U.S. education officials issue report, guidance, webinars to promote equity

In a series of actions Tuesday to emphasize its role in advancing education equity, the U.S. Department of Education announced the first of an Educational Equity Summit Series later this month and issued a directive on using federal pandemic relief funding to help low-income schools.

It also issued a 61-page report on the disparate impacts of Covid-19 on the nation’s most vulnerable high school and college students, including low-income youths, English learners, LGBTQ students and students with disabilities. “This report bears witness to the many ways that COVID-19, with all of its tragic impacts on individuals, families, and communities, appears to be deepening divides in educational opportunity across our nation’s classrooms and campuses,” Suzanne Goldberg, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in the introduction.

The June 22 webinar, from 10 a.m. to noon PT, will focus on how to give all students a voice in the process of re-envisioning post-pandemic schools and colleges. It will feature discussions on how schools can create responsive and inclusive learning environments. Speakers will include U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, former San Diego Unified Superintendent and now U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten, and Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education. Go here to learn more and register.

The guidance applies to the use of the funding from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March. It will provide pre-K-12 schools in California $15 billion. The guidance requires states and school districts to protect high-poverty districts and schools from funding cuts as a condition of receiving their share of the money.

Unlike the Great Recession, when the Legislature made massive cuts to schools, the new “maintenance of effort” requirement likely won’t affect California. With state revenues surging, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are expected to approve record revenue for schools in the 2021-22 budget, and to direct the bulk of billions in one-time funding to districts with the highest proportion of English learners and to low-income, foster and homeless students.