The Biden administration announced another $4.28 billion in student loan handouts as President Biden and Vice President Harris prepare to leave the White House.
The massive loan handout will give 54,900 public workers loan forgiveness.
"Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a release on Friday.
The action brings the total loan forgiveness approved by Biden to nearly $180 billion for nearly 5 million borrowers.
"With the approval of another $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public servants, the Administration has secured nearly $180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers," Cardona said. "The U.S. Department of Education’s successful transformation of the PSLF Program is a testament to what’s possible when you have leaders, like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are relentlessly and unapologetically focused on making government deliver for everyday working people."
The Biden-Harris administration touted the program for creating an "incentive" for public servants to "pursue and remain" in their careers by forgiving borrowers' remaining balance after they made the 120 qualifying monthly payments.
"The relief announced today includes both borrowers who have benefitted from the Administration’s limited PSLF waiver, a temporary opportunity that ended in October 2022, as well as from regulatory improvements made to the program during this Administration," the release said.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden pledged to forgive student loans for millions of Americans if elected, but the president has faced continuous legal roadblocks in his attempt to eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.
After the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration's first attempt at providing broad-based student loan forgiveness, ruling it was an overreach of the executive branch's authority under the Constitution, the president and his team began to work on other options to provide handouts.
President-elect Trump has not said specifically how he will approach the Biden administration's student loan handout plans, but he has said he plans to rework the entire education system during his term.
Fox News Digital's Audrie Spady contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE:Oklahoma’s 2025 school-year curriculum will look markedly different after major adjustments are made to eschew "woke garbage" while making sure students learn all aspects of complex figures like Thomas Jefferson and Donald Trump, and issues like the BLM and Capitol riots.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said Wednesday his state is "taking the lead" on a "direct rejection" of politicizing influences on the curriculum like teachers' unions and activist educators.
"What we are not going to allow is these radical teachers' unions to push lies in the classroom. That's not how we're going to teach."
Walters said school curricula are set every six years, and that he plans to hold schools accountable by withholding accreditation from any institutions that don’t follow suit.
He suggested the new rules are an extension of Oklahoma’s previous push to return the Bible to the classroom as an "important historical document" that shaped America’s founding – in that it is important to similarly give students a fuller perspective on landmark events and figures throughout the rest of U.S. history.
"We are driving out this woke indoctrination and woke nonsense that has been injected into the classroom by undermining Republican presidents and American exceptionalism," he said.
"So our kids are going to know America is a great country. They're not going to be taught to hate this country. They're going to be taught to love this country and a patriotism to come from the principles that our country was founded in our history."
Giving the example of former President Ronald Reagan in the last generation’s education, and how some curricula focused more on shortcomings during Iran-Contra and Col. Oliver North's hearings, Walters said he will not tolerate educators "maligning" President-elect Trump in the same way.
"You're not going to come in and teach President Trump wanted an insurrection on Jan. 6 [2021]. We're not going to allow it. We will be crystal clear on what President Trump's victories were in the White House," he said.
Similarly, the new curriculum will take a broader look at Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and the repercussions of coronavirus lockdowns.
He cited a recent clip he saw of a student stating that the only thing they knew about Thomas Jefferson was that he was a slaveholder, and did not know he was a president or the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
"And so we will drive these lies out of the classrooms and get back to an understanding of American greatness throughout our history," he said, noting that Oklahoma will teach "the good with the bad."
Walters was asked how the curriculum would teach COVID-19 lockdown history, given how states like Pennsylvania, New York and Hawaii were confident their zero-tolerance edicts were the right response, just as much as Florida believed its less restrictive response was right.
"I don't care to appease the left or make them happy. We're going to teach facts. We're going to stick to accurate history here. And they can be offended by that," Walters said.
"It is not debatable. Rights were taken from individuals during COVID. That's not debatable. It's also not debatable that lockdowns hurt kids. Lockdowns hurt families and businesses," he said, adding that current curriculum often glosses over that argument and offers only a more proverbially-northeastern view of the COVID years.
"We are ultimately going to let [students] come to their own conclusions," Walters said of the curriculum writ-large.
U.S. history is strewn with successes and failures on all sides, he said, adding that the most responsible way to prepare the next generation to lead the country is to instill in them the widest view of its history and law possible.
"The left wants to browbeat kids into believing to hate their country, while conservatives, we just want history taught, and show that America is the greatest country in the history of the world."
"It will show you what policies work, what policies don't work. A kid should come to their own conclusions. That’s why every state has to look at their [civics curriculum] standards."
Fox News Digital also reached out to union leader Randi Weingarten via the AFT for comment on the general tenor of partially blaming teachers unions for purportedly slanted curricula.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he plans to double the number of state jobs that will no longer require a college degree — joining states like Minnesota, Virginia and Pennsylvania, which have already dropped degree requirements for most public jobs.
Newsom unveiled his Master Plan for Career Education framework on Monday, which included eliminating the college degree requirement for 30,000 jobs in the state.
The Democratic governor plans to double the number by removing the requirement for an additional 30,000 in the coming years in an overall effort to "help Californians translate their skills and knowledge into real progress toward a degree or career."
"Every Californian deserves the opportunity to build real-life skills and pursue a fulfilling career — including those that don’t require college degrees," Newsom said in a statement. "California is working to ensure that every person has what they need to get a well-paying, long-lasting job so we can build an economy for the future that supports all families."
The framework also includes plans to establish "Career Passports" for citizens that will create a digital record of their skills and abilities for job applications.
Veterans will also see new benefits, with the plan allowing them to gain college credit for their military experience.
Reducing the emphasis on needing a college degree to secure a career has been endorsed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump. Musk recently stated that he believes "the value of a college education is somewhat overweighted."
"Too many people spend four years, accumulate a ton of debt and often don't have useful skills that they can apply afterwards. I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands, and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters and that's a lot more important than having incremental political science majors," Musk said while on the campaign trail for Trump. "I think we should not have this idea that in order to be successful you need a four-year college degree."
Newsom's framework was released just months after a report found that the majority of students at for-profit colleges never graduate, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The report found that only 36% of students graduate in four years at California State University, while 62% graduate within six years.
The elimination of college degree requirements for state jobs has received bipartisan support in recent years.
Maryland, under Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, became the first state in the nation to eliminate degree requirements for most state jobs in 2022, setting the stage for more than a dozen other states to follow in his footsteps with similar orders.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued an executive order in 2023 to establish that 92% of state government jobs would no longer require a college degree, a move that received praise from Republican state lawmakers who said the decision was "a step in the right direction."
