda mentioned the title and love most is that. Every day is a new adventure. My son just started college in my daughters a junior in high school. My wife is also an educator. She works as a college career. I started as a fourthgrade teacher so education is something that is near and dear to me and to my family and i recognize the importance of education, good education but i wouldnt be sitting here as secretary if there werent a teacher who believed the men saw potential in me that i didnt see and that passion that i serve the secretary of education feeling excited this time of year 50 Million Students are going back to school. I always look at the beginning of the school year as an opportunity for students to think vague and think about what they could do with the future and the possibilities in the schools provide that. Going through a hallway the first day of school to me is like the super bowl. So much excitement in so much good feelings so much hope and its my responsibility to secretary of education to ensure the schools have the ability to be successful that we raise the bar in education and to provide more students opportunities. I have always other country has oualmost normalized discrepancis or differences in achievement based on recent place in my whole career ive been focused on trying to address that. There will continue to be a passion as secretary of education. The American Rescue plan provided funding to help reopen our schools but its also intended to address the nations report card data shared last week disparities in achievement have increased since the pandemic reading achievement in 9yearold has gone down five points. I look at that as a call to action to educators to raise the bar on supports and using dollars. Im just as proud of the work we are doing in Higher Education in the parochial system a system that provided access for so many students and families because it the cost of college. Whether its Public Service loan forgiveness income driven repayment return to make Higher Education more successful or more people. The president is very old and education and other countries time to make sure we map the level of urgency is that our president demonstrate in the first year. Im eager and honored and humbled to serve as secretary to be able to have the test to woro with colleges across the country to war wore a zabar in education. Thank you. We will go around the room. Ve i want to ask about your plan for debt forgiveness. You mentioned problems in the system so the legal challenges that are expected even if it goes through it doesnt address the central problem that has led to this and that crisis so what are the fixes and the underlying structural problems. Its a great question and a lot of attention over the last 20 weeks has been the 10,000 people are eligible if they were pell recipients and thats great. That will not fix the longterm issues. We are just as proud of what we are proposing with the income driven repayment that will in essence cut loan payment student loan payments in half for bar. Me it went from 10 of someones income to 5 . I remember having a conversation with a gentleman whose son was in my school. His son was really bright and he said he is not going to college because i just cant afford it. The boy with a fixed rate in the parent made the decision based on the fact that he knew he couldnt afford college six years later that his son wouldnt go to college. That happens too often acrosss our country. We are proud of the debt relief and just as proud as fixing a broken system and let me talk about what that means quickly. Public Service Loan Forgiveness so if you choose a profession where you are serving the public in many cases you dont do that he could pay his like the private sector. You are doing it to make theva Community Better so we are making sure the Public Service loan forgiveness law is implemented correct way. When i became secretary of education there was a 90 denial. For Public Servants who pay their loans for 10 years to serve the public for 10 years and applied for this 98 . Within a year of our fixing the broken system we provided over 10 billion in loan forgiveness just in the Public Service loan forgiveness program. Over 175,000 people have signed up. We are fighting to double pell grants so that more students will have maybe less resources and still have college at a accessible to them. Higher education accountability. We will be working closely with the Higher Education to ensure that we are lifting up those universities that provide a good return on investment to students. The days of going to college and leaving 150,000 in debt and getting a job paying 35,000 a year doesnt cut it. We have to give parents more information and transparency so they know which they should consider for their children. I could go on all day. I have to ask you as far as i know and im not an educator. Se but it is far as i can determine there havent been any lawsuits and people talking about lawsuits and the challenge of loan forgiveness proposals and President Biden had said early on that they couldnt just the ie zero. The money would have to come from congress to do this and now hes doing it so how is that legal . We would Welcome Congress action on this because its an issue that a ask all americans. S its an issue that affects so many americans. The potential in this country is rylimitless however because of e difficulty to higher educatorsss its limited. They have the ability to wave a provision to ensure students are