Tag: Betsy DeVos

Commentary: Teachers Also Think American Public Schools Are in Decline

Michigan Star Staff
Teacher

Eighty-two percent of teachers say that the general state of public K-12 education has gotten worse over the past five years. This is according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted in October and November of 2023. That’s not the only shocking statistic from the survey, either, which overall offers a grim statistical map of the fault lines fracturing our education system. However, these trends may offer some insight into how to fix our schools.

First, the teachers. Most teachers (77 percent) find their job frequently stressful, and a large majority (70 percent) say their school is understaffed, which may contribute to the fact that over 80 percent of teachers say they do not have enough time in the work day to complete all necessary tasks.

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Commentary: Biden’s Title IX Revisions Aren’t Good News for Women

Michigan Star Staff
Girls Sports

Locker rooms and bathrooms at schools that accept public funding are about to become dangerous places for women — even in states that have the kind of commonsense legislation intended to keep women’s private spaces private.

Last week, the Biden administration released a host of changes to Title IX, the federal legislation that is best known for dictating equal treatment of men and women in sports and for governing the way schools handle sexual assault charges. While the administration hasn’t yet decided whether biological men who identify as female should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, it redefined “sex” as “gender identity” in almost every other context while simultaneously allowing schools to violate the due process rights of students accused of sexual assault.

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Michigan Voters Could Create One of the Nation’s Largest School Choice Programs

Admin

Michigan voters will have the chance to create one of the largest school choice programs in the country on Nov. 8.

The Let Michigan Learn Proposal on the Michigan ballot starts with a $500 million cap for school vouchers, one of the largest in the country, and can increase by 20% each year. All students age 5 and older are eligible to apply, but low-income families and students with disabilities would be prioritized.

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Poll: Tudor Dixon Leads Michigan Gubernatorial GOP Primary

Cooper Moran

A new poll in the Michigan GOP gubernatorial primary shows businesswoman Tudor Dixon leading the pack as the election draws closer.

The survey, commissioned by Michigan News Source and conducted by the Trafalgar Group, awarded Dixon with 28.4 percent, compared to the 19.2 percent of her closest competitor—Garrett Soldano.

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Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Now Says Department Should Not Exist

Susan Berry, PhD

Betsy DeVos, who led the U.S. Department of Education under former President Donald Trump, now says the department should no longer exist, an assertion many Trump voters urged him to work to make a reality during his 2016 campaign.

“I personally think the Department of Education should not exist,” DeVos said Saturday during a Moms for Liberty education summit in Tampa, Florida.

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

Susan Berry, PhD

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

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

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Continues Acting as Betsy DeVos’s Victim in Latest Campaign Email

Cooper Moran

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) kept up the victim routine in her latest campaign fundraising email, claiming Betsy DeVos has it out for her.

This summer, Whitmer made false claims in another email, asserting DeVos was planning a run against her, forcing DeVos to deny such a plan.

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Betsy DeVos Declines to Run for Michigan Governor, Blasts Gretchen Whitmer

Cooper Moran

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Tuesday she will not challenge Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2022, but she had some sharp words for the incumbent.

DeVos accused Whitmer of using her name as a fundraising tool in a series of emails attempting to solicit funds from supporters.

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Biden Civil Rights Nominee Pressed Colleges to Adopt Policies Often Struck Down in Court

Michigan Star Staff
Catherine Ilhamon

The Biden administration reached back into Team Obama to fill an Education Department slot that oversees civil rights, including Title IX enforcement.

Catherine Lhamon’s nomination last month drew immediate concern from advocates of due process and fair procedures in college Title IX investigations because so many court decisions — 200 by one count — have since challenged the approach she and others in the Obama administration took in investigating campus sexual assaults.

Two more rulings arrived this week, from the 8th U.S. Circuit of Appeals and an Iowa district court under its jurisdiction.

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Biden Orders Examination of Trump Era Due Process Rights on College Campuses

Michigan Star Staff

President Joe Biden called for an examination of collegiate due process protections enacted under former President Donald Trump’s administration in a Monday executive order.

