Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was met with questions about education policy, rather than spending priorities, when presenting a $90-billion education budget to a House subcommittee on April 18.
The volley of criticism about the direction and performance of the U.S. Department of Education began at the start of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, a hearing convened ostensibly to hear the department’s 2024 budget request.
Chair Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) opened the meeting by questioning a proposed Department of Education rule allowing transgender students to compete on girls’ sports teams.
“Not only does it undermine the decades of work in giving girls the same opportunities to compete in women’s sports, which was the original intent of Title IX, it creates potential unsafe situations,” Aderholt said, referring to the mixing of biological boys and girls in locker rooms.
“Gender identity cannot be changed,” he said.
Aderholt criticized the request for increased funding as inflationary and unfair to students in the long run rather than unnecessary to improve educational achievement.
The increase in spending would leave “the next generation unprepared academically for competing in the 21st century and saddled with the highest national debt our nation has ever seen,” Aderholt said.
Aderholt also criticized the Biden plan to forgive student loans based on income.
“I think this is blatantly unfair to the millions of Americans who never went to college, and also those that don’t have a student loan debt,” Aderholt said.
“My time in front of you today is about choices,” Cardona said in an opening statement.
“The choice to invest in America’s children or the choice to protect the status quo of underachievement, the choice to come together on behalf of the students, parents, and educators who are looking to us to serve and raise the bar for education in this country, versus the choice to break down in partisanship or divisive culture wars.”
Republican questions focused on the latter.
In addition to questioning the proposed rule on transgender athletes, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) blasted the Department of Education for closing schools during the pandemic. He called for the abolition of the department.
Harris pointed out the differences in athletic achievement between nine-year-old boys and girls referenced in a study.
“I would suggest, Mr. Secretary, you didn’t base [the proposed rule] on science. You based it on woke politics, which is rampant through your department and the reason why we continue to fail on an international scale,” Harris said.
“[The Department of Education has] been in existence for 43 years, and I guess no one will argue that education prowess in the United States is no better vis-à-vis our international competitors now than it was 43 years ago,” Harris said. “That defines a failure.”
Harris was one of 161 house members who recently voted to eliminate federal K-12 education programs.
Cardona did not defend the proposed rule concerning transgender students but emphasized that it is in draft form and open for public comment. The proposed rule has received 240,000 comments, he said.
“We welcome feedback that differs in opinion,” Cardona said. “We welcome feedback from all.”
Democrats on the committee largely ignored the policy criticism and focused their questions on the potential harm done by making significant cuts to the education budget.
“I am not sure that my Republican colleagues realize the impact that the proposed cuts would have,” Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said, speaking of a Republican plan to reduce federal spending to the 2022 level.
The proposal would eliminate 100,000 teachers and other service providers in low-income communities, cause 80,000 people to miss out on a college education, and make college more expensive for 6.6 million students who rely on Pell grants, DeLauro said.
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) joined Democrats in expressing support for expanding educational opportunities, asking Cardona to explain how the proposed budget would increase STEM education in rural areas and benefit low-income college students.