not off after the pandemic than they were before. So we are using that authority and we look at that very carefully and we do think that its a time to make sure coming out of the pandemic we provide supportng to students like we dd for businesses when businesses were struggling and we needed to provide ebt funds. Where getting regular Everyday Americans back on their feet so they can buy homes in get married and move on with their life. , and this wont be dragged out in court for years . We are acting onet our authority and we believe we have no link the right but the responsibility make sure americans are not off after the pandemic than before it. One more. We are dealing with and some some there has been a lot of talk about respect and how teachers are under attack from many directions whether its the content of what they are teaching or for all the debate around crt et etc. , etc. How do you address this element mentioning the lack of respect. I remember i was a 21yearold studentteacher in Hartford Connecticut and i remember wearing a tie to school. I was 10 years older than the kids. Walking around and had a veteran teacher pulled me asidei and say we have to make sure we look professional and id like you wear a tie. That was a long time ago. Back then and today we are still fighting to be looked at as the profession. I think we are serious about addressing the Teacher Shortage issue we must be bold and serious about addressing the respect issue. Teachers on average make 33 less than College Graduates with similar degrees. Ol we have teachers in montana, net 32,000. With 32,000 . O we know teachers are paying out of their pockets for materials for students. We have to address this and we have to be bold about it. If we are serious about investing in our schools and our Education System we must make sure we are trading education leaders as leaders like they are. And education everything as an acronym to it. A stands for agency. Make sure they are treated like her personal. Ive gotten training and many of them have gone to college for years to master their craft so agency. Its an economy of how they maintain. We need better working conditions. There are schools in the country today that have t a ratio of ovr 7001 school numbers. Think about that. What does that mean for firstgeneration College Student thatoe wants to go to college ad their parents when i build a help them. 700 soap we are providing better working conditions by ensuring theres adequate support for the Classroom Teachers to provide further students than we are kidding ourselves. Other working conditions also means we revisit normalizing teachers who work in classrooms that is 95 degrees with the class of 27 students. Working conditions means when we received our students back after a pandemic many of them come over 150,000 students lost a parent or caregiver due to the pandemic. We treat them like professionals by providing professional learning opportunities on how to deal with trauma and better professional learning opportunities. A is agency he is being better working conditions nc is compensation. We have to make sure they are thinking if i become at teacher ill have to waitress on the weekends to make ends meet. Thats unacceptable and thats a difficult topic because 80 of the budget across the country are. If we are serious about the profession and lifting up education will. Investigating the education educators as they investing in education is an investment in our educators. I have it twoparter. First of all for responsible federal budget which is a Nonpartisan Group dedicated to fiscal responsibility. Do the numbers in the Student Loan Program and they said essentially back where it was by 2028 at 26 trillion then adjusted for inflation it will be even more by 2031 beverly higher than where it is. What do you think of that . Thank you. Look, this decision to provide debt relief is one strategy out of many. I highlighted earlier the thing that could happen we provide debt relief and they are in thef same position. If we dont we will be in the same position we are in. N we are eager to ask that broke in system. Income driven or payment ensuring a better return on investment housing. College costs have a land. We have to make sure we are working on Higher Education institutions that hold him accountable for a good return on investment. We have increased the College Scorecard attributes meaning parents will know more about Graduation Rates and gainful employment rates. You are absolutely right. We think that the loan forgiveness alone will help fix the root cause of the issue. That is shortsighted. We are working really hard on what got us to where we are and fix into broke in system. Os specifically with this recent announcement from the president , the president in the Inflation Reduction Act has reduced the deficit by 200 billion in and its projected 1. 7 billion will be reduced this year alone. 1. 