Multimillion-dollar Partnership Will Expand Educational Access
May 19, 2017 – Here’s our weekly roundup of education news you may have missed. Proposed Trump administration budget cuts to the Education Department are revealed in greater detail; the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the College Board announce a multimillion-dollar partnership to make college more accessible for low-income and rural students; and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is expected to reveal a new proposal to help parents afford private school tuition for their children.
Elementary & Secondary Education
- Politico reports that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is expected to offer details Monday of Trump administration plans to expand school choice. The publication reports that sources indicate DeVos will reveal a proposed education tax credit scholarship that could provide billions of dollars to help families falling below certain income limits pay tuition for their children in private schools.
- The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – a charity created by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan – announces a two-year, multimillion-dollar partnership with the College Board to expand access to programs and services that help low-income and rural students gain admission to college, USA Today reports.
Higher Education
- The Washington Post reports on new budget documents it obtained showing that President Trump will propose $10.6 billion in budget cuts to federal education initiatives. The Post also reports on President Trump’s proposals to make big changes in student loans.
- The New York Times Magazine examines a proposal by self-described “scholar activist” Sara Goldrick-Rab to make the first two years of college free for students at community colleges and four-year public colleges. CNN highlights the states where tuition-free community college and public four-year college have become a reality or are being considered.
- A podcast from the Hechinger Report explains why an estimated 86,000 low-income high school graduates with ACT and SAT scores high enough to “get into the most selective universities and colleges” instead “often end up at community colleges and regional public universities with low graduation rates.”
Cooke Foundation Highlights
- Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholar and Graduate Scholar Alessandro Bailetti is interviewed for a blog published by the Genetics Society of America. He discusses his research to find future treatments for blood disorders, his early years growing up in Peru, and his plans to become a professor studying diseases.
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