Will a judge block Obama’s Title IX transgender guidance? Presented by Comcast

With help from Caitlin Emma, Kimberly Hefling and Cogan Schneier

COULD JUDGE DEAL OBAMA TITLE IX SETBACK? A federal judge in Illinois today will hear a motion to block the Obama administration’s guidance [ http://politico.pro/222OQt5] on transgender student rights under Title IX. The motion for a preliminary injunction [ http://politico.pro/1WLAu0c], filed earlier this month by attorneys from the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom and Thomas More Society on behalf of a coalition of parents, also aims to stop a settlement between the Education Department and Township High School District 211 in Palatine, Ill., that allows a transgender student who identifies as a girl to use a private changing area in the girl’s locker room. That student, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, filed [ http://politico.pro/1U9tKmx] a motion to intervene in the case last week. If a preliminary injunction is granted, it would be a win for social conservatives nationwide who’ve railed against the guidance, calling it a federal overreach and an invasion of privacy for other students. But any victory would be only temporary, with litigation pending in federal courts in other states, like North Carolina, Texas and Virginia [ http://politico.pro/25wKxvH] — and advocates and legal experts predicting the issue of transgender rights is destined to wind up before the Supreme Court.


— University of North Carolina System will ignore House Bill 2: The UNC System, led by former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, told a federal court recently that it won’t enforce the state’s so-called “bathroom bill” until judicial relief is provided. The system’s decision to disregard HB2 was presented in a motion in which it asked a federal court to stop civil legal proceedings against the university system while a higher court decides a separate case on transgender student rights in Virginia. The Associated Press has more: http://abcn.ws/1UaRMha. The UNC system recently hired outside counsel to face the Justice Department's civil rights lawsuit over the state law: http://politico.pro/1snWcLs.

— In Massachusetts, the state legislature is preparing to debate a bill that would ban discrimination against transgender people in public accommodations, The Associated Press reports: http://bit.ly/1sHvDAO.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING. WELCOME TO MORNING EDUCATION. And welcome back to the grind after what was hopefully a restful, three-day weekend. I spent most of it either on the beach [ http://imgur.com/DNRmeZH] or kicking back with something that looked like this: [ http://imgur.com/mEiuHXQ]. Send tips and feedback: [email protected] or @ mstratford. Send events to: [email protected]. And follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro.

KING TALKS TRAILBLAZING … K-12 STYLE: U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. will be in Beantown today and taking part in an Empower Schools moderated Q-and-A, titled: “The Emerging Third Way: Blazing an Optimistic Path Ahead in K-12 Education.” He’ll riff on innovations in the effort to educate the neediest students and close the education and opportunity gaps, the agency said in a preview. Fresh off last week’s release of the draft accountability rule [ http://politico.pro/1NPGpz1], King will also delve into the Every Student Succeeds Act and ways the new education law seeks to foster educational equity and improve the lot of children in urban public school systems.

— Speaking of ESSA: Nearly 50 advocacy organizations recently signed a letter [ http://bit.ly/1Upv1ZF] offering input on how the Education Department can offer non-binding guidance to help states and districts expand high-quality early learning under the new law. The groups say that federal officials should issue guidance to ensure that early childhood educators are consulted as states look to develop and implement their ESSA plans, for example. The letter comes in response to the Education Department’s request last month for information about how non-binding guidance can help clarify the law. The letter: http://bit.ly/1Upv1ZF.

— Kim’s EWA spotlight on educating disadvantaged students: Kimberly Hefling took a quick break from Pro Education duties recently to write a guest piece for the Education Writers Association that dovetails with some of the issues King will address at the Boston charter event. Her intro sentence says it all: “How do you get the best teachers in front of the students who need them most?” She wrote off an EWA panel discussion (held in Boston, as it were) that touched on state plans to ensure equitable student access to educators, like Missouri’s teacher shortage predictor model, and the systematic nature of the problem in urban districts. Check it out: http://bit.ly/1OStVkV.

THE GIFT OF FRANK: At Curriculum Associates, a private textbook publishing and education technology firm in Billerica, Mass., employees talk about “the gift of Frank” — and one wonders why they don’t say gifts, plural. Company co-founder Frank Ferguson, 89, the former president of audio equipment company Bose Corp., is a gift himself, always a spirited presence and the heart of the company since it was established in 1969. “The guy who’s always walking the fastest, is the most energetic, is Frank,” said CEO Rob Waldron.

— Ferguson is also a significant charity force in the education world and a socially focused business leader with a reputation for community engagement. He’s a member of the Boston chapter of Social Venture Partners, a nonprofit that assists organizations that possess a social mission, and a board adviser for the Lionheart Foundation, which brings emotional literacy curriculum to incarcerated adults. Last year alone, Curriculum Associates gave roughly $500,000 to charitable organizations, including early education organization JumpStart, the Boston Debate League and uAspire, a nonprofit that helps students secure financial aid.

— Over the last few months, Curriculum Associates has been deprived of Ferguson’s signature élan, because he’s been undergoing cancer treatment. But his absence only underscores the true value of “the gift of Frank,” Waldron told Pro Labor and Employment’s Cogan Schneier.

