Welcome to your Department of Education update. This week's biggest story centers on a controversial new White House initiative targeting nine elite universities with a sweeping compact that ties federal funding to major institutional reforms.
On October first, the White House sent memorandums to Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Penn, USC, MIT, UT Austin, Arizona, Brown, and UVA proposing the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. According to The Wall Street Journal, schools agreeing to this compact would receive preferential access to federal funds and substantial grants. But there are significant strings attached. Universities must reform admission and hiring practices regarding race and ethnicity, implement institutional neutrality policies, exclude transgender women from women's sports and locker rooms, and freeze tuition rates for five years. Schools with endowments exceeding two billion dollars would have to offer free undergraduate education for hard science majors. The compact also caps foreign student populations at fifteen percent, with no single country exceeding five percent of enrollment. May Mailman, senior adviser for special projects at the White House, told The Hill these institutions were selected because they have reformer presidents or boards committed to higher quality education.
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Linda McMahon continues reshaping the department's priorities. She proposed two new discretionary grant priorities: Expanding Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness, and Meaningful Learning Opportunities. Public comment on these proposals runs until October twenty seventh. They join previously announced priorities on Artificial Intelligence and Promoting Patriotic Education.
In another significant development, the Federal Communications Commission voted two to one on September thirtieth to end E Rate subsidies for internet access on school buses and wireless hotspots that libraries could lend out. According to K twelve Dive, schools and districts had requested forty two point six million dollars for hotspots and fifteen point three million for school bus Wi Fi during fiscal year twenty twenty five. This reverses Biden era policies designed to address the digital divide for rural and low income students.
Secretary McMahon also appointed Tennessee Representative Mark White as Chair of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the National Assessment of Education Progress.
These developments signal continued federal pressure on higher education institutions while reducing connectivity support for K through twelve students. Watch for responses from the nine targeted universities and public comments on the new grant priorities closing late October.
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