7 trillion. Their efforts to reduce the deficit by the president and we do believe debt relief which is what americans need right now. I spoke to a student who said this will allow me to use the undo that would have. My loans to help my daughter go to college so its helping Everyday Americans. That focuses not only on debt relief but i think more importantly its fixing a broken system with income driven repayment. Polls show about the time the president made his decision that his numbers were dropping among young people. Without factor in his decision at all . Absolutely not. We have been looking at the details of this and hes asked me if asked me has asked me if they are in asked me is there any news asked me is there any news today and unfortunately i sound like a broken record i dont have any new news today. We have been working on this for many months. The president has not been sitting idle. You want to say i was having a conversation with someone yesterday and within a couplen h months of the American Rescue plan was passed which is unprecedented funds for education bipartisan infrastructure bill was passed. We haveed the pact act. We have the Inflation Reduction Act. So its not like there was nothing else going on. This president has been very busy and i say this is a season of substance. We are getting things done. There is the debt relief package. Im having a conversation with the white house and our department and we are proud of the way we came out. The president campaigned on 10 and we ended up with 20 for those eligible for pell to address income disparities. We are also proud of the process that is as it is not as flashy. Has a generational impact. I think its the timing of how negotiations go to help us tell people. I the question about the onetime debt cancellation. We know that our words are made payments during the payment plus can request refunds from their services. My question is whether those refunds are eligible for the onetime debt relief assuming their loans are also eligible . Thank you for that question. Let me just put it out there early. We are planning to share information and we are asking folks to visit student aid. Gov and the conversation we are having the now if how do we in effect provide loan cancellation in loan debt relief to those who made payments during the pandemic. More information about where we go with that with debt relief. Are you considering that i was your advice . Is their guidance on that . What i would say is to go to student a dugout and register there. We have over 3 million already. Go in and sign up and as soon as they we put something out youll automatically get it. I want to share with all of you make ensure when you go to our web site you get answers right away and not allowed or a prescient red tape. We saw a lot of people the process is too difficult. We are trying to simplify the process. More information will come out. Nick anderson from washington post. Last month he made a speech in which he talked a little bit about College Rankings and he talked about how this chase for prestige in the ranking system and he said p quote that systemf ranking is a. I was struck that because its a pretty pointed comment. What drove you to laser in on that particular topic in Higher Education on the prestigebased rankings . Will is getting under your skin about that . There are millions of students out there with tremendous potential many of whom are the first in their family to go colleges when it can be looked at by some. I believe we have a system that rewards exclusionary practices. Im interested in developing and evolving our system of Higher Education. To promote and reward inclusion. I dont have to tell you when seniors graduate the data that i referred to earlier the report card is a symptom of the fact in our k12 system race still serves as a determinate. You add the pandemic and that exacerbated it and unfortunately for many students they dont have access to some of her Higher Education. What i want to do is provide a spotlight on those universities that go the extra mile to meet the students where they areiv provide them with a holistic support that they need to give them an opportunity to achieve the american dream. We brought 40 universities to the department of education something that hasnt been done before. We brought the presence and we gave them time to conference like in this one to talk about what they are doing and how they are using their American Rescue plan dollars in their vision for what Higher Education would the to be more inclusive. Every student deserves the opportunity to reach their potential. The prestige ranked prestigebased rankings didnt mention it. Thank you for the pointed question. Bad than others in my opinion prioritized prestige and exclusivity. Where very serious about bringing attention to providing support for those universities that take students that are struggling right now and give them an opportunity to think that visited 33 or 34 states and i went to universities i think in las vegas where it was a Community College and a student sitting next to him is talking about the program postgraduation it came out later in the conversation that he was homeless. And this person was close to getting a degree. The university provided some support for housing. This person is going to be very successful because the university provided the support needed for it i want to acknowledge that and i want to make sure more americans have access to Higher Education and the Career Pathway for success. Hi sally. I the k12 question. Talked in your remarks about working conditions in the schools and we have seen in the first week of school a lot of these schools closed early because they dont have sufficient that the American Rescue plan has included money for this pretty concerned about money not being well and the House Republicans air Agency Letter asking for how the money is being sent in the districts. Thanks for the question. You know when i was in connecticut i was at an event there and school shut down right away and the day after i signed connecticut the disparities