Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, Tennessee Education Funding, and California Ethnic Studies Requirement.

Editor's Note: This weekly news report covers National K-12 education news with a focus on California, Tennessee, and Texas. Please be in touch with [email protected] with any questions. 

NEWS

• The United States Department of Education is making progress on fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that was preventing borrowers’ payments from counting towards the program. Until now, there was a lack of clarity as to whose responsibility this was to fix. (US Department of Education, NPR, CNN, CNBC) 

 

• Tennessee Governor Bill Lee calls for a review of the Tennessee Education funding formula, AKA Basic Education Program, which dictates how the state allots funds to K-12 public schools. This hasn’t been reviewed in 30 years. (Chalkbeat TN, Tennessean, Fox 13 Memphis, Axios)

 

• California became the first state to require ethnic studies as a course to graduate high school after Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 101 into law. (Politico, The Hill, Washington Post, LA Times, NBC LA, KQED)

 

VIEWS

• USA Today (Erin Richards, National K-12 Reporter): The pandemic changed American education overnight. Some changes are here to stay. -- features Green Dot Mentorship program

 

• Fox13 Memphis (Jeremy Pierre): Memphis high school student creates anti-bullying organization to help end violence -- features Hillcrest High student

 

• Bloomberg Opinion (Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg Opinion Columnist): An Unexpected Reason to Support Charter Schools

 

• Chalkbeat Tennessee (Marta W. Aldrich, TN K-12 Reporter): Charter school appeals to go before new Tennessee commission for the first time 

 

• CNN Politics (Chris Cillizza, Editor-at-large): Someone needs to remind Greg Abbot he is a conservative