the answer is of course not. we would not do that, because we have responsibilities in this country, and i love how we talk about free education. it's not free. are the teachers teaching for free? are the teachers teaching for free, really simple? i know we struggled with this last time. no. they're not teaching for free, somebody's paying for it, and the people who are paying for it are the american taxpayers. if you are a right, you have a responsibility. and shame on you for going over congress and the supreme court, and with that, i'm over, thank you. >> thank you, miss mcclain. pursuant to the previous order, the chair declares the committee in recess subject to the call of the chair. we'll reconvene in five minutes. thank you. all guests should remain prohibited by title six of the civil rights act of 1964. dissent is essential to

democracy. but dissent must never lead to disorder, or denying the right of others -- >> the committee will reconvene and come to order following our recess. ms. fernandez, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you so, madam chairwoman, and thank you so much secretary cardona for being here today for keeping the focus. i keep seeing you keeping the poe focus on the issue of education, because we know that education is both the foundation of our democracy, as well as the path for prosperity for our families. now i wanted to give you the time to answer a bit about the question that came up earlier. you really weren't given the time, or i'm sorry, the respect to be able to explain the authorities that you have under

the higher education act, to forgive student loans. and that authority was given to the department through the higher education act. would you like to take -- do a quick response to why you are acting in this -- with the guardian student loans and the authority you're doing it? >> well, we're looking very carefully at the authorities that i have under the higher education act. and authority that was used by the last secretary as well. and the crisis that we're in with our higher education loan system and access to college and we're using our authority carefully to make sure that we're making targeted decisions to help students accomplish their goals of reaching college and following up on what the -- in bipartisan fashion what congress approved through the public student loan forgiveness program. >> i think it's really important that congress is constantly, sort of assisting different industries, assisting

different corporations and the idea that we're going to be investing in our future workforce and our children through education is no different. right? and to say that americans should not help with this endeavor is very shortsighted. because if we don't invest through education, in our workforce, we do not have a future. so i am glad you are making those decisions. i wanted to touch on another topic, which we know that during the pandemic, it was hard on everybody. our former president was doing a disastrous job of handling covid. but then president biden came in, and under a democrat-led congress we passed multiple laws. we passed the american rescue plan, which gave schools a lot of flexibility in how to respond to these dire situations, we ourselves in, and schools used to

flexibility, they used it to address student mental health, to support educator workforce, it was a philosophy that schools themselves would know best where to spend that money. and i loved reading your testimony that you think bilingual, being bilingual is a super power, i agree. in new mexico, some of those emergency relief funds were used for dual language teachers for certifications. i'm concerned about the different things that are going to happen. how is your department preparing to assist schools with things like educating professor development, preparation for dual language teachers. how are we looking at the transition, and how does your budget address the transition and some of the focus of these needed areas? >> thank you for that question, and absolutely, bilingualism is a super power, and i think what

we need to do is make sure we're empowering our students to learn more languages, so they can be prepared for global competitiveness. i really believe that strongly. our budget does request additional dollars for, you know, our office that focuses on english language acquisition. it's important while maintaining your native language, that you're learning english, so we have a request there for $50 million above last year, fy 23 budget. we're continuing to support sustainability efforts. working with states, i was on the phone with the governor of new mexico yesterday, talking about how the department of education could support new mexico and ensuring that those strategies that we have seen worked, and i appreciate you mentioning the american rescue plan dollars. we've seen more growth in the

22-23 school year in the use of those dollars. the goal is to make sure we're continuing on those efforts that we know work. we're working with states and how they can use existing funds, and we're -- our annual budget does show we're increasing title 3-dollars, title 1 dollars to make sure that schools have the dollars they need to be successful. >> and those title 1 dollars are so important, because if we want america to succeed, we need to make sure our working families and those families that are -- that we as a poverty have the support they need. thank you very much for your work, and i yield back. >> thank you. >> thank you, ms. miller, you're recognized for five minutes. >> mr. secretary, in west virginia, five female students were barred from competing in track and field after refusing to compete against a biological

male. in wisconsin, young girls were forced off their volleyball teams because they felt uncomfortable sharing a locker room with biological males. when the school district was asked about their transgender athlete policy, they said that they crafted it according to your title 9 interpretation. from secretary, what consequences will female students face if they do not want to share a locker room with a biological male under your title 9 rule? >> thank you for that question. schools have the responsibility to make sure all students feel safe, including using the bathrooms. as a life long educator, these are decisions that i've had to make as a district leader. >> i'm so glad you brought up that you're concerned about the safety of students. but the title 9 rule and guidance you're putting out, you've been putting out for three years is taking away the safety of our daughters in their private spaces, in their locker rooms and showers, and

taking away their athletic, and educational opportunities. girls in wisconsin and west virginia refused, and they were kicked off their teams. these schools are basing their decisions on your rule. this is happening because of you and joe biden. so mr. secretary, in the health education class, if a teacher says that men cannot become pregnant, then a student goes to the title nine coordinator and say he's uncomfortable that the health teacher insists they can't get pregnant, what should the title 9 coordinator say? >> i can tell you that in our title 9 rules that we've recently put out, there's more guidance that goes along with it. i'd welcome an opportunity for my team to work with your constituents to make sure that the implementation of title 9 -- >> but what i want to know is in biology class, if the health teacher, or the health class,

if the teacher says that men cannot get pregnant and someone reports that to the title 9 coordinator, what should the title 9 coordinator say, because you are in charge. >> right, and i'd be very happy to have your constituents get support to make sure that their title 9 coordinators have information. we've provided a plethora of technical assistance, and we're going to continue to support regardless of republicans or democrats. >> what would you say? should that teacher get in trouble? >> i don't want to comment on hypotheticals without you enough information. but what i will tell you that i respect, there are different opinions across the country. >> so you respect a health teacher or a biology teacher saying that a biological male cannot get pregnant. you're recognizing biological sex, but in athletics, you're going with gender identity. so i want to know, can you give

