NBC News Profile picture
27 Oct, 10 tweets, 3 min read
Sec. Cardona is urging Congress to approve $103B in discretionary budget authority for the Dept. of Education.

This funding could mean a huge change in federal control over local schools.

Reporting by @hechingerreport.

#NBCNewsThreads (1/10) nbcnews.com/news/us-news/c…
@hechingerreport By bringing the nation’s classrooms into the public’s homes, the pandemic offered a close-up of the system’s failures.

Yet, thousands of teachers, principals and other school staff have been going to heroic lengths to help students struggling emotionally and academically. (2/10)
At Witch Hazel Elementary, which has a student poverty rate of 95%, adults are proud of how well they’ve survived a difficult year.

“I’m always excited for innovation,” Principal Christy Walters says. “I’m not too tired for that. That is energizing.” (3/10)
Sec. Cardona thinks this same optimism can be found in schools across the country, even as exhausted educators head into the 19th month of pandemic learning. His bet is that he can harness that energy and use it — along with an unprecedented level of federal cash. (4/10)
Typically, the federal government contributes about 8% of the yearly funds schools receive.

But Rick Hess, from conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, doesn't believe federal school funding is being spent well now; more money would exacerbate the problem. (5/10)
Principal Walters says the strength of her school’s community is why it has survived the pandemic so far.

For people to feel welcomed and supported, money alone is not enough — teamwork is the secret, she says.

Of course, those people still need to be paid. (6/10)
Sec. Cardona’s faith that local leaders will make smart decisions about funding likely stems from his own past as a teacher. He is one of just three former teachers to hold the education cabinet post.

He said he sees his agency as “the connective tissue” between schools. (7/10)
Meanwhile, Republicans have been far more likely to call for the elimination of the Department of Education than for its expansion. The idea was popularized by former President Reagan and gained new traction during Donald Trump’s run for president in 2016. (8/10)
Though school funding has waxed and waned depending on who is in the White House, thinkers on both the left and the right see Sec. Cardona’s move to dramatically increase funding as a potential step toward increased federal control of education. (9/10)
In reality, Sec. Cardona is many years and several election cycles away from running a supersize department.

As he pushes his new budget in a divided Congress, he hopes the Rescue Plan money will whet appetites for more federal investment. (10/10)

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with NBC News

NBC News Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @NBCNews

28 Oct
Black culture and influence made 'athleisure' a phenomenon, but only a handful of Black retail owners are benefitting from the trend. #NBCNewsThreads (1/8)

nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/sn…
The guest bedroom in Earl West’s home in suburban Atlanta looks more like a sneaker warehouse. From floor to ceiling, covering the entire space, there are nearly 900 pairs of sneakers valued in West’s estimation at more than $100,000. (2/8)
West, a self-described “sneaker head” started collecting in 1982. He is among thousands of people in America, especially Black males, who are fixated on sneakers, so much so that they are the drivers of a market that pulled in $70B in 2020. (3/8)
Read 8 tweets
26 Oct
Next week, Minneapolis residents will vote on whether to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with an agency that provides a "comprehensive public health approach" to public safety.

Reporting by @janellefiona.
nbcnews.to/3Cp3BPm
(1/6) #NBCNewsThreads
The ballot measure says the new department "could include" police officers "if necessary."

According to JaNaé Bates, a spokeswoman for the coalition that petitioned for the initiative, passage would not "abolish" the police or lead to the firings of any officers. (2/6)
Supporters of the proposal say it would bolster public safety to include not just police officers but also mental health and substance abuse experts, violence interrupters and others better suited to handle situations that armed police officers ordinarily face. (3/6)
Read 6 tweets
21 Oct
Pro-China social media accounts are pushing a new thread of propaganda about the origins of the pandemic, claiming that Covid was imported to Wuhan from the U.S. through a batch of Maine lobsters, the University of Oxford found. #NBCNewsThreads (1/6)
nbcnews.to/3n9AybO
Marcel Schliebs, a disinformation researcher at the university, uncovered more than 550 Twitter accounts spreading a nearly identical message. Translated into multiple languages, the message was sent at similar times each day between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. China Standard Time. (2/6)
“This is the third or fourth major different redirection Chinese officials have gone in to try and somehow pin the Covid outbreak on the U.S.,” said Bret Schafer, the head of the information manipulation team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy. (3/6)
Read 6 tweets
21 Oct
Americans are leaving their jobs in record numbers for new ventures, whether it's because of a change of heart or a need to survive.

We asked people to share their stories. Here's what they said.

nbcnews.to/3vLv637
Read 6 tweets
20 Oct
How a trip to buy farmland ended with police taking all his cash.

A pair of New Mexico businessmen were driving along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma late one night in April when a sheriff’s deputy pulled over their BMW sedan. (1/8)

#NBCNewsThreads nbcnews.com/news/us-news/h…
The two men, Nang Thai and Weichuan Liu, were on their way to a hotel in Oklahoma City, where they planned to sleep before heading out in the morning to close on a 10-acre plot of farmland they’d agreed to buy for $100,000. (2/8)
A Canadian County sheriff’s deputy peered into their car, and after being interrogated for hours, the two men were released without being charged or even issued a traffic ticket.

But the Canadian Co. Sheriff’s Office refused to return the $100,000 of cash seized. (3/8)
Read 8 tweets
20 Oct
After Hurricane Ida ripped through New York City, 11 people died in flooded basements. Nearly all of the deaths were Asian residents—which experts say is the result of a lack of affordable housing, the pandemic and climate injustice. #NBCNewsThreads (1/11) nbcnews.com/news/asian-ame…
Hongsheng Leng used to sell art in Times Square and work odd jobs under a visitor’s visa he was granted in 1995.

He retired with medical issues, and his family mostly relied on welfare. He was largely confined to his home — a small basement apartment in Queens. (2/11)
It was a plight that would prove fatal.

Leng was found dead in his flooded basement apartment at noon on Sept. 2. The bodies of his wife and daughter were discovered later that same day. (3/11)
Read 11 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(