The president announced his “Executive Order on Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation” on International Women’s Day, calling on the Education Department to evaluate a Title IX regulation issued under the Trump administration that encouraged due process for those accused of campus sexual misconduct.

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Biden Eyes a Return to the Obama Era Policy to Combat ‘Rape Culture’ on American Campuses

Michigan Star Staff

Earlier this year, President Trump’s often embattled Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, established new rules on handling sexual assaults on campus to strengthen protections for accused students, almost all of them men.

Joe Biden, who was the Obama administration’s point man for the policies DeVos upended, has made his displeasure clear.

“The Trump Administration’s Education Department … is trying to shame and silence survivors,” the Biden campaign platform declared. “Instead of protecting women,” it has “given colleges a green light to ignore sexual violence and strip survivors of their civil rights.”

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District Court Blocks Betsy DeVos COVID Rule on Private School Funds

Michigan Star Staff

A judge blocked an Education Secretary Betsy DeVos policy on Wednesday that transfers COVID-19 relief funds from public school districts to private schools, Politico reported.

U.S. District Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court Northern District of California granted a preliminary injunction for the plaintiffs, order Thursday, blocking release of additional relief funding to private schools.

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Nessel and Four States Sue DeVos over Federal School Aid Rule

Michigan Star Staff

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the attorneys general of four other states are suing U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over a July 1 rule that requires sharing funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act between private and public schools.

Nessel called DeVos’ rule “a flagrant violation of the plain language of the [CARES] Act.”

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Conservatives Praise Supreme Court for Ruling States Can’t Discriminate Against Religious Schools

Anthony Gockowski

The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday that states can’t cut religious schools out of programs that send public money to private education in a 5-4 ruling. 

Hailed as a victory for religious freedom, the justices upheld a Montana scholarship program that allows state tax credits for private schooling in which almost all the recipients attend religious schools.

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Betsy DeVos Implements More Title IX Protections for College Students Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Michigan Star Staff

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos unveiled several new rules that will be changed regarding Title IX protections for college students accused of sexual misconduct, as reported by CNN.

The changes involve increased legal protection for the accused, including the right during trial to cross-examiner their accusers. In a statement regarding the implementation, DeVos said that “too many students have lost access to their education because their school inadequately responded when a student filed a complaint of sexual harassment or sexual assault.”

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Feds Waive Standardized Testing for Current School Year Because of Coronavirus

Chris Butler

On Friday U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said the federal government would waive standardized testing for the 2019-2020 school year because of the ongoing coronavirus emergency.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green, (R-TN-07), in a press release, said he appreciated DeVos and U.S. Republican President Donald Trump for this action.

“The gravity of the situation our schools continue to face while navigating the COVID-19 outbreak would have created an undue burden for preparing and administering statewide assessments,” Green said.

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Tlaib Introduces Charter School Oversight Bill, Says DeVos Turning a ‘Blind Eye to Their Failures’

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) introduced a bill last week that she says will promote the “same type of accountability from charter schools nationwide that the law requires of traditional public schools.”

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Dip in Test Scores Correlates with Enactment of Common Core

Jordyn Pair

Fourth and eighth grade students in the U.S. again showed no to little improvement in their average reading and mathematics scores, according to a report released this week, a decrease that correlates with the enactment of the Common Core.

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Meshawn Maddock Commentary: The Latest Kavanaugh Smear Shows the Blueprint for Attacks on Officials Like Betsy Devos

Michigan Star Staff

It should be no surprise that The New York Times has decided to revive the most outrageous character assassination campaign in modern American history: the effort to smear Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh with unsubstantiated, decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct. The effort to destroy Kavanaugh isn’t an isolated instance; it’s a deliberate strategy that the left routinely employs against conservatives in the Trump era.

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Amy Klobuchar Unveils Her Educational Plan at NEA Conference

Zachery Schmidt

  Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, along with nine other Democratic presidential candidates, unveiled her education plan at the National Education Association (NEA) conference. During Friday’s speech in Houston, Klobuchar unveiled her “Progress Partnership,” which would give states federal funding to implement specific programs. The senator’s plan aims to increase teacher…

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