Thread by @NBCNews

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)