Education Secretary Defends Student Loan Forgiveness and Cutting Charter School Funds

Tensions were high as Education Secretary Miguel Cardona testified before the House Appropriations Committee on April 10 regarding the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) budget requests for fiscal year 2025.

Republicans grilled Mr. Cardona over the department’s proposed changes to Title IX that would force schools to allow trans students to use locker rooms and play on teams that don’t correspond to their biological sex.

They also questioned the secretary over potential reductions in funding for charter schools, President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plans, issues with the rollout of the 2024 FAFSA application, and the threat of free speech on college campuses.

Democrats instead largely commended Mr. Cardona and President Biden’s work with ED and reaffirmed their strong support for public education, but also questioned the secretary over the rise in anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) spent most of her allotted time condemning Republicans on abortion after the Arizona Supreme Court recently upheld a controversial pre-Civil War law that outlaws almost all abortions, with exceptions to save the mother’s life, but none for rape or incest.

While brief in many of his responses, Mr. Cardona said his primary goal in the hearing was to defend public education.

“Where some seek to defund public education, I’m here to defend it, unapologetically, as the foundation of the American dream,” he said.

“This budget is about making responsible choices together to invest in that foundation for American opportunity and raise the bar for our nation’s future.

“It’s about the responsible choice to continue to sustain our nation’s academic records from the impacts of the pandemic,” Mr. Cardona added.

He said ED’s focus is to “propose a budget that helps protect and support all of our nation’s students, instead of creating a spectacle for the benefit of the media.”

Title IX Controversy

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) expressed concern over a proposed change to Title IX from the education department that would force schools to allow children to use locker rooms and play on teams that correspond to their chosen gender identity rather than their biological sex.

“That would mean that a 6th-grade boy who simply identifies as a girl could play on the same basketball team as young girls,” Mr. Aderholt said.

He asked Mr. Cardona to specify when the ED would explain in detail what the department intends to do with Title IX.

“We’re working on it,” Mr. Cardona replied. He claimed to have received 150,000 public comments on the proposed rule change but refused to give any details prior to the department’s future announcement.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) reiterated comments from U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, where the latter said in a previous hearing that women have different arches in their feet than men but are forced to wear shoes designed for men.

“Would you agree that women are physically different than men?” Dr. Harris asked Mr. Cardona.

The secretary said he could see where Dr. Harris was “going with this” line of questioning, but the representative quickly interrupted him.

“Don’t filibuster,” Dr. Harris replied, “Do you agree that physically biological women are different from biological men, physically? I think this is a simple question for an educator.”

Mr. Cardona declined to answer, and Dr. Harris called the proposed changes to Title IX an “affront to women in this country.”

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) tried the same line of inquiry, directly asking Mr. Cardona: “Can you define what a woman is?”

Mr. Cardona said he was there to answer questions about the budget.

“I’m asking you a question, and you’re refusing to answer. We have been responding to questions about the budget, which is why you’re here to answer whatever questions I want to ask you,” Mr. Clyde said, calling Mr. Cardona’s replies “cagey and evasive.”

Mr. Cardona said it would be “premature” for him to discuss proposed changes to Title IX before the agency releases its codified plans and that doing so would “do a disservice to the thorough work that we have to do.”

Loan Forgiveness

Mr. Aderholt took issue with the way the ED had deployed President Biden’s loan forgiveness policies.

“It is clear that the department’s student loan forgiveness policies are unfair to Americans who did not go to college or who pay back their loans.

“And it sends a dangerous message to students, and that is to borrow more and just send the taxpayer the bill,” he said.

This sentiment was shared by Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), who said President Biden’s loan forgiveness policies have “forgotten so much of the working class.”

He said, “Folks with dirt and grease under their fingernails are being asked to pay for [other] folks’ college education.”

Mr. Cardona said loan forgiveness is about “fixing a broken system” and that relief is intended to benefit working-class families as much as non-working-class families.

He also pledged that debt relief work “shouldn’t happen forever.”

However, Mr. Edwards said he still found it “tremendously unfair” that those “laying bricks and fitting pipes” are being asked to pay for the college education of a “different class.”

The secretary was also asked if any resources or employees from the FAFSA program were pulled away to work on debt relief, as Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) previously noted the historic delays in the 2024 FAFA application.

Those delays were not due to any manpower or resources diverted away from FAFSA and into the debt relief program, Mr. Cardona replied.

He also claimed that FAFSA would be streamlined and easier to access and complete moving forward.

Free Speech and Charter Schools

The other two notable topics discussed at April 10’s hearing were free speech on college campuses and ED’s intention to reduce public funding for charter schools in fiscal year 2025.

Mr. Cardona emphasized his belief that no public funding should go to private charter schools with for-profit tuition expenses.

Several congressmen, including Mr. Edwards, chided Mr. Cardona for his position on charter schools, arguing that in some districts, for-profit charter schools are the only decent education opportunities available for some students.

Students who say they feel pressured to self-censor their speech in college classrooms concern Mr. Aderholt, who compared their experiences to “cancel culture.”

He also noted the rise in anti-Semitism that creates a “hostile environment” for Jewish students, faculty, and staff.

Mr. Cardona agreed that “higher education institutions should be places where free speech is allowed” but that ED’s focus is on finding a balance between “promoting free speech and keeping safe environments” for students from all backgrounds and belief systems.