| | | | | |  | | By Bianca Quilantan | With help from Michael Stratford PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Education won't publish from Friday, Dec. 24-Friday, Dec. 31. We'll be back on our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 3. WHAT HAPPENS NOW? — Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday totaled President Joe Biden's $1.7 trillion social spending plan that was billed as a once-in-a-generation investment and included preschool for the nation's 3- and 4-year-olds. — "I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation," the West Virginia Democrat said in an interview with Brett Baier on "Fox News Sunday." "I can't get there." — "Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Sunday. "If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the president and the senator's colleagues in the House and Senate." — The White House indicated that it will "find a way to move forward next year." Questions, however, remain on whether Democrats may be able to salvage parts of the bill, including universal pre-K. The Build Back Better Act included $380 billion to lower the cost of child care and establish universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, according to the House Education and Labor committee. | 
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said yesterday that he would not support President Biden's signature spending package, a move that cripples efforts by the administration to address climate change. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images | — "Even if, as he says, Sen. Manchin is unwilling to vote for the Build Back Better Act in its current form, it is indisputable that there is both great need and overwhelming support for the child care and pre-K provisions — including from West Virginia's senior senator," said Sarah Rittling, executive director of the First Five Years Fund. "The positive impact of the early learning and care proposal would be felt for generations." — Manchin, though he has expressed concerns with provisions in the BBB like the child tax credit and child care, said in September that he is "all for that" and "I'm all in" when it comes to universal preschool. Universal public pre-K for 4-year-olds in West Virginia was partly rolled out while Manchin was governor. Slightly more than two-thirds of 4-year-olds were enrolled in the state's program last year, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research. — "Failure to pass this transformational package hurts the more than 346,000 children in West Virginia benefiting from the Child Tax Credit, goes against the more than 70 percent of West Virginia voters who support paid family and medical leave for all workers, and betrays working and middle class families calling for the federal government to reduce the costs of child care, health care, prescription drugs," House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro said in a statement. IT'S MONDAY, DEC. 20. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. Have we met yet? Let's grab coffee. Ping me at bquilantan@politico.com to chat. Send tips to my colleagues Jessica Calefati at jcalefati@politico.com, Juan Perez Jr. at jperez@politico.com and Michael Stratford at mstratford@politico.com. And follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro. | | | ADMISSIONS ARE A-CHANGIN' — The pandemic upended college admissions in 2020, but many colleges across the country have embraced the wave of change as they look to lower barriers that once blocked low-income and students of color from getting into their institutions or even applying. — "Colleges and universities, in the midst of a pandemic which required them to go remote, and then in the midst of moral reckoning around race, are really stepping back and deciding, OK, let's rethink how we do this — can we do it better? Can we, in this process, meet certain goals that we hadn't met well before by making these kinds of changes?" said Stephen J. Handel, a former senior strategist at the College Board and co-author of "Beyond Free College: Making Higher Education Work for 21st Century Students." — Here are the three major changes to admissions that have taken off since the start of the pandemic: Colleges have adopted a test-optional policy for the SAT or ACT admissions exams; they are getting rid of student loans from their financial aid packages; and top universities like Princeton are reconsidering publishing their acceptance figures during the admissions cycle, which are often an indicator of "prestige" because of their low acceptance rates. — The University of California, one of the nation's leading public university systems, will no longer accept standardized test scores. Last week, Harvard University also hopped onto the trend, announcing it will extend its SAT or ACT-optional policy for another four years. Experts have said that once a school chooses to go test-optional, rarely do they revert to their old standards. — But that's not all: The pandemic has also highlighted the financial stresses students often face when picking a school, leading many institutions to get rid of loans. Some students have re-evaluated their college options and decided to attend school close to home or to take a gap year. There has also been an emphasis on federal student loan debt and the burden many students face after they finish school, amid the Biden administration's "will they or won't they" tension over canceling debt and restarting repayments after two years. | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. | | | CDC EMBRACES 'TEST TO STAY' — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday endorsed the "test to stay" strategy used by some school districts that allows unvaccinated children who have been exposed to coronavirus to remain in the classroom if they test negative. — Children who have been exposed to the virus should be tested at least twice during the seven-day period following exposure, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters Friday. "'Test to stay' is an encouraging public health practice to keep our children in school," she said, adding that the CDC is updating its materials to help schools and parents know how to implement "this promising and now proven practice." — Meanwhile, Anthony Fauci, Biden's top medical adviser, on Sunday predicted increased hospitalizations this winter on ABC's "This Week." But he expressed hope that schools would remain open and there would not be a need for "the kind of lockdowns that we've seen before." He also pointed to the CDC guidelines on test-to-stay options. — "Right now we can keep the children in school safely," Fauci said. "We are trying as best as we possibly can to keep the schools open for the reasons that you just gave correctly of the deleterious effects of having to close the schools down." — Fauci was also optimistic about children aged 2-5 being vaccinated by the first quarter of 2022. However, he predicted that it could be pushed to the second quarter of 2022 due to delays from Pfizer, which is testing a third dose of its vaccine for children ages 6 months to under 5 years. | | | $1.5B FOR SUPPLY CHAIN EFFECTS ON SCHOOL MEALS — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced up to $1.5 billion for states and school districts to help school meal program operators deal with supply chain disruptions. Through USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA will provide $1 billion for schools to purchase food for their meal programs, another $300 million for states to purchase foods to be distributed to schools, and an additional $200 million for cooperative agreements to purchase local foods for schools. — "USDA's school meal programs have a wide-reaching impact on the health and well-being of our nation's children," said Vilsack. "Now, more than ever, America's children need access to healthy and nutritious foods, and our school nutrition professionals play a huge role in making that happen." | | | MORE GROUPS SEEK EXTENSION OF STUDENT LOAN PAUSE — A trio of left-leaning groups that are typically allies of the Biden administration are calling for an extension to the pause on federal student loan payments that's set to expire at the end of next month. — The Center for American Progress, New America and The Institute for College Access & Success wrote in a joint letter to the Biden administration that student loan payments shouldn't resume until the end of the national emergency declaration related to the pandemic. The Biden administration has indicated that it's charging ahead with restarting payments on Feb. 1. — Alternative proposals: If the Biden administration does indeed restart payments, the groups said, the Education Department should at least take steps to soften the blow. They urged the department to keep interest rates at 0 percent, make it easier to participate in income-driven repayment plans, automatically pull all borrowers out of default and allow for a grace period for missed payments. Some of those ideas have already been under consideration at the agency. Read the full letter here. | | | — Student Defense announced that Olivia "Libby" DeBlasio Webster will serve as senior counsel and co-director of the Postsecondary Equity & Economics Research Project. She most recently served as senior assistant attorney general of Colorado. | | | | DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | | | | — The Jain Family Institute's report, "Homeownership and the student debt crisis," examines links between rising student debt and declining homeownership over the past decade. | | | — Purdue President Mitch Daniels calls threats to student from China 'unacceptable': Lafayette Journal & Courier — Not getting into it: How critical race theory laws are cutting short classroom conversations: Chalkbeat — As fans return to high school sports, officials say student behavior has never been worse: The Washington Post | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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