Additionally, the 2024 GOP platform framework, released during the presidential campaign cycle, stated that "Republicans will support the creation of additional, drastically more affordable alternatives to a traditional four-year college degree."
As the Biden administration enters its final days, two new student debt relief programs face imminent release as they undergo final review before formal implementation.
The two programs include a second attempt at providing sweeping student loan forgiveness for millions of borrowers under the Higher Education Act, known colloquially as "Plan B," which comes after federal courts ruled that the Biden administration's initial attempt at providing broad-based student loan forgiveness via executive action was unconstitutional. The second program, focused on people facing financial hardships, seeks to provide student debt relief for millions more.
The two programs were submitted for review to the Office of Management and Budget as of Tuesday, one of the final steps before the policies are formally published in the Federal Register.
After the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration's first attempt at providing broad-based student loan forgiveness, ruling it was an overreach of the executive branch's authority under the Constitution, the president and his team began working on a new plan. It's "Plan B" seeks to provide relief to roughly 23 million borrowers, in particular those whose outstanding loan balance has been impacted by unrestrained interest accumulation.
Meanwhile, the second program seeks to provide additional student loan forgiveness for 8 million borrowers who face financial hardships. If finalized, the new rule would authorize student debt forgiveness on a one-time basis for people who the department considers to have at least an 80% chance of defaulting on loans based on a "predictive assessment using existing borrower data."
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, sent a letter to the Biden administration earlier this month slamming its efforts as a "Band-Aid that forces taxpayers to shoulder the responsibility of paying off someone else’s debt."
"If this administration spent half as much time working to address the root causes of our broken student loan system as peddling this illegal free college agenda, college costs would be lower," she said.
Meanwhile, Madison Doan, a senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration's student debt forgiveness efforts will likely be shot down in court for the same reasons its previous programs have been blocked. She also pointed to the recent ruling that overturned Chevron deference, which previously allowed courts to defer to executive agencies when statutory language, such as that associated with the Higher Education Act, is unclear.
"These precedents make it doubtful that the courts will endorse the administration’s attempt to use ambiguous language in old statutes to justify broad new authority for canceling billions in loans at the expense of taxpayers," Doan said. She also pointed out how two Democratic-appointed judges have indicated that opponents of the rules are "likely to succeed on the merits" of their legal challenges.
In addition to the two programs that are in the final approval stages, the Biden administration is also attempting to push through a new interim rule that, once implemented, will reopen enrollment in an income-driven student debt repayment plan that is currently stalled in the courts. The new rule contains certain changes from the original income driven repayment plan in order to provide protections from the same legal challenges that stalled the initial attempt.
However, the rule is not slated to go into effect until several months into President-elect Trump's second term, and, as a result, will likely be rescinded. While Trump has not formally laid out plans on how he will approach the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness policies, he has indicated plans to reform the federal government's role in U.S. education during his term.
"The lesson President Biden should have taken from the Supreme Court's student loan ruling was that, if he wanted to forgive debt, he should hammer out a deal with Congress," Chad Squitieri, Catholic University of America law professor, told Fox News Digital. "President Biden's efforts to unilaterally plow forward without Congress, in the waning days of his administration, is just the latest effort to use administrative rulemaking as a substitute for the federal lawmaking process. Publishing a rule might be easier than enacting legislation, but it can come at the cost of undermining a more stable solution on debt relief."
Executive rulemaking has been a staple for the Biden administration, which has used the policymaking avenue to implement a range of reforms. As of Dec. 3, the Biden administration set a new record for the most Federal Register pages filled in a single year – 96,088. The number puts the administration on pace to fill more than 100,000 pages by the end of its term.
First lady Jill Biden announced that she recently taught her last class at Northern Virginia Community College.
"Last Thursday I taught my last class of the semester and my final class ever at Northern Virginia Community College," she said.
She made the remarks in a message to educators while flanked on either side by union presidents Randi Weingarten, of the American Federation of Teachers, and Becky Pringle, of the National Education Association.
A spokesperson for the first lady indicated via email to Fox News Digital that it is not clear if the first lady will continue teaching.
Jill Biden had been a professor at the institution since 2009, according to her biography on the White House website.
"While serving as First Lady, Dr. Biden continued teaching English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has been a professor since 2009. She is the first presidential spouse to maintain an independent career outside of the White House," the White House noted.
First Lady Jill Biden and President Joe Biden will vacate the White House next month following the peculiar 2024 presidential election season in which the president bowed out of his re-election bid after clinching enough wins to become his party's presumptive presidential nominee.
But following a widely-panned debate performance, and amid public pressure from members of his own party to step aside, Biden dropped out and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
President-elect Donald Trump ultimately trounced Harris in the general election, winning both the Electoral College and popular vote, becoming the second president in U.S. history ever to win two non-consecutive terms. The first was President Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.
FIRST ON FOX: Two scholarship programs for "underrepresented" minorities are being slapped with lawsuits for allegedly discriminating against White people.
The nonprofit organization Do No Harm (DNH) is challenging the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons' (SOMOS) E. Anthony Rankin Scholarship Program on behalf of a DNH member who said he could not continue with the application process because he is a White male.
The program, which is "meant for underrepresented medical students," matches students with a "U.S. Military host" at one of two medical centers, the complaint states. The program spans four weeks, during when students can receive up to $12,000 "to cover ‘travel, housing, and daily per diem for the duration’ of their time hosted by the military," the filing reads, quoting the program's website description.
"Member A was hurt and dismayed that SOMOS would use his race — which he cannot control — to preclude him from participating in the program and learning from some of the country’s most distinguished orthopaedic surgeons in service of our nation’s military and veteran communities," the complaint states.
DNH also named as defendants Director of the Defense Health Agency Telita Crosland and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, as well as others in their official capacities, arguing that they are violating the Fifth Amendment by operating "in partnership with SOMOS, a race-based service-learning program" for students interested in orthopedic surgery.
"But the program excludes white, male applicants," the complaint states.
DNH is asking for a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the program's requirements and, if necessary, "a preliminary injunction barring Defendants from enforcing the program’s racial requirement."
DNH is also challenging the University of Colorado's "Underrepresented Minority Visiting Elective Scholarship" on behalf of one member "who is ready and able to apply for the scholarship" but cannot because of his race. The scholarship is offered via the university medical school's Radiation Oncology Department within the school's visiting elective rotation.