me the official definition of gender identity? >> so i think the statement you said was inaccurate. we have not released our title 9 athletics rules. >> actually, you have. for three years you've been putting out title 9 guidance rules. i've brought them with, as you can see, and it does have to do with athletic teams. so moving on, could you please tell me what the official definition of gender identity is? >> we're in the rule-making process for athletics. as you know, that was submitted maybe nine months after the proposed rule for title 9. so we're in the process of listening to 140,000 comments which have different -- >> the schools are being threatened to have their federal funding pulled because they're afraid of the consequences, the real world consequences ofy you are title 9 rule. i do want to know what you would say to a female athlete

who would have won a gold medal, but now is getting a silver medal because a biological male took it. >> as i said, our rules have not been finalized. >> i have to say you are not protecting everyone. i'm here to protect girls and to stand up for families and parents across the country that are outraged over this. you made a choice. you're choosing boys over girls. you're satisfied with the girl taking the silver medal, while the biological male takes the gold. you are going to be remembered as the education secretary who erased for an entire generation. you should retire your title 9 rule or resign. thank you, and i yield back. >> ms. wild, you're recognized

for five minutes. >> education chair and secretary cardona, thank you for speaking to our hearing today. i had another hearing across the hall, as things work out in congress, but i have been briefed on the earlier testimony. i know you've been asked a an awful lot of questions about fafsa. so i'm going to be limited on that, and get to another issue that i think is really important. but i will say -- and i know you've heard this from everybody. the number of concerned parents, asle with as the institutions of higher learning in my direct, that i've heard from, has been overwhelming. but i'm sure your job has been quite overwhelming this year given everything that's going on. on the fafsa issue, i don't want to repeat things that have already been asked and answered. but i have heard from some institutions that about 30% of the initial institution student

information records, that is something produced by the fafsa system that includes data about a student's financial aid edge eligibility, right? >> yes. >> so i've heard about 30% might have errors and need to be corrected. that number might be higher for those that serve students. >> we've corrected that issue. thank you for that. we've corrected that issue. there were several issues in programming. there was an issue with information foretax data. information that we've also worked to correct. we're communicating daily with schools, and you know, they've been bending over backwards, and the financial aid directors, college presidents have been extremely communicative in terms of sharing what concerns they have, and helping us determine

what the best support strategies are. i just want to commend them publicly, and thank them for their patience and flexibility to meet the needs of students. we have communicated with colleges directly. i've spoken with over 100 colleges myself so we're hearing what their concerns are, and how we can address those. through daily communication, we've been updating on what their challenges are, and how we can address them. >> are some colleges or institutions of higher learning, are they having to claw back some of the financial aid they have offered to a student? >> no. we have communicated with them that the information can be used. we've redone the recessing for schools. y i want to shift gears to another critical topic, mental

health. secretary, according to a national study for education institutistics. only statistics, only 13% agreed they could provide mental health services to all students in need. that data deeply concerns me. it provides a significant gap to our students can emotional well-being. can you discuss your partners initiatives in addressing mental health issues in our schools, particularly in light of the $1 billion allocated to the stronger grant program. >> absolutely. our surgeon general rightly communicated that we're in a youth mental health crisis. we know students are six times more likely to access mental health supports, if they're provided in our schools, which is why we are big proponents and supporters, and asked for an increase of $200 million for full service community schools

that connect with community partners to provide mental health support. the bisca dollars have been used to increase a number of school social workers by 40%. the number of school nurses by 30%. >> at what levels? >> k to 12. yes. they have provided access. we are also working to improve medicaid reimbursement for sustainable dollars, so as the bisca dollars sunset, we're working with ahs. we have currently 13 states that have signed on to do that. and we're working to get medicaid reimbursement. the goal is never to go back to a system where we've had a model of mental health in our schools. unfortunately, we often wait for the trauma to happen. where we're seeing these being used is a proactive strategy to

support students. >> thank you for that. ms. steel, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you dr. fox and thank you secretary cardona for appearing today. i'm just most concerned about foreign influence on our universities. so when it comes to foreign influence on our universities, we know that departments disclosures are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the billions of foreign funds schools don't submit. more importantly, submissions are useless if your department does not take enforcement seriously, because in fact, footing second 117 in china, aren't mentioned a single time in your ten page written testimony today. and if i'm wrong, please let me know. but your department maintains a

list of open session 117 investigations, but every one was opened by trump or the administration. if you added more, or what i found was you closed only 5 universities. so how many are we under investigation, and how many added? it seems we don't have clear communecation between the department and us. so since taking office, why have you not launched a single section 117 investigation, and do you believe the universities should view the relationship with dangerous countries like china and, you know, other countries of concern that exact same as our allies? or do you think certain countries concerned with national threats warrant increased scrutiny, should those relationships be treated differently? >> thank you for the question,

congresswoman steel. i could assure you that i agree with you. we should not allow foreign influence in our schools, and make sure we protect our students and our schools from foreign influence. to that end, the dead of education takes very seriously the responsibility to provide public information on gifts from other countries. and i want to make sure i correct that. we've provided almost 39,000 foreign gifts totaling over $21 billion in the last through years, which is much more than the last administration. we are a part of the fbi's national counterintelligence task force, where they provide, we share information, and if there is a need for investigations, that task force is the one that does it. we believe that having transparency not only to that task force, but to the public, we can communicate where foreign gifts are coming from, and the law enforcement arms

