The chair declares the committee in recess subject to the call of the chair. Well 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, youre 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 werent given the time, or im 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 youre doing it . Well, were 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 were in with our Higher Education loan system and access to college and were using our authority carefully to make sure that were 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 its really important that congress is constantly, sort of assisting different industries, assisting different corporations and the idea that were 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 dont 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 Democratled 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. Im 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 were 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. Its important while maintaining your native language, that youre learning english, so we have a request there for 50 million above last year, fy 23 budget. Were 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. Weve seen more growth in the 2223 school year in the use of those dollars. The goal is to make sure were continuing on those efforts that we know work. Were working with states and how they can use existing funds, and were our annual budget does show were increasing title 3dollars, 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, youre 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 ive had to make as a district leader. Im so glad you brought up that youre concerned about the safety of students. But the title 9 rule and guidance youre putting out, youve 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 hes uncomfortable that the Health Teacher insists they cant get pregnant, what should the title 9 coordinator say . I can tell you that in our title 9 rules that weve recently put out, theres more guidance that goes along with it. Id 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 id be very happy to have your constituents get support to make sure that their title 9 coordinators have information. Weve provided a plethora of technical assistance, and were going to continue to support regardless of republicans or democrats. What would you say . Should that teacher get in trouble . I dont 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. Youre recognizing biological sex, but in athletics, youre 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 youve been putting out title 9 guidance rules. Ive 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 . Were in the rulemaking process for athletics. As you know, that was submitted maybe nine months after the proposed rule for title 9. So were in the process of listening to 140,000 comments which have different the schools are being threatened to have their federal funding pulled because theyre 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. Im here to protect girls and to stand up for families and parents across the country that are outraged over this. You made a choice. Youre choosing boys over girls. Youre 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, youre 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 youve been asked a an awful lot of questions about fafsa. So im going to be limited on that, and get to another issue that i think is really important. But i will say and i know youve heard this from everybody. The number of concerned parents, asle with as the institutions of Higher Learning in my direct, that ive heard from, has been overwhelming. But im sure your job has been quite overwhelming this year given everything thats going on. On the fafsa issue, i dont 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 students Financial Aid edge eligibility, right . Yes. So ive heard about 30 might have errors and need to be corrected. That number might be higher for those that serve students. Weve corrected that issue. Thank you for that. Weve corrected that issue. There were several issues in programming. There was an issue with information foretax data. Information that weve also worked to correct. Were communicating daily with schools, and you know, theyve been bending over backwards, and the Financial Aid directors, College President s 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. Ive spoken with over 100 colleges myself so were hearing what their concerns are, and how we can address those. Through daily communication, weve 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. Weve 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 wellbeing. 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 were in a youth Mental Health crisis. We know students are six times more likely to access Mental Health supports, if theyre 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, were working with ahs. We have currently 13 states that have signed on to do that. And were working to get medicaid reimbursement. The goal is never to go back to a system where weve had a model of Mental Health in our schools. Unfortunately, we often wait for the trauma to happen. Where were seeing these being used is a proactive strategy to support students. Thank you for that. Ms. Steel, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you dr. Fox and thank you secretary cardona for appearing today. Im 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 dont submit. More importantly, submissions are useless if your department does not take enforcement seriously, because in fact, footing second 117 in china, arent mentioned a single time in your ten page written testimony today. And if im 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 dont 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. Weve 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 fbis 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 its not there, we dont know what exactly youre 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 wouldnt impact students. There were several. We