The scholarship covers "up to ‘$2,000 reimbursement’ for ‘the cost of lodging, travel, and related expenses for [the] four-week elective,’" the initial complaint states. In order to apply for the scholarship, the visiting medical student must comply with several requirements, including being enrolled at an accredited medical school and being in good standing. The applicant is also required to submit a "brief statement of interest."
"Scholarship is prioritized based on the applicant’s interest in pursuing a career with underserved populations, service, leadership, and academic achievement," the filing says, quoting the scholarship description found on the school's website.
"But the scholarship is not open to everyone," the complaint states. The filing says the scholarship specifies eligibility is open to those "'who identif[y] with groups who are recognized as historically underrepresented in medicine including but not limited to African American/Black, Native American, Hispanic/Latino, Pacific Islander, LGBTQ+, or those from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background.'" The website itself says the scholarship includes but is "not limited to" those races.
The complaint states the plaintiff is a DNH member and "meets all nonracial eligibility requirements" for the scholarship.
"Although Member A meets all the nonracial eligibility requirements and would be a strong candidate for the scholarship, Member A is not eligible to apply because he is a white, straight male and does not identify as any other ethnicity," the complaint says.
DNH is seeking a declaratory judgment that the scholarship violates the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI, as well as a permanent injunction "barring Defendants from seeing or considering applicants’ race when selecting the recipients" for the scholarship.
"When we're all on the operating table with a broken leg, we want the best surgeon. We don't want someone based on the color of their skin, and we want merit," Dr. Jared Ross, Senior Fellow with Do No Harm, told Fox News Digital. "And unfortunately, in the name of diversity — which is a laudable goal, having people from different backgrounds — we have essentially instituted discrimination and racial quotas to get to what the other side calls ‘equity.’"
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the use of race as a factor in college admissions in a 6-3 decision in 2023.
The justices decided two separate legal challenges over just how Harvard University – a private institution – and the University of North Carolina – a public one – decide who fills their classrooms.
Student activist group Students for Fair Admissions brought cases against both universities. The group initially sued Harvard in 2014 for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which "prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance."
Fox News Digital reached out to SOMOS, the Defense Department and the University of Colorado for comment.
Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican, proposed a bill to require high school graduates with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, status to pay out-of-state tuition for college.
Fine claims the state cannot afford to subsidize tuition for students who are not in the country legally and says the policy passed in 2014 offering them in-state tuition costs Florida $45 million a year.
Under S.B. 90, DACA students would no longer qualify for in-state tuition, which costs an average of $6,143 for the 2024-2025 academic year, according to the State University System of Florida. The University of Florida, for example, is $6,381 for in-state tuition but $28,658 for out-of-state tuition, according to US News & World Report.
"While blue-collar Floridians are struggling to make ends meet, it is not fair to require them to pay $45 million a year to subsidize sweetheart deals for college degrees to those who should not even be here," Fine said in a statement.
"This is a no-brainer way to reduce the size of government and free up resources to help Floridians in need," he continued. "We must put Floridians first, and I am proud to do my part to rebalance the scales for our citizens."
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, has expressed strong opposition to the bill, arguing that the proposed change would create significant financial barriers for students who have lived in Florida most of their lives.
"These are students who have only known the United States as home," Eskamani said, according to Fox 13.
Eskamani also noted that many DACA students do not qualify for scholarships and are already at a financial disadvantage.
The legislation, Fine argues, is about "ensuring people who shouldn't be in the country aren't getting discounted educations," according to Fox 13.
Fine’s previous attempts to pass similar legislation have come up short, but Democrats worry that increased national focus on immigration issues, such as President-elect Trump promising mass deportations in his second term, could give the bill momentum this time around.
"I am concerned this policy may have legs this year," Eskamani said.
Fine, who joined the state Senate last month, is resigning from the legislature, effective March 31, so he can run for the U.S. House seat that is expected to be vacated by U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., who was nominated by Trump to be his White House national security advisor.
FIRST ON FOX: A Wisconsin parent is mulling legal action over a situation where she alleges her son was passed over being given the extra learning attention he needed due to language on the school's website that says it prioritizes additional help for students based on race.
Attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty argue on behalf of their client Mrs. Colbey Decker that a "troubling" and "unlawful" policy in the Green Bay Area School District "explicitly prioritizes reading support resources based on race, thereby violating the U.S. Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," according to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
"Mrs. Decker’s child, who suffers from dyslexia, has received different (and less favorable) services because he is white," the letter states. "If he was Black, Hispanic, or Native American, Mrs. Decker’s son would have been treated more favorably and received different services."
Decker told Fox News Digital that her son had been receiving one-on-one reading services in another district and that she assumed he would continue receiving that when he moved into the current district in January 2024 but that he was waitlisted for that additional help.
Decker explained that she learned of the policy while looking at the school’s website.
"I asked them point blank, does he receive less services or is he less of a priority because he's white?" Decker said. "And even asking that question made me extremely uncomfortable because to think that someone isn't getting the services they deserve because of the color of their skin is just horrifying. So the principal did respond to me, and much to my surprise, he was very excited to explain to me the work they do in these priority groups."
The letter alleges, citing the school's website, that the "district’s literacy policy establishes ‘priority groups’ race—namely, Black, Hispanic, and Native American students—and states that the school will conduct intentional work educating our focus students, prioritizing additional resources to First Nations, Black, and Hispanic students."
"This policy is in effect and has been applied to Mrs. Decker’s son, according to multiple district employees."
The language on the school website also states next to an asterisk at the bottom of the page that, "Priority performance goals are established based on data that shows us we are meeting the needs of some student groups better than others."
"Focusing on a priority performance group of students will elevate our skills as educators and ultimately benefit all students."
The letter to the district asks that the policy, known as the King Elementary School Success Plan, be rescinded in favor of a "colorblind approach" to resource allocation along with "immediate and adequate support" to Decker’s son "who has been unfairly excluded from the opportunity to receive necessary resources."
"Seeing a policy that explicitly prioritizes resources based on race is really troubling, both morally and legally," WILL associate counsel Cory Brewer told Fox News Digital. "The law demands that Colbey's son and any child be treated equally to other children, regardless of their race. There should not be special treatment based on skin color. And the fact that this district is embracing the idea that they need to treat children differently based on race is really problematic."