are best suited to investigate. >> so i hope that, you know, we have much better communication to our committee and your department. so we understand exactly what kind of tangible steps that you are taking in your department because when we see the report and it's not there, we don't know what exactly you're doing and what kind of tangible steps that you are taking. and just one more thing that i want to just ask charter schools, because you remember last year, you came out and you support charter schools. so a 2023 study from stanford center for research and education outcomes found that in math charter school students on average learned the equivalent of an additional six days per year, and in reading, added 16 days of learning. chairwoman, i want to submit

this on the record, that this publication. >> without objection. >> students in poverty achieve an additional 23 days of learning in reading and 17 days in math. however, the biden administration proposed $40 million cut to the federal charter school program. why such excellent result for at risk students that the administration would cut because we have to add and we have to add more charter schools? >> thank you for the question. i agree with you. that parents should have options for their children and charter schools are a viable option. >> thank you for agreeing with us. >> yeah. you know, and i have to be very frank, you know the fiscal responsibility ability is something we take very seriously. we have to look where we can provide cuts in our budget proposals that wouldn't impact students. there were several. we cut comprehensive centers by

9%. while the charter school grant was cut, the proposal was cut, i can i assure you that it wouldn't impact those currently under the grant. the demand for that has decreased. i'd be happy to have my team share more information on that. but it is still the largest k-9 competitive grand that we oversea. i think that's testimony to the fact that we do support charter schools as an option for families who choose. it. >> so there's no impact on charter schools. $40million cut is a lot for the charter schools. >> no, what we've had to do, and speaking of the lack of demand, what we've had to do is use the grant's front use dollars. >> thank you, my time is up. i yield back. >> thank you, ms. steel. ms. wilson, you're recognized for five minutes.

>> secretary cardona, thank you so much for joining us today. i just loved your visit to my elementary school and i want you to come back again. i want to express my gratitude for the biden/harris administration's dedication to our students. our former secretary of education has stated her goal was to eliminate schools. that's what you call insanity on steroids. the biden/harris administration -- working want to be somebody's students in their effort to secure the promise of higher education, and i thank you, secretary for your work on that -- on that issue. no other president has tackled this debacle that cripples so many. no other president. that is why i have proposed a

loan act that would build on this administration's effort to cancel student loans. secretary cardona, last september, you and secretary vislat sent a joint letter to multiple governors, including florida, urging in investment in hbcu's. as you know, president biden has repeatedly called on raising teacher pay. and during this teacher appreciation week i would hope the department of education reaffirms its commitment to our teachers. i want to also thank the department for its recent title 9 changes that combat sexual harassment and discrimination. it's crucial that we reaffirm our community to the lgbtq plus committee and i thank you for that.

one thing that has concerned me is the fafsa roll out, that has disrupted educational opportunities for thousands of students. but i know this administration with your help will work to deliver for our students to ensure we deliver a high quality education across these united states. my question is, are there any updates or information you want to share with this committee that we have not addressed? the floor is yours. >> thank you very much. thank you. and let me just start off by saying, we are working around the clock to get more students to fill out our fafsa. the delays created frustrations and to the families and students who had to deal with that, i recognize how difficult that was. i, myself, have a senior in high school. and you know, they should be thinking about college and all of that. not the delays. i'm proud to say, though, we've processed over 9 million applications.

the gap between this year and last year is decreasing significantly. and we have a nationwide strategy now, working with our principles. if students go out and fill out fafsa, it should be 15 to 20 minutes. by friday, the schools will have their information. and now, we've allotted $15 million to assist that the implication, means helping students get it done. this is important to us. i know as a first generation college student, how important it is to make sure you have access to fafsa. thank you for acknowledging teacher appreciation week. i'm really proud that president biden and dr. biden elevated it to a state dinner for national teachers of the year, but it sends a message we need to provide better salary to our educators. we are strong believers that we

need to defend public education, not defund it. part of doing that means supporting our teachers who give their best. >> i yield back. >> good afternoon, mr. secretary. a few days ago, you wrote a letter to universities condemning the rise in anti- semitism on campuses, and you specifically spoke about incidents of students being sexually assaulted, being subjected to verbal abuse, finding swastikas on their dorm room doors. you said these and other incidents are abhorrent, period, and have no place on college campuses. i'm glad that you wrote that letter. you recognize the platform you have to try to engage in better behavior for our campuses. however, there's a lot going on there that you left unaddress

the. we've seen on a number of campuses, protesters who have blocked physically jewish students from entering campuses or entering spaces on campus, do you condemn that behavior? >> thank you for that question. i just want to start off by saying hate has no place in our schools. >> i thank you, and i understand that. can you block jewish students from entering campuses? >> yes. >> how about protesters themselves. they're refusing to leave in violation of university rules and often the law. do you condemn that? >> i condemn behaviors that are unsafe, and i leave it to the university leaders and their board of governors to address how though handle encampments or other issues that are happening on campus. if i can finish please, acts of

intimidation, violence toward jewish students, or any students for that matter are not tolerated. as the president said, that's not protesting. >> i appreciate that, and that's an important message, but the encampments themselves, do you condemn these encampments? >> again, those are decisions for the universities to make. i know that in some cases universities are engaging in dialogue with students to come up with a strategy out. i don't want to get into the details of cases that i don't have all the examples -- >> sure, but you just wrote a letter to university leaders in which you called out things that they ought to do. i'm asking if this is one of them. for students that have been told to leave, and dispurse and move along, and are refusing? what's your message to them? >> for me, it's important to look at this from the

