The US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will hold two hearings related to school reopening and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first hearing “COVID-19: Going Back to College Safely” is on reopening colleges and universities.
Date: Tuesday, June 4th, 2020
Time: 7am PT/10am ET
Watch live here.
The second hearing “COVID-19: Going Back to School Safely” is on reopening K-12 schools.
Date: Wednesday, June 10th, 2020
Time: 7am PT/10am ET
Watch live here.
Today the US Department of Education released its final rule under Title IX. The rule prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. An unofficial copy has been published here and the official version will be published in the Federal Register.
The rule will carry the force and effect of law as of August 14, 2020.
Here is an overview detailing major provisions.
Here is a document highlighting changes between the proposed and final rule.
For more detailed information, the Office for Civil Rights has published a webinar.
As the push for a “Phase 4” coronavirus bill gains steam, the higher education community has come up with a set of requests for the still-developing package, some of which would augment provisions in “Phase 3” while others would create new sources of funding.
The broader higher education community is jointly advocating for this proposal, which would add approximately $47 billion to the Higher Education Fund that was created in the $2.2-trillion CARES Act. The request is based on a set of assumptions that the community made in order to craft a timely proposal.
The research university community is making another push for research funding in a Phase 4 package. In an effort to address a portion of the problems being caused by the pandemic, the group proposal calls for, among other items, $26 billion in the next legislative package to address the various needs in the research enterprise.
The US Department of Education has revealed new rules impacting distance learning; the Distance Learning and Innovation regulation is available in the Federal Register and is now open for a 30 day public comment period. The Department plans to publish a final regulation prior to November 1st, 2020.
The new regulation would implement:
The Department emphasized that this regulation has been in the works for over a year, although it is now extremely relevant as colleges shift to online learning due to COVID-19.
Countering the Republican efforts to assist students that were included in the “Phase 3” bill, Senate Democrats released a summary of their own proposal on the issue. The legislative text for the plan has not yet been released.
The summary of the plan, as prepared by the Democratic staff, is here and a press release about the proposal is here.
Again, while the legislative text is not yet available, the centerpiece of the plan is the federal repayment of student loans during the COVID-19 crisis.