"We are asking the district to rescind its discriminatory policy immediately to implement a colorblind approach to how it allocates resources, focusing on the needs of the individual student. And we're also asking the district to provide Colby's son with the resources that he needs," Brewer continued. "There's no reason it should be taking this long for him to get that support. If the district does not change its discriminatory policy, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty will pursue all legal avenues to protect the rights of Colbey’s son."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Green Bay Area School District for comment and received the following statement on Tuesday, "The District received the letter from WILL yesterday and we are investigating the allegations. However, we can state unequivocally that the District does not have a policy that includes the language included in the letter."
"All District policies must be approved by the Board of Education and no such policy language exists."
The spokesperson added that the language in the School Success Plan is "developed to outline the school's goals toward continuous improvement, but would not be considered Board (District) policy" which the spokesperson called an "important distinction."
Decker told Fox News Digital that other parents she has spoken to "can't believe" the situation when told about it and every parent "just wants their child to be treated equally."
"Any time a parent or a grandparent advocates for a child, I know that their sincere hope is that that child is just treated equally," Decker said. "And that's not what's happening when someone is a priority. If someone is more of a priority than someone else's child has to be less of a priority. And I don't think that's the way most of America wants to move forward with education."
"I think everybody wants us to just be completely color-blind and look at children as simply being children. My son is in the 17th percentile in the state for reading, and there are children who are performing at a higher level than him that are more of a priority only because of their skin color. And I don't think most parents want anything like that to ever happen in any educational setting ever."
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a bill into law on Monday to prohibit public libraries and school libraries from banning books in the state.
The law will also implement protections for librarians who follow the law against civil and criminal charges, according to The Associated Press.
This makes New Jersey the latest state to enact a law prohibiting book bans, joining other Democrat-led states, including Illinois and Minnesota.
Murphy signed the bill at Princeton's public library, located near Princeton University. The legislation comes in response to Republican-leaning states that have looked to remove books in recent years from school curriculum and school libraries that they deem inappropriate for young children, such as books containing sexually explicit material or that center on LGBTQ+ or Critical Race Theory.
"It's the antithesis of all these book banning states that you see," the governor said. "I'm incredibly proud to have signed it, but also acknowledge that America — and this is yet another good example — is becoming a patchwork quilt country. It really matters where you live."
Under the law, public libraries and school libraries may not exclude books because of the origin, background or views of the material or of its authors. Libraries will also be prohibited from censoring books solely because a person finds them offensive.
The bill allows books to be restricted in the case of "developmentally inappropriate material" for certain age groups. The law also requires local school boards and the governing bodies of public libraries to establish policies for book curation and the removal of library materials, including a way to address concerns over certain titles.
Lawmakers in more than 15 states have proposed bills this year to impose harsh penalties on libraries or librarians.
Conservative parents and activists argue that the books are too sexually explicit or otherwise inappropriate, particularly for younger children. National groups such as Moms for Liberty have said parents should have more of a say over which books ought to be available to their children.
Librarians praised the enactment of New Jersey's law, with Karen Grant, president of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, saying the bill recognizes librarians' professionalism and promotes libraries as a source of information.
"The bill will protect the intellectual freedom of students as well as acknowledge that school libraries are centers for voluntary inquiry, fostering students’ growth and development," Grant said.
Retired librarian Martha Hickson spoke on Monday alongside the governor about how parents first suggested her book collections contained pedophilia and pornography during a school board meeting in 2021. She watched the livestream in shock as they objected to the availability of the novel "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison, which contains graphic descriptions of sex between men and children, and the illustrated memoir "Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe.
Hickson, who said parents suggested she should be criminally liable for the availability of the books, said Monday that it was time to celebrate after three years of harassment.
"I'm thrilled," she said. "After more than three years of harassment, this legislation is a relief to readers and librarians."
The law is set to take effect in a year, although the state education commissioner and state librarian may begin taking steps to implement the law.
The University of Michigan is the latest public university to dismantle its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) as part of its faculty requirements, making it one of several universities this year to roll back DEI initiatives.
"The University of Michigan will no longer solicit diversity statements as part of faculty hiring, promotion and tenure," the school said in a news release Thursday.
University of Michigan Provost Laurie McCauley announced the decision to stop using the diversity statements following an Oct. 31 recommendation from a faculty working group, the university said. The group reportedly criticized the statements "for their potential to limit freedom of expression and diversity of thought on campus."
"As we pursue this challenging and complex work, we will continuously refine our approach," McCauley said.
The university chose not to implement two other recommendations from the working group: integrating DEI content into teaching, research and service statements, and enhancing training on how to write and assess them.
Several other public universities this year have also rolled back their DEI initiatives and requirements.
Following Senate Bill 17 being signed into law this year, Texas public universities eliminated DEI offices, DEI-related positions and mandatory DEI training. This included layoffs and restructuring at institutions like the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M.
The University of North Carolina system redirected millions from DEI initiatives to public safety and discontinued DEI programs on campuses in May. The state also prohibited mandatory diversity statements for job applications in academia.
Iowa's three public universities — the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa — began eliminating DEI offices and reallocating funds after a state law was passed earlier this year.
Last year, Florida's restrictions on DEI in public universities were part of a broader set of education reforms implemented under Gov. Ron DeSantis, following the passage of legislation targeting DEI programs.
Universities aren't the only institutions rolling back DEI initiatives, and during his campaign, President-elect Trump vowed to eliminate DEI programs in federal agencies. In 2020, then-President Trump issued an executive order to ban "divisive" training for federal contractors. And the House Oversight Committee held a hearing last month about dismantling DEI policies.
"It is a multibillion-dollar industry that pushes a left-wing, far-left ideological orthodoxy in essentially every area of American life, which is why I've begun to call it the ‘DEI enterprise,’ instead of just DEI, so that people have a sense of what I'm talking about," Devon Westhill, a constitutional and civil rights attorney, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris administration has encouraged DEI initiatives across several sectors of the federal government. In 2021, President Biden widened an executive order directing agencies to assess and "remove barriers" to equal opportunity through DEI policies. Another executive order signed that year was a government-wide initiative to embed DEI principles in federal hiring.
Oklahoma will consider a new measure to make the role of school district superintendent an elected position in response to a spate of controversial situations involving scholastic leaders, Fox News Digital has learned.
There have been allegations and news reports about several issues: the refusal to remove "pornographic books" from school libraries, the dismissal of a teacher for failure to comply with a COVID-19 face mask mandate, and media coverage of "nothing [being] done" in response to reports a school football coach was bragging about sexual conquests with parents.
In 2021, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt called firings of mask-averse teachers "preposterous" and said their talents are needed more than ever.