university, given the opportunity to engage, but for students to stay safe. they should be thinking about graduation. >> for students who have been told to leave, and are refusing to do so, what is your message to them? will you tell them as secretary of education, that they need to leave if being told to do so? students or others are in encampments and have been given orders to leave, should leave, yes? >> if the university directs them to leave, they should leave. >> i appreciate that. we've seen at the university of chicago, they will be arrested with students. do you condemn those faculty members standing in the way of rules being enforced? >> my responsibility under title six is to make sure

students are not being harassed. >> but do you -- >> i believe university officials should adhere to rules in their university. >> so that's a yes. >> i support university officials following the rules of their universities, yes. . >> how about these demanding a change in policy toward israel. do you think that's important? >> violations of title 6 -- >> no, no, mr. secretary, you've been very outspoken on a number of issues. so i'm asking you, your view. do you think that's appropriate for universities to cede to demands, and actually change policies towards israel? >> i think it's my responsibility to be very clear, that we will not accept hate on campus and we stand

against that. >> we've seen some universities talking about ending study abroad programs with israel, do you think that's appropriate? >> our policy is very clear. if you go to our website -- >> i'm not asking about your website. how about demands to cut tiles with halal? >> their guidance there for universities where a lot of the questions that you're asking makes very clear. >> but your letter said there were things that were abhorrent on campus. is that one of them? >> violence towards students. >> mr. secretary, you're not willing to condemn calls to cut ties with halal? will you condemn them? >> we are responsible for adhering to title six, and enforcing it. and your support of our budget would help us get to that level, instead of creating division, which i said in my

call. >> i yield back. >> thank you mr. today. mr. secretary, i have just returned from a holocaust memorial ceremony in the capital that seemed all too relevant today. we were reminded that the holocaust did not start with the death camps. it started with was being demonized, harassed, dehumanized, but blamed for evils they did not commit. over the last few months, i have met with jewish students on college campuses who are being demonized, harassed, dehumanized and playing for evils they did not commit. i have visited columbia university. it is calling for the elimination with israel and genocide against the jewish people around the globe. i am pleased that you have put up a letter that you have put

out today. it is detailed. it contains real-world examples of the kinds of things that can be considered where the of an investigation by the office of civil rights. i appreciate the examples because we need more reasons for schools to do their job and keep jewish students safe and make sure that we stop the anti- semitism that is happening on college campuses. what i am interested in today is finding out what more you can do from your position to stop the anti-semitism that is exploded on our college campuses. if you were given the funding that you need, could you enforce more of the title 6 requirements and help schools and administrators understand what their allegations are?

>> absolutely. you mentioned in your colleague letter that we've submitted today, there was a letter from myself to college president friday with examples but by investigating, closing and investigations which the funding were asking for will help us to do, we could create case studies or lessons learned from examples of cases closed that are happening today. we strongly encourage support of the budget. >> as you know, the department of education plays a major role in the u.s. national strategy to counter anti-semitism. president biden is the first u.s. president to ever issue a national strategy. i have introduced a bipartisan bill that would codify the national strategy and it would designate a senior official at the department of education to serve as your primary adviser and countering anti-somatic discrimination in higher education. among other duties, this would proactively visit institutions

to remind students of their rights. the administrators of their responsibilities. how would having this senior official help you in your obligation to combat anti- semitism? >> thank you. any resources that we can get to have human capital to close out cases -- >> specifically, i've seen whose job it was to monitor and combat anti-semitism. with that be helpful to you? >> absolutely. that person will be paying attention to what reaching out and colleges, students, and families in addressing anti- semitism. >> i understand you had deployed that are currently facing protests. which schools are the department employees visiting and how are they working with school administrators to restore calm students? >> thank you. we have many open investigations and we have staff and schools that can have

a more detailed list sent to you. we are communicating regularly with schools and not only through the investigations but also engaging with them on campus. >> you testified before this appropriations committee that schools in violation of title 6 which protects students from anti-semitism will have their federal funding revoked. that is a serious position to take. where do institutions cross the line into violating title 6 and harp you prepared to enforce the law across institutions cross that line? >> i am. it is the last step. the goal is to make the campus safe for all students in addressing the underlying issues. if a school openly refuses to adhere to title 6, revoking funds is something that i can't do and i would do.

>> my time is expired, i yield back. >> you recognize for five minutes. >> thank you very much. good morning to you, committee, mr. secretary, welcome back. it is great to see you. you have a very impressive resume. you've been a teacher in connecticut, and administrator, you are a principal. would you agree that one of the hardest parts of being an educator is the planning? the logistics of how many kids you have, how many resources you have. it is planning a really tough part of being an educator? >> planning is an important part of being an educator. >> you would agree that when i hear from school districts of how hard it's been, the massive influx of illegal immigrants into our school system, you would agree that that's real. hard time managing all these influx of students that they did not know were coming. >> planning for new students of

the principal is something that we had to take into account. >> it is a curveball. we know how many illegal immigrants are in our school systems right now? >> i can have my staff reach out to you about that information. >> do you have any ideas? is it in the millions, thousands, general idea? >> here's the thing. i should know the answer. i've gone online to try to find the answer. i do not know the answer. i would assume that the department of education, you don't know how many are here. i am sincere when i say i would like to know. is there a number? is there a number in the future that you would say you just can't take anymore? is there a number that you would agree? it's causing our numbers, teaching art kids to suffer when we just can't logistically plan for the future. is there a number that you would say enough is enough?

