| | | | |  | | By Juan Perez Jr. | Presented by Sallie Mae® | | 
Banned books are visible at the Central Library, a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library system, in New York City on July 7, 2022. | Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo | PULLED FROM SHELVES — Efforts to ban or restrict library materials in schools, universities and public libraries are on track to hit new records this year. — The American Library Association cataloged 681 efforts to target 1,651 unique titles between January and August, according to preliminary association data released Friday that is already surpassing a high-water mark recorded in 2021. — A similar analysis released this morning by the PEN America literary advocacy group tabulated efforts in 138 school districts and 32 states to remove book titles from school libraries, prohibit them from classrooms and pull them from circulation amid public disputes or in response to state laws during the past calendar year. The schools carry a combined enrollment of nearly 4 million students. — The findings arrive as literary, educational and library groups mark " Banned Books Week", an annual event that also highlights some of today's most-challenged titles in American schools. The targeted titles often incorporate LGBTQ+ themes, include characters of color, sexual content, or address issues of race and racism. — Library advocates are also using the occasion to lay blame for the restrictions at the feet of organized conservative political groups. PEN America said it has identified at least 50 groups mobilizing around book restrictions and bans, including the newly-prominent Moms for Liberty organization. — "Efforts to censor entire categories of books reflecting certain voices and views shows that the moral panic isn't about kids: it's about politics," ALA President Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada said in a statement. "Organizations with a political agenda are spreading lists of books they don't like." — Yet new polling released today by another library group shows there's considerable opposition to such efforts among Democrats, Republicans and independents. IT'S MONDAY, SEPT. 19. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. Democratic strategists and party officials are rallying behind an effort to persuade the party's big donors to redirect their cash to key state and local elections. Reach out with tips to today's host at jperez@politico.com and also my colleagues Michael Stratford (mstratford@politico.com) and Bianca Quilantan ( bquilantan@politico.com). And don't forget to follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro.
| | A message from Sallie Mae®: Federal student loan forgiveness is an attempt to address the current symptoms of the broken federal higher education financing system. Without rethinking federal student lending and college affordability, students and families will likely be in the same situation in a few years. We need a simpler system to help those who truly need public support to access and complete college. Sallie Mae CEO Jon Witter shares ways we can improve the system for future generations. | | | 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.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the crowd before publicly signing HB7, "individual freedom," also dubbed the "stop woke" bill during a news conference in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., on April 22, 2022. | Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP | WHEN SHOULD BOOKS GET BANNED? — Approximately half of American voters (including 31 percent of Republicans) say there is "absolutely no time when a book should be banned", according to new polling out this morning from the Illinois-based EveryLibrary Institute that tracks state legislation to restrict library and classroom material access and also operates a political action committee. — Nevertheless, 41 percent of voters captured in the EveryLibrary survey said "there are rare times when it's appropriate to ban books,"a finding that underscores the political potency of restricting how schools share material deemed to center on issues of gender identity and sexuality. — Overall, 56 percent of voters said they've heard "a great deal" about attempts to restrict or remove access to certain books in school and public libraries. Women, college-educated voters, and Democrats were most likely to say this. — The poll depicts clear divides on the appropriateness of book banning. More than 60 percent of surveyed Democrats and independents said there is never a time to ban books. The 31 percent of GOP voters who agreed is notable, too. But 16 percent of Republicans said there are "many books that are inappropriate and should be banned" while 53 percent said there are rare times when doing so is appropriate. — Books that discuss race and sexuality are the wild cards. Large majorities of Republicans and independents who either supported rare or widespread limits on book access said they supported banning books with subject matter related to those hot-button topics, as opposed to children's books or classics. — Approximately 75 percent of voters said book banning was a very or somewhat important factor influencing their vote. The poll found the subject is "especially mobilizing" for college-educated women, Democrats, and those who frequently go to a library. The EveryLibrary Institute commissioned Embold Research to survey 1,223 registered voters nationally from Aug. 31 to Sep 3. The poll's modeled margin of error is 3.4 percentage points.
| | | | HAPPENING 9/29 - POLITICO'S AI & TECH SUMMIT : Technology is constantly evolving and so are the politics and policies shaping and regulating it. Join POLITICO for the 2022 AI & Tech summit to get an insider look at the pressing policy and political issues shaping tech, and how Washington interacts with the tech sector. The summit will bring together lawmakers, federal regulators, tech executives, tech policy experts and consumer advocates to dig into the intersection of tech, politics, regulation and innovation, and identify opportunities, risks and challenges ahead. REGISTER FOR THE SUMMIT HERE. | | | | | | | EDUCATION AND THE MIDTERMS | | | 
People protest outside the offices of the New Mexico Public Education Department's office, on Nov. 12, 2021, in Albuquerque, N.M. | Cedar Attanasio/AP Photo | PAC BY POPULAR DEMAND — School board races are the latest targets for a handful of national conservative groups, with backing from a GOP megadonor, that are seeking to shape difficult discussions on race and gender identity in classrooms across the country. — Money, attack ads and mobilization efforts going into these races — sometimes from groups with no geographic ties to local candidates — underscore how education has become one of the prime issues conservatives are increasingly directing their resources in the 2022 election cycle and beyond, Politico's Andrew Atterbury reports. — In one of the most sweeping examples , the New York-based 1776 Project PAC endorsed more than 100 school board candidates this year in states like Florida, Texas, Virginia and Pennsylvania — and put significant cash into helping them get elected. With financial backing from a group with ties to GOP megadonor and billionaire Richard Uihlein, 1776 Project PAC is putting money behind candidates who oppose critical race theory. — In Florida, GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and state conservatives — and Democrats to an extent — contributed thousands of dollars into campaign donations and offered up political endorsements during the midterms to help score school board seats. But these clashes were also shaped by advertisements produced by political committees with a variety of different backers, from environmental companies to Big Sugar to billionaire megadonors like Uihlein. — The 1776 PAC is getting attention from popular conservatives including Ben Shapiro and more than 300 new school board candidates have reportedly applied for endorsements.