"This is about a school district not following state law — this isn’t a debate about masks," he said, after the Oklahoma City district reportedly fired multiple educators, adding the state previously banned such firings.
In February, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters — who is an elected official himself — threatened to lower the accreditation of Edmond, Oklahoma, schools if it didn’t remove the books "The Glass Castle" and "Kite Runner" from its high school libraries.
Walters called the inaction "subversion of accountability," though Edmond’s superintendent said the state lacked authority to remove the books based on a 1997 district policy.
In another case, in Edmond, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz from neighboring Texas, among others, blasted videos showing a portion of a school fundraiser wherein students were licking each other's toes.
In a public statement, school officials appeared to celebrate the event:
"This afternoon, Deer Creek High School announced a grand total of $152,830.38 raised for Not Your Average Joe Coffee, an organization created to 'inspire our community by including students and adults with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities," school staff wrote.
"All participants in the assembly were students who signed up for the game(s) they played ahead of time. No Deer Creek faculty or staff participated in any of the games during this Clash of Classes assembly," a portion of the latter part of the statement read.
Walters called the fundraiser "filth," and Cruz said it was "child abuse."
In another district on the Arkansas line, now-former Muldrow Superintendent Leon Ashlock resigned after driving drunk and crashing a school vehicle on Creek Turnpike. Two 100-proof bottles of cinnamon schnapps were found in its console, according to KOCO.
Walters told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that a case involving a school’s response to an athletic director’s criminal exploits with a student also drew his attention.
"Even in a conservative state like Oklahoma, where voters have overwhelmingly made clear they want the radical progressive policies of the left out of public schools, we continually see superintendents defying their will, ignoring their concerns, and refusing to take action necessary to improve education outcomes while protecting Oklahoma children," Walters said.
"And, the best way to do that is by requiring superintendents to be elected by the voters."
Walters called the legislation a common-sense solution to efforts to improve education for Sooner State children.
Walters previously made headlines when he led his state in becoming the first to appropriate funding toward supplying a Bible to each school. The official said the move blunts "woke curricula" and provides students a "historical document" that the founders used to form their government.
Top Democratic lawmakers and activists alike are calling on the Biden administration to ignore a federal injunction and continue wiping out student loan debt before the president leaves office.
Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Ed Markey, D-Mass, held a press conference alongside a cohort of activist groups on Wednesday from the nation's capital, calling on the Department of Education to finish granting federal student loan forgiveness for borrowers it pledged to help. These borrowers attended either now-defunct or predatory for-profit colleges.
"I'm urging the Biden administration in the closing hours of their administration – the last seven weeks – come to the rescue of these students as quickly as possible," Durbin said Monday from the Senate floor.
In 2022 and 2023, President Biden's Education Department announced it would grant student loan forgiveness for 560,000 borrowers who attended Corinthian Colleges Inc., as well as to 208,000 borrowers who attended ITT Technical Institute. While most of those students had their loans fully forgiven, according to the Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL), at least 145,000 former Corinthian students who were approved to have their loans forgiven still have not gotten their promised relief.
"The coming weeks are pivotal, and we are focused on two things," PPSL said in a statement last week, according to Forbes. "First, everyone who was promised relief, must receive their relief. Second, the Department must issue more group discharges for people who went to predatory schools." Meanwhile, the group's senior director of policy and advocacy told the Washington Post that the group "definitely want[s] to make sure the Biden administration finishes the work they started."
On Wednesday, Durbin and Markey will be joined by groups like PPSL to continue urging the Biden administration to maximize student debt relief. The calls come even though the program, known as the "borrower defense loan discharge program," remains tied up in litigation after a federal court issued an injunction last year.
According to the federal government's student aid office, "the injunction is effective" until a final judgment in the case has been made.
"The Department will not adjudicate any borrower defense applications under the rule subject to the injunction unless and until the injunction is lifted," the agency asserts.
Nonetheless, the agency still encouraged borrowers to continue applying for "borrower defense relief," adding that they would continue to "adjudicate borrower defense applications" while the case makes its way through the courts.
The Department of Education did not provide any on-the-record remarks in time for publication when reached for comment.
Durbin and Markey, as well as PPSL, did not respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital for purposes of this story.
EXCLUSIVE: Ohio's Republican lieutenant governor is defending his state's recent enactment of a "bathroom bill" preventing biological males from using female bathrooms and says it is part of a cultural shift in the country where Americans are uniting on the issue.
"It's a sad situation that in this time in life that we actually need to pass a law that says that boys should go to boys' bathrooms and girls should go to girls' bathrooms," Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told Fox News Digital.
"But that indeed is the case because we have colleges and some high schools where they blurred the lines. And we need to make sure that there are safe places, particularly for young women, to go to the bathroom, be in a locker room, be in a safe place," Husted said. "And it's truly unbelievable that we had to pass a law to guarantee that. It's just hard to believe that there are adults in this world who think it would be OK for boys, biological boys, to be in girls' locker rooms."
Husted was reacting to news that Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the Protect All Students Act, dubbed the "bathroom bill," after the state Senate passed the bill 24-7 on a party-line vote.
The bill applies to public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. It requires schools to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations "for the exclusive use" of either males and females, based on one’s gender assigned at or near birth, in both school buildings and facilities used for a school-sponsored event.
Husted told Fox News Digital the bill represents "common sense."
"People really are just shocked that anyone thinks it's OK that you would have a bathroom, that a biological male could go into a female bathroom and that you could have a locker room where a biological male could go into a female locker room," Husted said.
"It's just common sense in most people if you go around Ohio. That's what everybody's going to say to you is like, how can this really be? How can a high school do this? Well, I can assure them that I know that is indeed the case because the high school that my own daughters attend has bathrooms that boys and girls are allowed to be in at the same time," he continued. "They have non-gendered bathrooms."
"That was something that the community fought against, that the school board then filed lawsuits so they could get variances to the building code to build bathrooms like this. And despite all of that opposition, they still went forward with it. But now we have a new law. We have a law in the state of Ohio that will protect against those kinds of things from happening."
Ohio became the 12th state to pass an iteration of a bathroom bill and while critics like the ACLU and LGBT activist groups have voiced opposition and suggested they will challenge the law in court, Husted told Fox News Digital he is confident the bill will withstand any legal challenge.
"It's on solid legal ground," Husted said. "They went through the hearing process, went through the process of addressing all those questions before drafting the bill and passing it and sending it to the governor's desk."