>> the response ability of educators as a school principal, i am with you. i understand that at the law. is there a time you're going to say enough? we've got to call time-out. he would tell joe biden time- out, we are stressed. >> as educators, we are really important to meet the needs. i can say help is on the way and will hit that max, there is no wind insight. are you aware how many schools have been shut down or partially taken over to house illegal immigrants? >> i am aware of cases in schools -- >> do you know how many? >> off the top of my head, i don't. >> one would be too many. for the students that have to do that, that is something to be aware of. we have a lot of struggles with numbers. i chaired the subcommittee on cayman is 12. our numbers since covid have

plummeted. we got work to do and this is something that hopefully they will not have to do. i want to congratulate you because you have done something you have done. you have united republicans and democrats, house members and senators on coming together to say that the department of education doesn't have the authority in the terms of student loans. are you aware that even the supreme court has come out and said that this is outside of your authority? are you aware? the department of education, this is not your money. this belongs in congress. are you aware of that? >> reference of the h.e.r.o.e.s. act. >> you are saying that you trump congress and you trump the court. is that what you are saying,

mr. secretary? >> that is what it appears. that is why people are struggling with it. people would think it is arbitrary but yet you have picked winners and losers of you allowed to forget the money that is not ours. are you aware that a lot of times, i've been in hearings. a lot of student loans don't actually go to fund education. the students have rolled in credit card debt or cars. are you aware that it's not actually going to education? are you aware of that? >> public loan forgiveness. >> you may not be aware. i've been to hearings. the way that they do it, they combined that. you have winners and losers because for those students that have chosen a religious base school or private school, you've not forgiven their loans. is this your way of declaring war on those that take a religious school or a private

school? >> instead of tax breaks to millionaires, were starting to focus. >> i want to make you aware of so many things out there. i yield back. >> omar, you are recognized for five minutes. >> it's good to see you, thank you so much for joining us. i got a little jealous about a buddy thanking you for coming to the district. >> i wanted to talk a little bit about the rise in targeting and harassment of students on campus that are protesting against genocide that is taking place including students. emotions and fears are running high as students of all backgrounds say they are

fearful of escalations of anti- semitism, islamophobia, and bigotry. my office has received countless stories from jewish students, muslim students who have been targeted, harassed, alienated on campus. just because they are standing against the genocide that's happening. i know that you have been meeting with students, parents, leaders. there is something that you can share with us about the rise of anti-semitism in islamophobia on college campuses. >> went to hear from students and families, they are scared. safety on campus is something that they don't feel like i should compromise. we strongly come to condemn any acts of violence and discrimination on campus. i'm hearing from families that they are scared. children are having to hide symbols of their faith on the way to class so they are not targeted. that, to me, as a father and

educator, stand against. >> i know that the administration has had to condemn a lot of speech on campus. what i have not heard be condemned is statements like kill all muslims, level allows a level gaza. do you condemn those comments? >> absolutely. would you give your commitment to the committee and the american people that the department will investigate complaints of islamophobia and his termination? >> yes. >> thank you. what additional support congress vied for you to be able to accountabilities carried out? >> thank you for that. we are asking for a $22 million increase for our budget. in 2009, we had 58 more

investigators and a third of the cases that we have today. in 2019, there were 10,000 cases a year. the increase is extremely high. we need additional investigators to close out these cases and make sure we are providing support to the students. >> do you have an idea of the number of cases that are pending at the moment? >> we have 149 cases on shared ancestry open. >> on college campuses? >> on college campuses, yeah. >> the last time we were here i reminded you about the frustration that allowed a lot of experiencing, feeling like their rights were being violated. we talked about how concerned i was about renewing their contract. i know that the department has done some work in taking the

cases off. as the transition happens. how are you ensuring that the borrowers do not have an interruption as the transition? >> thank you for that. let me go back. we have 145 open cases. 100 cases since october 7th and they may include a- 12 but 100 cases since and i believe those are college. i can get that information to you. we are transitioning some cases to other services. we are communicating with borrowers to try to minimize disruption for public service loan forgiveness. i am wondering how the department is planning to make sure those that remain are able to receive a better service. >> pics part of fixing the higher education system is we are looking the consumer

>> we need to improve student borrowers services. a lot of the work that we are doing is to improve services. we are also holding folks accountable. all servicers. there have been payments we have withheld because the services were not great to our borrowers. we are holding them more accountable and we are providing more resources and as you mentioned, we are moving some cases over at their request to make the processes smoother. >> wonderful, i yield. >> thank you. >> mr. burlison, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. mr. secretary, since coming to congress, when people ask me what are your thoughts, one of the things that i have taken away from this place and tried to convey back home is the shocking amount of espionage and activity from foreign adversaries in the united states. some of those briefings we have had included hearing the

education committee, particularly when it comes to china and their involvement, their form of a lead capture that occurs. my question has to do with section 117 of the higher education act that mandates that the universities and colleges must report twice each year to the secretary whenever they receive foreign monetary or nonmonetary gifts in access to $250,000. correct? >> correct. >> in october of 2020, the department of education under the trump administration conducted a study and issued a report entitled institutional compliance with section 117. higher education act of 1965. this is a copy of the study. i'm sure that you have reviewed the study before. >> have been briefed, yes. >> madam chair, i would like to enter this into the record. >> without objection, thank you. >> in this study, they document

a shocking number of universities and colleges that were out of compliance with section 117. do you have any comments regarding that? >> thank you. i share your concern. i am a big believer that we have to stop any foreign influence in our schools. we are committed to that and committed to working with you to make sure that we communicate what we are doing on that. i can tell you that the department of education has taken it seriously. we have provided almost 39,000 foreign gifts that were given to universities, over $21 billion. this is something that we communicate openly. we believe in the transparency. additionally, sir, we are part of the fbi's national task force to make sure that our agency is working with law enforcement and investigative arm to make sure that not only are we transparent about the information and clear on which universities are getting which from which countries but that