— Ferguson created two safeguards to ensure the company’s future matched his vision of “making classrooms better places for teachers and children,” Waldron said. First, he made Waldron sign a 20-year employment contract when he joined in 2008, giving him the job stability to focus decisions on meeting the company’s long-term goals. Second, Ferguson established a joint trust with Waldron, which mandates that after Ferguson’s lifetime, dividends from Ferguson’s company shares would be donated entirely to charity.

— It’s a pretty unique setup. Companies rarely focus so intensely on the long-term, especially in the U.S., where short-term returns are king and executive effectiveness is measured on a quarter-to-quarter basis, experts say. Some extremely successful companies tout their charitable investments, like Facebook, but it’s unusual for a company of any size to put so much of its equity into charity.

— “School Street” focus: “One thing I say is that the structure allows me to answer to school street, not to Wall Street,” Waldron said. “All of us recognize what we call ‘The Gift of Frank.’ We don’t have to answer to anything but the work itself, because we don’t have people that are trying to mine our profits for their short-term needs. It’s both an honor and a big responsibility to make sure we manage that gift well, to cherish that gift in a way that makes the biggest impact to teachers and children.”

— And it’s working: Curriculum Associates has experienced rapid growth, quintupling its staff over the past four years and adding 200 new full-time positions this year. It also voluntarily raised the minimum hourly wage for staffers to $15 per hour (that’s $5 more than the Massachusetts standard). A textbook publishing company for most of its life, Waldron has recently shifted the focus to creating technology solutions for classrooms, offering tools to help teachers and students measure student achievement and other diagnostics in real time.

NO CANDIDATE LEFT BEHIND — TRUMP U. FILES UNSEALED: The federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging fraud by Trump University on Friday unsealed a series of internal Trump University documents that lawyers for the presumptive Republican nominee had sought to keep out of public view, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports [ http://politi.co/1Y09YAb]. U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel’s decision came after Trump used a campaign speech to unleash a 12-minute tirade against Curiel, calling him a “hater” and speculating about his ethnicity [ http://politi.co/1UpPHAI].

— Judge Curiel wrote in his order that Trump's presidential campaign and his criticism of the court were reasons he chose to release so-called "Playbooks" that describe Trump University's operations. The judge also noted that one version was previously published by POLITICO in March: http://politi.co/20QGgfC.

ICYMI: DEMS TURN UP HEAT ON ITT TECH OVER ARBITRATION: Now that two major powers in the for-profit college industry — the University of Phoenix and DeVry — have voluntarily dumped mandatory arbitration clauses [ http://politico.pro/1U8cJJV], some Senate Democrats are trying to get another big for-profit, ITT Tech, to do the same. Sens. Dick Durbin, Richard Blumenthal, Sherrod Brown and Al Franken sent a letter Friday [ http://politico.pro/1TOi3rC] to the company’s chief executive officer, writing that “the burden is now on you to explain to your students why ITT Tech continues to deny them their day in court when your fellow institutions have chosen a different path.”

— ITT spokeswoman Nicole Elam tells Morning Education that the company “appreciates the concerns of four Democratic senators. No one is more concerned about our students than we are. We’re fully aware of what is happening at two institutions in our sector, but do not feel it’s appropriate for us to respond via media.”

EDU-PINION: Pundits are once again debating the legacy of Michelle Rhee, the controversial former D.C. public schools chancellor who became a national figure in the education reform movement. Citing recent commentary questioning whether Hillary Clinton should embrace Rhee-style reform to the same extent as Obama did, Jonathan Chait of New York magazine pushes back. “Rhee’s policies have worked,” he writes. “If you believe education policy should be designed to increase learning and economic opportunity for low-income children, then Washington, D.C., is a model that should be emulated.” More: http://nym.ag/1sooTbc

REPORT ROLL CALL

— “More Than Just Pre-K: The Positive Economic Impact of Preschool in Los Angeles County,” courtesy of the Institute for Child Success: http://bit.ly/24h7XiE

SYLLABUS

— Kansas Supreme Court rejects some education funding changes made by the legislature, and gave lawmakers a month to pass a fix. The Associated Press: http://abcn.ws/1snusqk

— Merrick Garland tells grads at his former high school: Focus on helping others. NPR: http://n.pr/1X9ne6o

— Baylor University’s athletics director resigns, citing need to promote healing. Chronicle of Higher Education: http://bit.ly/20QKd4d

— Dreams stall as CUNY, New York City’s engine of socioeconomic mobility, sputters. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1U83Fon

— Does Black Lives Matter have a place in education reform? A private debate bursts into public view. Chalkbeat: http://bit.ly/1WUV6Du

— Dozens of Pennsylvania school districts face a tougher time borrowing after budget impasse. Newsworks: http://bit.ly/1Wu4fTF

— Colleges pledge to send more students abroad. The Atlantic: http://theatln.tc/1TRKu4Z

— Louisiana higher education leaders to state legislature: give us funding or give us tuition autonomy. The Advocate: http://bit.ly/1WtWbSU

— John White, Louisiana education superintendent, writes an op-ed about what he calls “a governance model that offers hope to other cities that seek enduring improvements in public education.” Wall Street Jounal http://on.wsj.com/1U2aw2G.

Summertime [ http://bit.ly/1O0dzfo] is here, so spend it with the Pro Education team: @ caitlinzemma or [email protected], @ khefling or [email protected], @ mstratford or [email protected].



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