retains some kids and others and when i became secretary of education a traveled a lot the first several months and ive visited philadelphia and i remember the superintendent of the leduff by and visiting the school. There were neighboring communities that had more choices and it was because of deferred its a topic i care a lot about now but for decades School Systems n deferred maintenance on their air circulationte so that air qualiy was poor and that when you add a pandemic thats airborne there was a lot of fear from parents. What i found was in urban settings or settings were the buildings were old and those building certainly were old they werent opening them so absolutely i believe air quality and air flow and working conditions of classrooms that are not 90 degrees to learn is a prerequisite of successful learning. In terms of the backup do we know supply chain issues have impacted the ability to get materials. They are on backorder and a lot of superintendents have shared with us look i want to get it. Im waiting on the supplies. This is a priority for main if you look at the study that was independent of us the rate is 30 of schools to make sure the School Environment is safer learning and another 30 to catch kids up and 30 roughly on the housing issue. I do believe the monies being and i know that monies being appropriately. Ive seen examples of the one ive visited. There are more students in school this summer than anytime in history because the American Rescue plan in their more Afterschool Program for the visitt of the program in georgia 100 communitybased organizations, 100 were brought into the fold with the School Systems efforts to provide summer and Afterschool Programs for that never would have it werent for the American Rescue plan. Er i think quite frankly the headlines we talk about our wits colleges are closing in which art opening up because arthey dont have funding. We are talking about kids going to school smiling and having the ability to go in fulltime in person. I do believe the money is being used adequately and i will welcome questions from my colleagues on the hill to show them in their districts even though they didnt vote for it in their district. Mr. Secretary or two shipped topics on the question of title ix. Theres substantial revisions to the regulations for that. My question is to part. They are been at time of comments submitted and im wondering if there have been any thoughts and extending the common period and secondly i wanted to know if youd be able to talk a little bit about the issue from the main title line in the time on on when they should expected. Over 200,000 comments which shows number one how important it is for us to have Public Comment and listen to what folks are saying. Ay for us title ix rules reflect the value that every child belongs. Every childs Education Matters and its a responsibility to provide an inclusive environment in all of our schools. As i was mentioning around Higher Education at something we should not even question. S point, it is important we communicate what we believe the role should be based on the comments and based on our thoughts at the department. In terms of separation, this topic of athletics is one that does require another round of specific athletics. Specific to athletics. We hear daily the different opinions that people have it. We want to make sure we give it its time for people to comment specifically on that. So, we want to move quickly on that. We recognize that as an important issue. We also recognize rushing through something that is so important could create a situation or people are not feeling heard her not feeling there given an opportunity to speak. Hi arianna. I kind of want to go back to structural issues. It seems like a lot of the policy ideas that you will have her after the fact. I am curious what are some tools the department of education a cn used to actually address the cost of high tuition at the university. A lot of them are tax exempt because of the education status dont take donations from alumni so what can the department . Thank you for that question but one thing i learned when we are reopening schools and the height of a pandemic in the state marie had weathered 72 districts that had a level of autonomy. I could not ask for permission to say this is what youre goins to do. And then the pandemic hit different places different. Connecticut is small. Some places were hit harder. We had to bring to the table those making the decision of the local level. Create a shared set of values. And from there write the strategies. So it is my intention to Bring College president s to the table. Bring associations im not foolish to think the best ideas come from washington d. C. But at the end of the day we all want our students to succeed. When a high return onnt investment. Its our responsibility have those difficult conversations. How are we providing a good return on investment . And that the department of education make sure we areft lifting up those institutions that are doing it. In calling out those that are not do not provide good value for students and families. Use whatever leverage we can with the College Scorecard. Like our funding opportunities to provide support and funding for those institutions that we believe are providing inclusive environment but also providing with the universities and colleges work with our partners on the hill. You mentioned the relevant parties, stakeholders it involved an assistant bird earlier talk of the student loan