does the investigations has the information. we take it very seriously and we will continue to. >> thank you. have you fallen on this report and the information with an updated report? particularly when i am interested in is how many universities were in compliance today versus in 2020? >> i can have that information looked into and sent to you. >> okay. >> if you have not done a report, would you agree that you would be willing to do a follow-up report on that? >> i would be happy to have some follow-up with you on the questions that you have. >> i'm not trying to be rude, i'm asking a legitimate question because i would think based on what came out of this report, you would generally want to know where the universities stand and how many of them are in compliance with section 117. >> we are definitely interested in making sure foreign influences out of our schools, which is why we have reported

more gifts than the previous administration. we are going to continue to work with the fbi's national intelligent task force. >> with my limited time, i want to go into an extension of this which has to do with -- what we are seeing is the uprise on anti-semitism on college campuses. there has been some connections made to groups like students for justice in palestine. are you investigating any foreign involvement or connections between foreign entities and funneling mentally and money into some of these groups? >> we have 145 open investigations. many of them are shared ancestry. what i can tell you is when we initiated investigation, information comes out during the investigation that might move the investigation and broaden it. i cannot comment specifically on your question, i can tell you that that is within the

scope of information that we receive from schools and if that is part of our investigation request, it's something we would be investigated. >> these groups, they can receive the money but only directly through universities? is that correct? can they receive money from the outside? >> i can have my team follow-up with you on that information. >> okay. that would be good to know. thank you. my time is expired. >> thank you. mr. scott, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. excuse me. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. secretary, you've heard a lot about the fafsa and we expect you to get that back on track as quickly as possible. you also heard a lot about the student debt problem and whether or not the taxpayer ought to be paying for the loan

forgiveness. the people who were not students paying for the loan forgiveness. did you hear the republicans complain about the tax cut? how 80% of the benefits went to the top 1%. did you hear them complain that the 99% actually paid for that dusty did you hear them complain about ppp loans. people who don't own a business had to pay for the forgiveness of those ppp loans. did you hear any complaints about that? >> no. >> how many colleges and universities are there in the united states? >> there's well over 5000, sir. on how many campuses are there active encampments or protest at this point? >> i cannot tell you off the top of my head but it is a small number, sir. >> 30 or 40, one, 50. and on those campuses, how many students are actually participating in the protest? >> it depends on campus but i

would say probably a smaller percentage. >> okay. you have been asked how to intervene on how the campus should be handling these. it varies from case to case. if a student at a protest on better food in the cafeteria, would you be expected to intervene and tell the college how to deal with that? >> i would likely not, sir. >> you indicated that all students have a right to be safe on campus. that means they all have the right to be protected in title vi. in title ix, that means free from anti-semitism but also islamophobia, homophobia, racism, asian hate, gender, gender and amity.

did i hear you say that there are about 140 cases of shared heritage? >> shared ancestry, 145. >> that would include all of the anti-semitism cases? >> correct. >> how many open cases you have on everything else? >> we have 145 under shared ancestry. i could have that information provided for you to have more accurate numbers. i do not have it in front of me. >> the number of coat open cases is over 10,000, isn't it? >> the number of cases we get a year is probably closer to 19,000. >> okay. under the implementation of every student, that implementation was disrupted by the pandemic. it had three major provisions. one is that you have to ascertain whether or not there are achievement gaps and have a strategy to do something about

it. resource equity. how are we getting back on track to implement provisions? >> thank you. we take very seriously the accountability but ensures that our students are making gains. academically, we've been paying attention to not only data but state white data that tells us students have recovered a third of the pandemic. the gains have been two times as high in math than in typical years. reading five times as much growth. were seeing growth based on the intimidation of the dollars. however, it is important that we continue to use the assessment data that is provided by states. all office of secondary education have regular conversations and meetings with states to monitor growth and

subgroup information. >> some of that growth, because we had significant funding on title 1 in the american rescue plan act? >> sir, i would say as a teacher and principal, it was because of the additional funding and the great used by our educators in the field. >> i just have several other questions that i will submit and you say a word about afterschool program program funding? >> we have to do better as a country. in our proposal, we have a funding for afterschool programs. we have to do better. we cannot go back to where we were. >> thank you, madam chair. >> thank you, mr. scott. mr. moran, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chairwoman. secretary miguel cardona, we spoke last year. i want to talk about what we talk about last year. let me start with making sure that those in my district are aware of this new title 9 new that is being proposed by the

biden administration. this new regulation was published and dramatically changes the existing title 9 regulations. it weakens protections for women's and girls and dilutes due process protections for those accused of sexual harassment as defined under the regulations. the rule also expands the definition of to include gender identity, as you all know. this is going to result in the removal of female only spaces for women and girls. affecting them to share bathrooms and showers. it is atrocious in my opinion. i want to go back to what you said last year when we talked. i asked you specifically about local control and you stated -- even at the district and state level, i prefer that those decisions be made at the local level. that is where it should be. that is exactly what you said. those were your words. you also went further last year and you said you are working

with local school boards to make sure we are staying in our lanes. our country was designed to have local control. frankly, i was shocked that you would tell me that last year given the overreach of the department of education. i was glad that you said that. so now, i have even more of a problem with what is going on in the word that you gave last year but in the actions of the department of education and in particular of this new rule. you still stand by those statements that you made last year? >> absolutely. >> having stood by those statements, i'm going to tell you what my back, telling me. i got two i want to introduce. i ask for unanimous consent introduce into the record april 30th 2024 letter by tyler isd, my largest school district. >> without objection. >> ask for unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter a letter from school district dated may 7th, 2024. >> i will tell you, some of the statement made by the

