Editorial Note: Education is our fundamental right for both young and old. Every week I'll share with you stories I collect about education.
US DEPT. OF EDUCATION: Readout of Secretary DeVos' Meeting with Michigan School Superintendents
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 8/ 2/ 17 ( Link source)
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos visited Grand Rapids (MI) Public Schools today for a roundtable discussion with superintendents from across the state of Michigan. The secretary opened the conversation by asking the group: “How can I best help you serve your students?”
The superintendents and the secretary discussed the following topics, among others:
recruiting, honoring and retaining effective teachers
equipping teachers with professional development and skills not taught in many higher education institutions
addressing regulatory burdens that limit flexibility for local educators and pull school leaders out of the classroom
implementing personalized learning solutions to better meet the needs of students
providing services necessary to help students grow and thrive inside and outside of school
“We had a very productive and insightful conversation,” said Secretary DeVos. “I appreciate each of the superintendents traveling to Grand Rapids to share their ideas and observations on how we can better work together to serve all students. I left the meeting re-assured that giving local leaders more control is important to improving education for every student in America.”
Grand Rapids Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal who hosted the meeting, gave the following statement:
"Last week, I received a call from U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' office asking me if I would host a meeting with approximately 25 superintendents from across the state. We invited a diverse group of superintendents from all corners of the state representing urban, suburban, and rural districts. The Secretary specifically asked for superintendents to share how best she and her department could better serve our districts. It was a very open, positive, respectful and constructive dialogue with superintendents sharing their issues, concerns and ideas specific to the federal budget, policy issues, regulations, reporting requirements, assessments and more. …
"I know I can speak for my colleagues when I say we are really grateful for the time and opportunity to meet with Secretary DeVos. We look forward to an on-going dialogue on how we can work together to improve education outcomes for all children."
Today's event followed a teacher roundtable Secretary DeVos held on Tuesday at the Van Andel Education Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Secretary DeVos Announces Approval of Delaware's State ESSA Plan
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 8/ 1/ 17 (link source)
Washington — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced the approval of Delaware's consolidated state plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Delaware is the first plan advanced to the Secretary for her review and approval.
"Delaware has always been a state of firsts, so it should be no surprise that theirs was both the first state plan submitted and the first approved under ESSA," said Secretary DeVos.
"My criteria for approval is clear: does the state's plan adhere to the law? Delaware demonstrated their plan does, and so I am happy to approve it. I hope it will give the students, families and educators in the state a strong foundation for a great education.
"Throughout the process, Delaware's leaders have been terrific partners. I want to thank Gov. Carney, Secretary of Education Bunting and State Board President Loftus for their work and collaboration on putting forth a plan that embraces ESSA's spirit of flexibility and creative thinking."
Delaware was the first of 16 states and the District of Columbia to opt to submit their complete consolidated state plan by the first deadline on April 3. The remaining states' plans are due by the second deadline on September 18. ESSA gives the Secretary of Education final approval of a state's plan.
Secretary DeVos Announces Intent to Enhance FSA’s Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment
PRESS RELEASE DATED 8/ 1/ 17 (link source)
WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced her intent to transform how Federal Student Aid (FSA) provides customer service to more than 42 million student loan borrowers.
“The FSA Student Loan Program represents the equivalent of being the largest special purpose consumer bank in the world,” said Dr. A. Wayne Johnson, the new Chief Operating Officer of Federal Student Aid (FSA). “To improve customer service, we will take the best ideas and capabilities available and put them to work for Americans with student loans. When FSA customers transition to the new processing and servicing environment in 2019, they will find a customer support system that is as capable as any in the private sector. The result will be a significantly better experience for students – our customers – and meaningful benefits for the American taxpayer.”
The anticipated FSA Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment will provide for a single data processing platform to house all student loan information while at the same time allowing for customer account servicing to be performed either by a single contract servicer or by multiple contract servicers. This new approach is also expected to require separate acquisitions for database housing, system processing and customer account servicing which will allow for maximum flexibility today and into the future. FSA expects these contemplated changes to the servicing and processing environment to provide the opportunity for additional companies to submit proposals for contracting with FSA.
“Doing what’s best for students will always be our number one priority,” said Secretary DeVos. “By starting afresh and pursuing a truly modern loan servicing environment, we have a chance to turn what was a good plan into a great one.
“I hired Dr. Johnson for his extensive private sector expertise, his fresh perspective and his innovative thinking. After just a few weeks on the job, Wayne has already identified potential ways to modernize FSA and to leverage new technology that will not only enhance the customer service experience for borrowers but will also protect taxpayers.”
Secretary DeVos recognizes the opportunities Dr. Johnson has identified to enhance FSA’s Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment and accordingly the Department has cancelled the current student loan solicitation (Solicitation #ED-FSA-17-R-001).
Contracts with current FSA student loan servicers expire in 2019. Dr. Johnson and his team will have the new processing and servicing environment in place prior to the expiration of the current contacts.
You can view the Pronouncement on FSA’s Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment here.
US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Dear Washington: Messages from Main Street on Building an Educated Workforce
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 8/ 4/ 17 (link source)
During the first 100 days of this year, we embarked on a small business listening tour around the country. As part of #LetsGrow campaign, we visited entrepreneurs in their hometowns, sat down with small business owners during their visits to Washington, and listened to job creators during roundtables and congressional hearings to hear what they had to say.
Our objective is simple: we want to find out what barriers are holding back today’s small businesses from growth and what we can do to help send Washington a message. While we heard about an array of issues, one core message kept shining through: growing the economy must be our nation’s top priority.
NEWS RELATED STORIES ON EDUCATION
WP: What should America do about its worst public schools? States still don’t seem to know.
Two years after Congress scrapped federal formulas for fixing troubled schools, states for the most part are producing only the vaguest of plans to address persistent educational failure.
NYT: Mark White, Texas Governor Who Championed Public Education, Dies at 77
Mark White, who as governor of Texas from 1983 to 1987 championed public education laws that limited class sizes, increased teachers’ pay and introduced basic skills tests for high school students, died on Saturday in Houston. He was 77.
NYT: An Ice Cream Maker’s Latest Recipe: Saving the Local School
MARKDALE, Ontario — Like hundreds of small towns in Ontario, Markdale got the bad news from the provincial government last year: Its elementary school would have to close, a victim of cost-cutting.
NEWS COMMENTARIES ABOUT WORLD & NATIONAL EVENTS
WP: India wanted a friend in Trump. Instead, it’s getting chaos.
Political attention here has been focused this summer in two very different directions. There is the Himalayan plateau where Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in the most tense and potentially explosive standoff since a 1962 border war. And there is the din emanating from the Trump administration, which has managed to frighten and confound just about every nation that counts on U.S. global engagement.
LA TIMES: A grand bargain with China could remove North Korea's nuclear threat — but it would destroy America's global influence
With North Korea’s latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, one apparently capable of reaching California, the American foreign policy community is struggling to find a way — short of war — to end the threat from Pyongyang. In the media and behind closed doors.
NATIONAL COMMENTARY STORIES
LA TIMES: An erosion of ethics oversight should make us all more cynical about Trump
resident Trump’s problems with ethics are manifest, from his refusal to make public his tax returns to the conflicts posed by his continued stake in the Trump Organization and its properties around the world — including the Trump International Hotel just down the street from the White House
PJ MEDIA: Outright Defiance of Trump Policies by Federal Bureaucrats
The Hill is reporting that holdover Obama political appointees and even some career bureaucrats are refusing to implement the policies of Donald Trump and criticizing their superiors.
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