| | | | A message from Sallie Mae®:   | | | | | | CHARTER CHALLENGE — The Education Department's charter school funding rule is facing some tough days. — Conservative lawmakers set out a new, albeit long-shot attempt this month to overturn the regulation in Congress. A federal lawsuit filed in August seeks to block the Biden administration's final rule, too. All this after the department won some praise from critics after making some changes to its initial, even more controversial plan. — Led by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) , a group of congressional Republicans recently invoked the Congressional Review Act to stop the rule, deploying a frequently used but seldom successful Capitol Hill tactic to overturn federal regulations. The effort could attract significant votes from sympathetic lawmakers — but needs major support to clear both chambers, reach President Joe Biden's desk, then overrule a likely presidential veto. — A lawsuit launched by the Michigan Association of Public School Academies and Thomas B. Fordham Institute (which sponsors charter schools in Ohio) allege their campuses are unfairly disadvantaged by the administration's final rule for three streams of charter funding — even after those regulations eased or clarified some of the department's proposals. — The plaintiffs , represented by the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation law firm, also argue the rule "was not issued by an officer of the United States, and thus is invalid." This will pose an interesting test for an argument the foundation raised in an April comment that opposed the department's proposed rule. — What's the secretary have to say about this? "We're not shying away from increasing accountability across the board," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told POLITICO's Carly Sitrin on Friday, when asked if the administration's charter rule could survive. — "Charter schools do provide a good service," he added. "And we're working with them to make sure that they're understanding the intent of [the final rule], and that it's rolled out in a way that supports them, but most importantly, our students."
| | | | JOIN THURSDAY FOR A GLOBAL INSIDER INTERVIEW : From climate change to public health emergencies and a gloomy global economic outlook, the world continues to deal with overlapping crises. How do we best confront all of these issues? Join POLITICO Live on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 10:30 a.m. EDT for a virtual conversation with Global Insider author Ryan Heath, featuring World Bank President David Malpass, to explore what it will take to restore global stability and avoid a prolonged recession. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | ANOTHER MASK MANDATE SET TO FALL — The Department of Health and Human Services intends to scrap an unenforced Head Start face mask requirement for children and adults "in the near future," the agency's children and families administration announced Friday. — The anticipated publication of a final rule to formally remove the mask mandate won praise from the National Head Start Association — just one organization that has been frustrated by a lack of "basic, clear guidance" on how providers should address conflicting orders from the federal government and courts, plus updated Covid-19 prevention guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CDC recommends universal indoor masking in schools and child care programs when community virus levels are high.) — Head Start has not monitored mask use at its programs since February , and said it will continue to not check on mask compliance until the requirement is removed. Head Start's acting director has also said the office was "working hard to finalize" regulations in late August, but warned the rules would not be ready for the new school year. — Friday's announcement offered no additional clarity on the future of Head Start's staff vaccination requirement, which took full effect at the end of January under an interim final rule but has also been paused in half the country by court injunctions. — The National Head Start Association and AASA, The School Superintendents Association in February warned the federal Head Start vaccination mandate faced conflicts with state and local regulations that threaten "potentially irreparable damage" to partnerships between the child care program and school districts.
| | | — Voters don't actually care about student loan forgiveness: Vox — Virginia policy latest attempt to restrict rights of transgender students: The Washington Post — Defense seeks judge's removal in Florida school shooter case: The Associated Press — Texas' child welfare agency blocked from investigating many more parents of trans teens: The Texas Tribune — Congress told colleges to return Native remains. What's taking so long? The New York Times
| | A message from Sallie Mae®: The federal higher education financing system does too much for too many and not enough for students with the most need. We need to meaningfully expand the Pell Grant, simplify the financial aid process, and make federal loans unnecessary or a dramatically smaller part of how underserved or disadvantaged families finance their education. Pursuing higher education should be a catalyst for long-term success, but that success should not require unsustainable debt for the students and families who need the most support. Read more from Sallie Mae CEO Jon Witter about how we can build a simpler, more transparent college financing system. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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