superintendent to me as it relates to this title 9 atrocious rule, talks about it being constitutionally overreaching and illegal that is so offensive to our daughters, wife, and mothers. one of the statement he makes to be on the local level. i can assure you the rest of my school districts share that opinion. it also says in this letter that it is an inexcusable assault towards girls and women that have no place in schools. that is what the local communities in texas where i represent, what they think about the title 9 letter. from then independent school district, the changes to title ix forces schools to treat boys as if they were girls and except every students self- declared gender identity. i've said before and i will say it again today probably. i believe men and women were created by god with equal and eternal value but very different. very different. it is not up to us to try to change that identity in our

amenity. do you agree with that or disagree with that? >> thank you for the opportunity to respond. i want to correct some of the provisions under title 9. it is creating greater protections. >> i ask you about my statement. do you agree or disagree with the statement that i made about our creator creating men and women equally? >> i can tell you what as a school principal too, i do believe in local control but i don't believe that it's my response ability. >> i am asking you a very specific question about the creation by god of men and women and whether or not they are equally but differently created. >> it is my response ability to respect all students, not just the ones that some people pick and choose. >> that should be an easy question. we have seen this before. people said before our panel. we have seen with college president recently where there are moral foundations that seen

very evident to a lot of folks. people that somehow sit in your chair cannot answer directly. it is atrocious in my opinion. i want to end my statement today because this is teacher appreciation week by saying this. i do appreciate all of the hard work that all of our teachers across the united states does for our students day in and day out. in the state of texas, there are well over 300,000 teachers that serve our 5 million students. i've met with a lot of teachers across the district and just like you said last year, they do not want the federal government telling them how to do their job and what their job is. it is unfortunate that this ministration continues to do just that and issues rules and regulations that are contrary not to just control but morality. with that, i yield back. >> thank you. stephen, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair.

i am absolutely in awe of not only your work with the department of education but just your performance here today. you are so good at answering questions very clearly and distinctly. i also appreciate your written testimony. i would just like to reflect to you that there are so many critical topics that intersect with your purview. we appreciate that you are here to answer some of the questions from us. earlier this term, i introduced the aid act, the student aid act to make another adjustment to fafsa recognizing that there are parents of students going to college, parents that still have student loan debt,

themselves but their student does not qualify for financial aid. i came up with this idea while knocking doors in hazel park, michigan. i reached a uaw household. both mom and dad worked with the uaw in various. dad had said to be haley, we are so excited to send our kids off to michigan state we did not wallow five for financial aid even though i'm sitting on tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt myself. received a lot of support from my colleagues. i wanted to put it on your radar. i wanted to remind you that in michigan, our governor, who's been so dedicated to educators and our schools has really accomplished some incredible things. free and reduced lunch for all. is something that you care deeply about. pre-k as well as an affordable two year to reprogram.

the community college level. lastly in michigan, we have been rocked by school shootings. michigan state. in february of 23 and of course, the oxford school shooting. students at oxford height were middle school when i was marching in detroit after the parkland shooting. we know that we have a great runway following the bipartisan past edge of gun safety bill and particularly, additional resources that are going to communities to tackle school shootings. sir, i want to commend you for your leadership and thank you so much. with my remaining time, i just wanted to give you a few minutes to talk about your work and the administration and the budget on funding for i.d.a.. really near and dear to my heart, something that i have rallied all the oakland county

school systems around in terms of full funding. i just wanted to get some of your input on better coordination of services, what we will get from this budget puzzle. thrilled to see some of the numbers in here with 15.4 for i.d.a. as well as the different components that are coming down. >> thank you for that opportunity. first of all, let me say that working as a teacher and a school principal, i remember countless meetings with families. parents whose children are receiving special education services. it was really important to remember that they received the core curriculum first. they are students first and then they would get extra support. we are asking for an increase in i.d.a..

10.7% of the funding of it in fy 24. the increase is 10.3 for 25. we recognize that this is not yet keeping with what the federal commitment was set to be but we are seeking more dollars than has ever been asked before. the students and families deserve it. we know caseloads of special education teachers across the country is exceedingly high which prevents our students to get the individualized support they need. support for students with disabilities is critical for us in our budget and the work that we do. >> we recognize that the president makes a series of trade-offs when proposing his budget. it is our responsibility in the congress as authorizer's on this committee who knock on the door of the appropriators to really push for that original mandate. that 50 year mark that we are about to hit.

this will be a game changer for our schools, our educators. i certainly call my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to push for that as appropriation season is upon us. with that, madam chair, i yield back. thank you. >> you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. secretary miguel cardona, it has been a busy time for you. in this time of history, not for good reasons. this committee has been settled by both the failures of you and your staff in handling the fast fund debacle and rising anti- semitism on campuses. i want to start with the fafsa. over the past month, my district has been handling a high number of cases for parents seeking help with fast but and had to deal with your department. they cannot get a real person on the phone. they spend hours on hold and eventually are told there issues are technical glitches

with zero guidance on what the next steps might be. all the while, their kids missed early acceptance deadlines because they did not know how much financial aid they were going to be working with. that part really frustrates me. when i think about why get mad about certain types of things, it has been 100% of my office of nonresponsiveness. not even a confirmation of receiving the case when we submit month. i pride myself on casework. it sometimes allows the team to leave a message but no one ever calls us back. i have been frustrated. other agencies at least respond. they will get back to me with an answer. i ask myself who did you hire? it seems unacceptable. quite wrinkly, i have hired and fired throughout my career and it seems pathetic to not be able to at least hire people who can return a message. the department of education, if it exists for real purpose, is to increase access to education and you and your staff seem to have failed spectacularly, unfortunately, in the casework.