"I'm 100% confident that this will stand any legal scrutiny… I want to reiterate this. It is unfortunate that we need to pass a law because the adults in the lives of these children and young women should be clearly standing up for them. They shouldn't, we shouldn't have to pass a law. This is common sense," Husted continued.
Husted told Fox News Digital the bill is "about protecting the privacy of girls" and "trying to make sure that they have safe places to be" and said Americans across the United States, of both parties, are starting to unite as part of a "cultural shift" on the issue of protecting biological girls in schools and in sports.
"There absolutely was," Husted said about the cultural shift. "Look, that was part of the last election that was run and there were hundreds of millions of dollars across the country in the presidential and congressional races spent on that. Donald Trump or Republicans would stand for you and not ‘they/them.'"
"We all saw the ads. We all know that they were part of the conversation this last election, that people don't believe that biological men should play women's sports. They don't believe that biological men should be in women's locker rooms or bathrooms," Husted said.
"That was clearly one of the major issues that divided Democrats and Republicans. Republicans are standing up for those protections. And I believe that you're starting to hear even Democrats say, ‘Hey, maybe we ought to rethink this. Maybe we're a bit out of line with this,’" he concluded. "And so I hope that in blue states that they can demonstrate that they want to protect women's sports, they want to protect women in the privacy of bathrooms, in locker rooms. And this is exactly what I hope we'll see across the country."
Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this report
EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin will release a video ad Tuesday inviting the countless new workers and officials in the second Trump administration to settle in his state, versus the District of Columbia and neighboring Maryland.
Youngkin, who made education policy a pillar of his 2021 campaign against ex-Gov. Terence McAuliffe amid several school controversies in Northern Virginia, said the commonwealth has better schools than its neighbors.
Youngkin cited a CNBC study ranking Virginia first in the U.S. in education, and first in the nation overall for business – displacing its neighbor in 2023, first-place North Carolina.
"To the new members of President Trump's administration moving to the area, I want to personally invite you to make Virginia your home," Youngkin said.
"Virginia is right across the Potomac. We offer a great quality of life, safe communities, award-winning schools where parents matter, and lower taxes than D.C. or Maryland."
Maryland was listed 31st in best-for-business, and the District of Columbia was unranked, according to the study.
The ad flashed through several scenes in the Old Dominion, from the capital, Richmond, to the King Street Trolley slinking through Old Town Alexandria.
"It's why so many people choose Virginia as the best place to live, work and raise a family," Youngkin said.
Youngkin has called education the "bedrock of attaining the American dream," and the CNBC study credited both Youngkin and the Democratic state legislative majority for compromising on $2.5 billion in new K-12 funding and 3% raises for teachers.
When asked about Virginia being pitched as a new home for the new administration, Trump transition team spokesman Brian Hughes said Youngkin's performance speaks for itself as its own advertisement.
"With the amazing job Governor Youngkin has done bringing common sense, low taxes, and high quality of life to his state, it's no wonder that he has a compelling case to make to people who are exploring next steps in the region." Hughes said.
Youngkin was swept into office in 2021 after a major political upset of McAuliffe – as Republicans had been out of power in Richmond for about a decade.
The last Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, reappeared on the political scene during President-elect Donald Trump's various legal trials, as he, too, had been subject to prosecution by now-special counsel Jack Smith.
In McDonnell's case, the once-rumored 2012 running-mate candidate's political future imploded during his own corruption litigation, but the Supreme Court later unanimously threw out Smith's conviction. Now-Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, ultimately chose then-Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. to run with him that cycle.
With Virginia being the rare state that does not allow its governor to run for consecutive terms, Youngkin's deputy, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, has launched a 2025 gubernatorial campaign she said seeks to build on the Youngkin-Sears record.
The prominent Democrat in the upcoming contest thus far is Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who gave up her seat in launching her bid. Spanberger will be replaced in Congress by Rep-elect Yevgeny "Eugene" Vindman, D-Va., – the twin brother of Trump impeachment witness Col. Alexander Vindman.
An elementary school in the suburbs of New York City is being called out for teaching a gender identity class to kindergartners after a copy of the course began circulating on social media.
Hillside Elementary School, part of the Hastings-on-Hudson Union Free District, has been teaching a "gender curriculum" to elementary-level children in an effort to promote "inclusion" in the school, according to the course description reviewed by Fox News Digital.
The course includes showing kindergarten students photos of other children which are used to "introduce vocabulary to describe characters of different identities," including teaching them about the terms "cisgender, transgender, and non-binary," according to a message to parents regarding the curriculum.
"Our gender curriculum focuses on Hillside's core value of respect and aims to center discussions on gender identity. The students will learn and discuss that there is a lot you can't tell about a person by simply looking at them," the kindergarten level course description reads.
"The students will look at pictures of children and talk about what they notice and what they think they know about the children just from the pictures. Using their observations, we will then take the opportunity to introduce vocabulary to describe characters of different identities," the school writes.
The "identity" being taught to children includes discussing "gender and the pronouns that you use," and that "as we learn and grow, the words we use to describe our gender identity can grow too," as described by the school.
When asked by Fox News Digital about the curriculum, the Hastings-on-Hudson Union Free District communications team said that the lessons have been in place for several years and are rooted in "Hillside’s core values of respect and fostering dignity for all students."
"One 30-minute gender lesson is taught in each class one time per year. The classes are led by a certified educator, following a specific set of lessons designed to help students value the full diversity of their classmates," Superintendent William S. McKersie said in a message to faculty and parents. "The lessons have been created in alignment with the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework," he wrote. The school noted that the lessons do not address sex education or sexuality.
The school district said that while they usually have the courses posted publicly online, the gender lesson description has been taken off the website since going viral.
LibsofTikTok, a social media account known for posting content geared toward calling out the far-left, posted a copy of the message to parents, which quickly received millions of views.
"Our kids can’t read or write or even possess a basic understanding of history, yet the gender communism indoctrination of kindergartners continues unabated," New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said in a repost of the curriculum. "This won’t stop until these people face real consequences."
Kemberlee Kaye,managing editor of Critical Race Training in Education, a database that allows viewers to see which schools identified have been practicing critical race theory teachings, responded on X to "get your kids out of government schools."
New research from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University reveals that some diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training methods may cause psychological harm.
The study, released on Monday, shows significant increases in hostility and punitive attitudes among participants exposed to DEI pedagogy covering subjects like race, religion and caste.
