Hello and welcome to another edition of our weekly roundup of education news!
Department of Education sued by coalition of states
The attorneys general of 18 states and the District of Columbia
are suing
The issue is students' obligations to repay loans when their colleges are found to have committed fraud, misled students or otherwise violated state laws. In July 2014, Corinthian, a
for-profit chain
Faced with so many students collectively on the hook for millions of dollars in loans from defunct institutions accused of fraud, the Obama administration took up the task of clarifying and simplifying "borrower defense," a rule that long had been on the books.
After two years of negotiations, the final rule was announced at the
end of October
Now, all of that is on pause. In her announcement of the
"regulatory reset"
The lawsuit alleges the department violated federal law by suddenly and unilaterally axing the rule without allowing stakeholders to weigh in again.
"These rules served as critical protections against predatory for-profit schools," New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. "Yet the Trump Administration continues to work against New York's students —instead allying themselves with unscrupulous actors in the higher education industry."
The coalition comprises the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.
U.S. Department of Education press secretary Liz Hill told NPR that the suit is "ideologically driven." She referred to a separate
lawsuit
Want to graduate in Chicago? You'll need to know where you're going next
The nation's third-largest public school system will require every student to have a job, internship, apprenticeship, college acceptance or military enlistment in order to graduate from high school.
The rule takes effect in 2020, but
critics say
Superintendents speak out against the health care bill
School leaders, including some in Republican strongholds, are becoming "an unexpected and forceful voice" in opposition to the Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act,
Politico reported
The Senate bill would make deep cuts to Medicaid. As we've reported, public school districts receive $4 billion in annual Medicaid reimbursements. This money goes to basic health care for poor students as well as many services for special education.
The national school superintendents' association is organizing what it estimates could be thousands of calls and letters.
College enrollment on the decline
The
Hechinger Report
Student loan interest rates bump up
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