let me talk about another lobar the department seems to be struggling with after october 7th. on college campuses came out in droves. jewish students have openly stated that they feel threatened in unsafe and some of been physically assaulted. about a week ago, one rabbi affiliated with columbia university advised jewish students to leave campus for passover. schools have canceled their commencement ceremonies and last week, gw university's law school relocated its final exams to an undisclosed and secure location. our schools in oregon are dealing with a similar situation and i have talked to those university presidents and what the future would look like. it really is the greatest crisis in american education in decades. last week before subcommittee, you mentioned the department office of civil rights had 145 investigations into universities and schools. the school district for potential title 6 violations. this is the legal basis for

investigations and actions that regarding discriminations based on race and religion. in this case, countless jewish students. you somewhat touched on it today but what is the timeline for the resolution of these investigations and when will penalties, if appropriate, be announced and imposed? i would really hope that you don't answer if you give us more money, you will have the answers. >> i agree with you that hate has no place on our campuses and we must act. i want to go back and say that this is the administration that reopened the schools, provided that relief, and overhauled the 40-year-old fafsa system and while delayed, we are working 24 seven to serve the people that you represent. i am committed to making sure that you have information. i will ask some of my team to reach out to you this week. with regard to the anti- semitism, it is unacceptable and we take a very strong stance on that. we have more cases open. we've closed more cases than the last already. we are committed to it. we have guidance within two weeks of our website that

provide your colleague letter that was sent out today, a letter that i sent out friday, this is something that we take very seriously as well. >> thank you. the reason these investigations are important to get there because it really does not seem to protect students when they need it most and that is immediately. on december 6, he received a letter in the jewish congregations of america. they ask you to issue that guidance. i was glad to see this morning that you issued that new guidance for the administrators from peak pre-k to fill those title vi obligations. mr. secretary, exactly how many forms of guidance have you circulated since october 7? >> we have had over 100 actions. i can tell you with the guidance, i have to say at least 3-4 that i can think of off the top of my head. there could be more. click on supporting campus safety and there is a whole list for yourself and your constituents. >> it also says tools have a legal responsibility against the students. it sounds like you would include when processors shout from the river to the sea at

jewish students and 10 examples that this new guidance. two final questions before my time is up. does the department recognize that screaming from the river to the sea at jewish students is a call for genocide? 2, if schools don't all of the guidance, when you as you committed that you will do that? is because first genocide are and we stand against those. >> will you withhold funding as you committed to? >> absolutely. if schools refused to adhere to title vi, absolutely. >> think you. madam chair, i yield back. >> mr., you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. >> and after your questioning, we will take a break and then come back. thank you. >> thank you for being here today. i am deeply concerned about the fact that your department failed two financial audits for

two years. after inspecting your department numbers, your auditor was able to complete the audit and instead was forced to issue what is known as a this claim are of opinion which has not happened in two decades. it is a really big deal in the auditing world. your auditor said that if they had no confidence in your numbers and how the department carries out estimates and assumptions for the direct student loan folios, my staff followed up and spoke with the auditor and learned that during the course of the 2023 audit, your department discovered 22,000 and anomalies in the data. that is the basis for the student loan portfolio. and then after doing additional investigation, your apartment discovered another 8 million anomalies in the data. this means that the underlying data you are feeding into the student loan portfolio was simply filled with errors. all in all, a very highly

responsible financial management from the department, particularly of $1.6 trillion portfolio owned by 43 million borrowers. if the department were a private bank, you would be held accountable to your investors and you would be out of business by now. it certainly undermines any confidence that anyone can have in your estimates and assumptions that the department is used in these folios. why should the department of education and the office of student need to be treated any differently? >> thank you for the questions. i agree with you. that is really important to make sure that we are up to date on our financial audits. i want to correct the statement. it was not a failure, it was a disclaimer of opinion. those are two different things based on the information that they were provided. we are doing anything that i've never been done at the department of education. number two, the error is in the data. you are absolutely right. i am proud that our team found this and is correcting this.

it has been there for several administrations. it was our team that found it and is fixing it. we operate on 2/10 of 1% of the budget for $1.6 trillion portfolio. we are not being treated like. what we are asking -- >> funding lies, to administer a $1.6 trillion portfolio, we are operating. we are asking for additional dollars to help make sure but not only implement the comments from auditors but also, improve students services. >> how do you think we should be providing additional funding? do you think that the american taxpayers should be satisfied with the funding that you have today with the way that you are handling 1.6 trillion in taxpayer dollars? >> we found the heirs and we are correcting that. we are providing better services. it is our goal to do a better job of providing services for our borrowers.

your support of the budget would help that. >> i want to get to the clock hour rule which is the department has reversed but is known as which allows career orientated -- oriented education programs that are offered at community colleges and career colleges to provide students with the education, with the amount of hours that they feel students need to be successful in that career. specifically, to extend the number of hours to more than 150% of the state minimum. still received the federal financial aid. as i said, that policy is important for a lot of these programs and complicated careers and schools and students . they feel that they need additional hours to be adequately prepared. i think that that policy is going to result in less students having access to

education that will lead them to these good paying jobs. in response to industry concerns, the department announced they will use -- enforcement discretion" when enforcing the role between july of 2024 and january of 2025 but there is no guarantee for schools that will be given the time that they need to get all the necessary approvals by state legislators and federal regulators. first, why the policy in the first place? why would the government mandate that schools can only offer a minimum of hours to students? >> thank you for that question. i think that we are on the same page. we want to make sure that we have opportunities for students to engage in industry connected fields. we want to make sure that while we are providing greater opportunities, we are also providing high-quality programming. what i'm hearing from you is that there are concerns and we want to make sure that we are listening and responsive to the concerns. >> i will ask one additional question, running out of time.