This hostile attribution bias may contribute to increased intergroup hostility and authoritarian behavior in the long run, according to study co-author and NCRI Chief Science Officer Joel Finkelstein.
"What we did was we took a lot of these ideas that were found to still be very prominent in a lot of these DEI lectures and interventions and training," said Finkelstein in an interview with Fox News Digital. "And we said, ‘Well, how is this going to affect people?’ What we found is that when people are exposed to this ideology, what happens is they become hostile without any indication that anything racist has happened."
A Pew Research Center study from 2023 found that 52% of American workers have DEI training events or meetings at work and, according to Professor Iris Bohnet with the Harvard Kennedy School, $8 billion is spent annually on such programs.
As DEI programs have become a major area of investment in recent years, their actual effectiveness remains a topic of debate, with NCRI's study suggesting they may exacerbate tensions rather than alleviate them. The study measured "explicit bias, social distancing, demonization, and authoritarian tendencies" with both the DEI materials and control materials.
Their study included sharing anti-racist DEI materials from thought leaders like Ibram X. Kendi and "White Fragility" author Robin DiAngelo with participants involved. Specifically, the NCRI focused on materials which emphasized awareness of and opposition to "systemic oppression," popularized by texts such as Kendi’s "How to Be an Antiracist."
Those exposed to anti-racist materials were linked to heightened perceptions of racial bias in the study. Participants were also more likely to support punitive measures against perceived offenders of so-called "microaggressions," even in the absence of evidence.
"And when people are supposed to see anti-racist material in the ideology, it looks like what happens is that they become more likely to punish for any evidence of wrongdoing," said Finkelstein. "That includes protesting people, calling for dismissal, demanding public apologies, receiving people calling for their relocation. These punitive measures are, in some cases, costing people their jobs."
DEI programming psychological harms go beyond race according to NCRI's study, spanning to religious identities as well. According to the study, anti-Islamophobia training led participants to detect bias against Muslims in neutral scenarios.
The NCRI used materials from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), which "provides objective research and education about American Muslims to support well-informed dialogue and decision-making," according to its website.
These results suggest that anti-Islamophobia training inspired by ISPU materials may cause individuals to assume unfair treatment of Muslim people, even when no evidence of bias or unfairness is present. This effect highlights a broader issue: DEI narratives that focus heavily on victimization and systemic oppression can foster unwarranted distrust and suspicions of institutions and alter subjective assessments of events.
One key takeaway from Finkelstein in the NCRI study is that the authoritarianism that comes from hostile attribution bias looks different in the 21st century.
According to Finkelstein, those who are likely to carry hostilities are "people who are higher in what's called left-wing authoritarianism. This is now a steady phenomenon. We the people have been studying right-wing authoritarianism since World War II. It's really only in the past 10 or 15 years that people have started saying, 'Wait a minute, this is on the left, too."
Across all groupings, instead of DEI materials reducing bias, the study discovered they engendered a hostile attribution bias amplifying perceptions of prejudicial hostility where none was present.
"They're bad ideas, because they're hurting people; and that appears from research and appears to be far more prevalent and is shockingly public, these harms can be extremely widespread," said Finkelstein. "So I think that is grounds to believe that from this research, and it suggests that we need to be focused on this data, and we need more data like it. [But we can] start evaluating what's happening here, and I don't think this is about speech. I certainly think it's about people's civil rights."
Representatives DiAngelo did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
When reached for comment, Kendi slammed both Fox News and the study, calling it "pseudoscience."
"It comes as no surprise that Fox News would broadcast this pseudoscience that isn’t peer-reviewed, misrepresents my work, and is based on anchoring bias," Kendi said. "This so-called study will end up in the historic landfill of pseudoscience alongside other attempts to bring scientific legitimacy to racist propaganda that anti-slavery and civil rights then, and DEI and antiracism now have been harmful."
Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
President Biden is making a last-ditch effort to cancel more student debt before the end of his term, after facing years of setbacks in his attempts to erase billions of dollars in borrowed money.
The Department of Education announced an interim final rule this month to extend the deadline for student loan borrowers to enroll in long-term pay-over-time programs.
The provision would amend the Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) to extend the deadline for borrowers to enroll in ICR or Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE), a program which cancels all student debt for borrowers after 20 years of on-time payments. The enrollment deadline would be extended by three years, from July 2024 to July 2027.
The regulations, however, are slated to go into effect in July 2026, meaning the incoming Trump administration could intercept any handout initiatives going into effect after his term.
The announcement comes just weeks after the Biden administration put forward an additional new rule, that, if finalized, would authorize student debt forgiveness on a one-time basis for people who the department considers to have at least an 80% chance of defaulting on loans based on a "predictive assessment using existing borrower data."
Also in October, the administration announced plans to remove $4.5 billion in debt for more than 60,000 borrowers who work in public service.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden pledged to forgive student loans for millions of Americans if elected, but the president has faced continuous legal roadblocks in his attempt to eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.
Biden's initial plan sought to provide up to $10,000 in debt relief, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, for people who make less than $125,000 a year — which was estimated to cost more than $400 billion.
However, in June 2023, the Supreme Court issued a ruling against Biden's loan cancelation plans which stated that the secretary of education cannot cancel more than $430 billion in student debt.
The president, however, made another attempt to cancel debt for roughly 30 million Americans. Biden's second proposal sought to cancel up to $20,000 in interest for Americans who owe more than they borrow, as well as cancel all debt for those who have been repaying undergraduate loans for 20 years or more.
President-elect Trump has not said specifically how he will approach the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plans, but has said he plans to rework the entire education system during his term.
The former education department secretary under Trump recently told Fox that Biden's attempt at student loan handouts needs to be reevaluated by the incoming administration.
"There is every argument for if the taxpayers are going to be funding student lending, there better be ways to oversee it and actually do it effectively and efficiently," former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "And it has not been happening. It is a huge mess, and it needs to be rethought and re-examined, and frankly, the private sector, private sector lending needs to come back into it and be an option."
Fox News' Alec Schemmel, Chris Pandolfo, and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has agreed to cancel its requirement for schools to enforce teaching guidelines that were deemed "woke" in a recently settled lawsuit.
Pennsylvania officials were requiring schools to adopt a set of instructions on how to approach teaching under their "Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education Program Framework Guidelines" (CR-SE).
The guidelines included mandating teachers to "design learning experiences and spaces for learners to identify and question economic, political, and social power structures in the school" and "disrupt harmful institutional practices, policies, and norms."