provisions about the Public Service wondering what else you see it needs to be done to fix the system . And will that require congressional action. Thank you. We got into education to provide to students. Ive not met a College President of my visits a traditional college, a Community College, a tribal college. To decide with the leadership doesnt believe that. But we need to do is reexamine to where are and how weve gotten to this mess, to the broken system. It further exacerbates the haves and havenots. And we have to identify which practices arent leading to a poor return on investment. Leading to high debts,ur low income and with the call that out. Im meetingi later this week wh some of the folks at the department to engage in conversations in higher ed i space. As i said before, i do not come to the table with a plan and ask people to sign the plan. I went different stakeholders fingerprints on the plan so it is our plan. We are now willing to address it, call it what it is. Theres more money and education in the last year end a half then over two decades in education. The support is there but the belief is there education is the best strategy to lifted this country but now we need too make sure with support comes accountability but however he is in the money . How we make and shall not the same mess we are in now because the debt relief thing is a onetime thing for the fixed. We have five minutes until 945. Knowing what to make closing remarks. Rapidfire . Lightning round. And david from usa today and Christina Samuels from hecate to report. So david while you kick us off. Anothers pushback on this loan forgiveness idea address the fairness aspect of it . Me you know their students have paid off student loans. These people get their slate wiped clean . The pandemic some more than others. The intent of this and debt relief its mixer borrowers and not worse off after the pandemic and they were before. Af that person the paid off their loan, having their neighbor not go into default helps a local economy. We know defaults are skyrocketing we are expecting to skyrocket evens more. It helps the local economy. L to see your neighbor do well. Were not complaining thees businesses are not forced to shut their doors. An provided support for d businesses were thrilled we did that. A lot of these businesses are still open now would not have been open had it not been for that. We invested in businesses know we are investing in americans to make sure they gets back on thr feet. Thank you for joining us. I just hadst a question about te waiver it set to end in october. The extension on the payment clause is set to grow the end of the group of lawmakers recently wrote to the department asking for an extension on the waiver. Just try to get a sensitive that is in play. To and as a part of that announcements regarding the suspension have come about a month or so in advance of it. I was wondering we might see answers about that. The loan forgiveness as i said before was broken pretty badly 98 of the people were denied. Honored 75000 people over 10 billion in loan forgiveness rate based on what congress acted on and 2007. The waiver is a limited waiver october 31 we asked people to sign a paper not sure they qualify for it. We are really pushing that. In terms of an extension for right now focused on trying to get as many people on. Working really hard to make triple providing benefit to those folks who qualified for. We take every t opportunity to promote Public Service loan forgiveness october 31 deadline. Anything you could do to publish that would beea great. Thank you pray the question has been raisedd yet. School segregation. As a something we know was increasing across the country. Something you dealt with in your prior roles for theres a lawsuit in new jersey Religious School integration. Im wondering if anything the administration might be doing to help support schools orng districts that might be wanting to start the ignition policies . Execute a lot of experience about that in connecticut. Connecticut relieves the magna school model different communities. I know the president s budget also includes funding to help support efforts to integrate schools. It is sad that we are discussing this, thus the far out after legislation on desegregation. Es but the reality is it requires not just strategy from the department of education but a willingness of communities is to the benefit of diversity. To make sure fort meade the child experience in school is better because they were able to experience learning with peoplet they were totally different from them. That is almost a skill that we want all of our children to have it. Two how to learn them. We look at global economy. We do support efforts, we will continue to highlight efforts of successful desegregation and better integration. We see it modeled across the ecountry states control the education received models that work comp we lift them up the federal level we supported through grants and Technical Assistance where we can. But the more important things to the value that diversity its what makes our country unique and better. We have to continue to push back. Next we are just about at time. Did everyone get a chance . We had a couple more. I promised her folks. Came here yes a couple more plays per. Art kim campbell the products or to your right. A couple k12. Tin terms of the money that is being used to help the teacher preparation pipeline, thats many schools have it now these initiatives. But how is it going to