| | | | |  | | By Juan Perez Jr. | |  Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense, heads to meetings with various senators in Washington, on Dec. 12, 2024. | Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO | A NEW FRONT — Pete Hegseth has pushed for years to steep American education in patriotic principles and Christian theology — and he could implement that vision for thousands of military families if he’s confirmed to lead the Defense Department. — Tucked inside the Pentagon’s nearly $900 billion-per-year bureaucracy is a network of 161 schools in 11 countries, seven states, Guam and Puerto Rico. The Department of Defense Education Activity agency educates some 67,000 children of active-duty military and civilian service members. And unlike public school systems, which are driven largely by state and local policy, the DODEA is a high-profile example of a federally run education program conservatives have longed to restructure. — For Hegseth, Defense Department schools would be a new front for his yearslong campaign on American education. The nominee has described the country’s public and private education system as infected with leftist ideology. Hegseth declared the government must purge critical race theory (and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives) from military academies. — He has further urged families to abandon traditional schools in favor of classical education programs that are infused with great works of literature, plus the study of Greek, Latin and Christian beliefs intertwined with the American myth. — But in DODEA, Hegseth would be targeting a well-regarded school system whose students outperform the rest of the country on federal standardized tests. — One education think tank labeled the system as “The Relentless Improver” earlier this year, in a report that outlined the school’s deep historical roots and lauded “extraordinarily disciplined, patient, and systematic approach to school improvement.” Your host has more on what could lie ahead. IT’S MONDAY, DEC. 16. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. Mike Johnson’s speakership appeared to be on life support seven months ago. Now, even his biggest antagonists are preparing to back him as the party enters the second Donald Trump era. Reach out with tips to today’s host at jperez@politico.com and also my colleagues Becca Carballo (rcarballo@politico.com), Bianca Quilantan (bquilantan@politico.com) and Mackenzie Wilkes (mwilkes@politico.com).
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| | |  K'Jan Mason, a student of Hendry County Adult Learning, checks a torch prior to a welding project on Thursday, March 14 ,2024. The program helps adults gain the necessary experience to receive certification and immediately enter the local workforce after completion in Clewiston, Fla. | (AP Photo/Chris Tilley) | WORKING ON THE WORKFORCE — The Bipartisan Policy Center is launching a Commission on the American Workforce to bolster K-12 education and workforce development, POLITICO’s Lawrence Ukenye reports in this morning’s Weekly Shift newsletter. — The commission will be chaired by former Govs. Bill Haslam (Tenn.) and Deval Patrick (Mass.) and plans to recruit experts to develop a national strategy aimed at addressing the nation's human capital challenges, including low rates of reading and math proficiency and stalling college enrollment rates. — "Too many young people struggle with basic literacy," Haslam said in a statement. "Too many families find higher education out of reach. And too many individuals fail to see the connection between post-secondary learning and their career success.” — A BPC fact sheet released last month outlined several education and workforce-related bills that the commission wants to be reauthorized, including the Higher Education Act and the Every Student Succeeds Act.
| | LOOKING FOR DATA — Two Democratic lawmakers want the Education Department to collect more granular data on teachers and principals, as part of an effort to address school workforce shortages and diversity gaps between students and educators. — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) on Friday called on the department to use its Civil Rights Data Collection survey to help understand both the demographics of teachers and principals, in addition to teacher certification data. — “The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a valuable tool to measure whether students have equal access to educational opportunities, including a high-quality, diverse educator workforce,” the lawmakers wrote. “Yet, there is no permanent national mechanism to collect teacher and principal data at the school district-level.” — A lack of comprehensive and easily-accessible national data makes it difficult to identify schools that need the most help and assess how well federally funded recruitment and retention programs are working, the lawmakers said. — The department is already working on its CRDC collection plans for the 2025-26 and 2027-28 school years, a process that is expected to ask schools about their use of so-called “informal removals” threat assessment teams on students. — Durbin and Cartwright are suggesting the department also ask public schools for information on the number of full-time principals, preschool and K-12 teachers they employ – and the number of full-time teachers who have state credentials in hard-to-staff classroom subject areas. — The department issued two pieces of non-regulatory guidance earlier this month meant to help states and school districts diversify their educator workforce.
| | WAITING FOR DELAY — Higher education groups say colleges and universities are struggling to meet a looming deadline for new federal financial transparency requirements, amid an ongoing industry effort to push the Education Department for additional delays. — The Education Department yielded to industry pressure in September when it let schools wait until Jan. 15 to prepare for financial transparency rules that require schools to publicly post data showing their graduates can afford their student debt payments. A range of organizations have been insisting that delay still does not offer campuses enough time. — The American Council on Education and allied groups said the incoming Trump administration’s uncertain plans for the Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment regulation, and survey data that suggests schools are still not clear about their obligations under the rule, merit pushing deadlines back into next summer. — “It is our hope that you will take institutional concerns seriously and delay the reporting requirements until July 2025,” the groups said in a Friday letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
| | | THE BIRTHRIGHT IN TRUMP’S SIGHTS — Trump’s team is crafting an executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, POLITICO’s Myah Ward and Betsy Woodruff Swan report, a key step toward getting a right established by the 14th Amendment before the Supreme Court. — Immigration restrictionists say Trump could do several things, including directing the State Department to refuse to issue passports to children without proof of the parents’ immigration status or the Social Security Administration to withhold Social Security numbers. — He could also direct agencies providing welfare and public benefits to U.S. citizens to deny these benefits to those claiming birthright citizenship, whose parents are in the country illegally. Details of the plan remain unclear, and implementation of any such order would be no easy feat. — “What will happen is, the government will get sued, and it’ll go up to the Supreme Court, and we’ll finally get a final decision on this issue,” said Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal and judicial studies fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
| | — An epidemic of vicious school brawls, fueled by student cellphones: The New York Times — The stunning coup that brought Bill Belichick to North Carolina: The Wall Street Journal — Twelve years later, two different tales of grief for Sandy Hook parents: The Atlantic — Chicago Public Schools planning ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach to potential mass deportations: WTTW News — Defense lawyers think criminal case against Uvalde police chief is a dud: San Antonio Express-News
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