The Thomas More Society, a faith-based legal group, filed a lawsuit against the PDE in April 2023 on behalf of a group of parents and public school districts who argued the mandate violated their First Amendment rights.
"We are incredibly pleased with this settlement agreement, which forces the Pennsylvania Department of Education to rescind the state’s ‘Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education’ guidelines – securing an important victory for Pennsylvania parents, students, and teachers," Thomas Breth, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, said in a statement.
"Our agreement is a triumph against the Department’s blatantly ideological and illegal attempt to inject ‘woke’ activism into school curricula across Pennsylvania, which demanded educators affirm their belief in these ideological tenets and then impose the same upon their students," Breth added.
Just days after the settlement, the department issued new suggestions under their new "Common Ground Framework," though schools are no longer required to comply with the guidelines.
Asked about the settlement, PDE highlighted their new guidelines in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
"PDE is proud to offer this resource as an improvement on previously issued guidance, with an expanded focus on digital literacy, mental health, and trauma – real issues that impact those in all spaces of learning within every Pennsylvania community," Erin James, PDE press secretary, said in a statement.
The new guidelines encourage educators to "understand the importance of differences in marginalized learners and historically underrepresented groups," such as gender identity, according to the department's website.
Additionally, teachers in the state are still encouraged to "create an equitable learning environment by challenging and debunking stereotypes and biases about the intelligence, academic ability, and behavior of historically marginalized learners."
FIRST ON FOX: A Republican senator introduced a measure to do away with the Department of Education on Thursday after President-elect Trump suggested doing so on the 2024 campaign trail.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., debuted the "Returning Education to Our States Act" in the Senate, which would abolish the Department of Education and charge various other departments with certain responsibilities and programs that are currently administered by it.
During his presidential campaign, Trump said, "One thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work it needs back to the states."
Some experts contested his ability to do this, noting he would need congressional approval. However, with an incoming Republican trifecta in Washington, D.C., and Rounds' bill, he might have it.
"The federal Department of Education has never educated a single student, and it’s long past time to end this bureaucratic Department that causes more harm than good," Rounds said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. "We all know local control is best when it comes to education. Everyone raised in South Dakota can think of a teacher who played a big part in their educational journey. Local school boards and state Departments of Education know best what their students need, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
"For years, I’ve worked toward removing the federal Department of Education. I’m pleased that President-elect Trump shares this vision, and I’m excited to work with him and Republican majorities in the Senate and House to make this a reality. This legislation is a roadmap to eliminating the federal Department of Education by practically rehoming these federal programs in the departments where they belong, which will be critical as we move into next year," he continued.
In the senator's plan, a number of Native American education programs will be redirected to the Department of Interior; loan and grant programs would become the responsibility of the Department of Treasury; disability programs would be overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services; career programs would move to the Department of Labor; and the State Department would become responsible for the Fulbright-Hays Program, which "supports research and training efforts overseas."
The new bill comes after Trump revealed he plans to tap Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), to lead the Department of Education earlier this week.
"It is my great honor to announce that Linda McMahon, former Administrator of the Small Business Administration, will be the United States Secretary of Education," he said in a statement on the selection.
EXCLUSIVE: Two high school cross-country runners and their families are suing a California school district, alleging their "Save Girls Sports" T-shirts were likened to a swastika.
Plaintiffs Kaitlyn and Taylor, two athletes at Martin Luther King High School in ninth and eleventh grade, respectively, wore T-shirts bearing the messages "Save Girls’ Sports" and "It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY."
The girls wore the shirts after a transgender athlete, who didn’t consistently attend practices or meet key varsity eligibility requirements, was placed on the varsity team, displacing Taylor from her spot, the complaint alleged.
"My initial reaction was like, I was really surprised, because it was like, why is this happening to me?" Taylor told Fox News Digital. "There's a transgender student on the team. Why am I getting displaced when I worked so hard and gone to all of the practices, and this student has only attended a few of the practices."
Athletic department school officials allegedly forced the students to remove or conceal the shirts, claiming they created a "hostile" environment and comparing wearing these shirts to wearing a swastika in front of Jewish students.
"It was definitely hard to hear because we're by no means trying to be hateful," Kaitlyn told Fox News Digital. "We're just wearing a shirt that expresses what we believe in trying to raise awareness to a situation."
The transgender athlete, however, has been allegedly allowed to wear "trans pride" bracelets, and the school allows other forms of social messaging around campus, including a LGBTQ pride flag, the complaint noted.
"The biological male transgender athlete who displaced T.S. on the girls’ varsity team had recently transferred from another local high school after breaking that school’s all-time cross-country record for the girls’ cross-country team," the complaint said.
"T.S., who had held a position on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 since August 2024 was removed from the girls’ Varsity Top 7 to make room on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 for an eleventh-grade transgender student and T.S. was relegated to the junior varsity team for one of the most important meets of the season for college recruitment," the complaint said.
According to the girls' Advocates for Faith and Freedom attorney, Julianne Fleischer, the lawsuit claims there were violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and their Title IX protections.
In October, according to the complaint, the district’s Title IX coordinator, Bethany Scott, informed Taylor's mother of a formal investigation into her complaint. Scott also conveyed that Taylor would not be disadvantaged by running on the junior varsity team at a key upcoming cross-country meet, but her mother argued it would harm her chances of being noticed by college scouts. By Nov. 1, after follow-ups, the district reclassified the Title IX complaint as a confidential personnel matter, claiming it did not meet the criteria for sex-based discrimination.
Typically, multiple factors, beyond race times, are considered for varsity selection on the cross-country team They complaint alleges that Taylor's dedication and hard work were overlooked, and the school district failed to provide a clear explanation, forming the basis of the Title IX complaint, Fleisher said.
"We're seeing more and more women and young girls speak up and challenge these policies that are allowing biological boys to join and participate in these sports," Fleischer told Fox News Digital. "And so there's lawsuits that are popping up all around the country. We're hopeful that even with the incoming administration and Congress that we're going to see real positive change to Title IX that actually upholds and safeguards the rights of women to participate in their sports and to be safe and to be able to compete amongst one another."
Under the Biden-Harris administration, Title IX was amended to include discrimination against gender identity and sexual orientation. The Supreme Court ruled against one of Biden's requests in August that would have permitted biological men in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and dorms in 10 states where there are state-level and local-level rules in place to prevent it.
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump said he would roll back Biden-Harris policies on gender treatments for minors and protect women in sports.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Riverside Unified School District and Martin Luther King High School for comment.