be sustainable and that money is no longer there . I appreciate that question. For higher ed my response to this is going to be how do we address the issue in higher ed of ballooning costs . Federal spending makes up 10 of Education Funding total. There is 90 . My challenge is the other 90 match residency. Batch the president s urgency. If we go back to the funding that was there in march of 2020, we should not expect it. So specifically to the teacher pipeline programs for example. Visiting tennessee next weekck part of the backtoschool tour. Im excited about that. Tennessee has a tremendous program thats embedded throughout the state. It is an apprenticeship. There has to be in an investment in those programs by states there has to be an investment. Shut down not because of covered people or quarantining becauseg of close contact. We c cannot forget the impact tt has on her community for schools have to close because we dont have enough b teachers. So my pushes not only to make sure he is in the federal funds to create programs, but also to elevate the urgency at state and local government ongoing funding on issues that are so important. Same thing with Higher Education. Weat are creating the department of education to assess spending rates in Higher Education by big governments of the last ten years but we are looking at it longitudinally. There states that have increased funding which help keep the cost lower. States were the funding has gone down drastically for Higher Education which result in higher tuition. So we are looking that to discuss how we can get our colleagues in governors and countyou leaders at the table tk about the urgency at education. Match the president s urgency around Education Funding and education policy. That is how were going to get at it. Really quickly looks to have time i want mariah to get one into. Yes. Sorry. Right ran from the washington post. Thank you so much for doing this again. I am curious to know what your thoughts are on what some states are going to sell these teacher vacancies which is using emergency certification, lowering standards in some cases or creatingan alternative pathways. In florida for example they did sort of what you are talking about which is raise compensation. They also did felt a new pathway where veterans with some College Education can now become teachers once they spent or they get provisional license once they spend two years underneath like an actual certified teacher. But im not requiring college degrees. In oklahoma you do not need any kind of teacher preparation inn order to become an emergency certified teacher. They are relying increasingly on that. Im curious to know what your thoughts are on those alternative pathways . A look. I started earlier saying as a fourthgrade teacher i was fighting making sure we started lowering standards to get in we are again doubling down on the disrespect of the profession im all for veterans becoming teachers. Ll tin connecticut that a progrm called troops to teachers. Oh my goodness its that they bring a skill set. But lets remember, when the nations report card card is showing our students have dropped drastically, to provide educators who are not qualified or trained in the its a slap in the face to the profession. What we need to do, the 45th out of 50 and livable wages. But we need to do with the profession education. Make sure we have a good Agency Working salaries should go away. Raise the bar. If it lasts. I was a district leader we had shortage areas we have to be creative. We have to create pipeline programs. Left to look at t our current students as future teachers and give them a pathway in high school forget pick up para educators who work extremely hard meeting the needs of our students making 12 an hour saying im going to provide funding the American Rescue plan funding because were in a crisis. For you tofr get your degree pretty going to come back in a job here. I polished bring in reply benefits. These are promoted as possible. Oregon state is not one of them, thank you i just want to say thank you again. But i started. Corporal is critically important. I can appreciate what you do. B. I feel very sharpening power source which is just think and act please. Raise the bar. We can reopen schools the height of a pandemic we can address increase. I am confident that if we put to the urgency that we had over the last two years to get on the issues of today and we work with the American People listen to all sides of the issue. We can provide a better Education System that may cap i am the president came and busted up look at the policy that moved from fundinge education. It never happened before. Thats the level of our favorite lefty and a beta make it better. The fact that the feeling we do that for anpp opportunity for us to reimagine Education Resources and work to get it done. Thank you so much. Thank you. Over to take off your mic. Cia director mike morel talk about the fbi search that maralago. And the implications of the search for it watch tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. You can also watch our free mobile video app. Cspan now. Cspan2 on the presidency look at at preserving president ial sites homes of american presence with directors from james monroe Dwight Eisenhower president ial library and museum and president lincolns cottage. At 7 00 p. M. Eastern discussion about hollywood historians and world war ii with the military historian who examines hollywoods role in shaping the nations response to the film