[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                    EXAMINING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 
                        COVID-19 EDUCATION FUNDS

=======================================================================

                             JOINT HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                      EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY,
                        AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

                                AND THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                          HIGHER EDUCATION AND
                          WORKFORCE INVESTMENT

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

           HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, NOVEMBER 17, 2021

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-35

                               __________

      Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]                                   

          Available via: edlabor.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov

                               __________
                               

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
46-179 PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                  

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

             ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman

RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut              Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,      JOE WILSON, South Carolina
  Northern Mariana Islands           GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California              ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina        RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK DeSAULNIER, California          JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey          JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania             GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BURGESS OWENS, Utah
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 BOB GOOD, Virginia
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan           DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
MONDAIRE JONES, New York             VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Vice-Chair  MICHELLE STEEL, California
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                Vacancy
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland

                   Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
                  Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
                                 ------                                

  SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

   GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands, Chairman

JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BURGESS OWENS, Utah
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona              Ranking Member
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky            GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK De SAULNIER, California         FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
LUCY Mc BATH, Georgia                MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 MICHELLE STEEL, California
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              Vacancy
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia  VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
                                       (ex officio)
       SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE INVESTMENT

                FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida, Chairwoman

MARK TAKANO, California              GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington            Ranking Member
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
MONDAIRE JONES, New York             JIM BANKS, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     JAMES COMER, Kentucky
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                BOB GOOD, Virginia
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey           LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
ARIANO ESPAILLAT, New York           DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut            JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia    (ex officio)
  (ex officio)
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on November 17, 2021................................     1

Statement of Members:
    Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, Chairman, Subcommittee 
      on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education....     1
        Prepared statement of....................................     4
    Owens, Hon. Burgess, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early 
      Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.............     5
        Prepared statement of....................................     5
    Wilson, Hon. Frederica S., Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Higher 
      Education and Workforce Investment.........................     6
        Prepared statement of....................................     7
     Murphy, Hon. Gregory F., Ranking Member, Subcommittee on 
      Higher Education and Workforce Investment..................     7
        Prepared statement of....................................     9

Statement of Witnesses:
    Kvaal, James, Undersecretary, Department of Education........    23
        Prepared statement of....................................    25
    Marten, Cynthia M., Deputy Secretary, Department of Education    10
        Prepared statement of....................................    12

Additional Submissions:
    Chairman Sablan:
        Letter dated November 16, 2021 from the Northern Marianas 
          College................................................    81
    Chairwoman Wilson:
        Letter dated November 15, 2021 from the Association of 
          Public & Land-Grant Universities.......................    83
        Letter dated November 18, 2021 from the National 
          Association of Independent Colleges and Universities...    89
    Ranking Member Owens:
        EdWorkingPaper No. 20-304, ``Politics, Markets, and 
          Pandemics: Public Education's Response to COVID-19,'' 
          October 2020, The Annenberg Institute for School Reform 
          at Brown University....................................    92
        ``Teacher Union Resistance to Reopening Schools,'' Mike 
          Antonucci, Defense of Freedom Institute................   137
    Questions submitted for the record by:
        Chairman Scott...........................................   148
        Morelle, Hon. Joseph D., a Representative in Congress 
          from the State of New York.............................   148
        Castro, Hon. Joaquin, a Representative in Congress from 
          the State of Texas 
        Ranking Member Allen.....................................   150
        Stefanik, Hon. Elise M., a Representative in Congress 
          from the State of New York.............................   149
        Letlow, Hon. Julia, a Representative in Congress from the 
          State of Louisiana 
    Response to question submitted for the record by:
        Ms. Marten...............................................   151
        Mr. Kvaal................................................   163

 
        EXAMINING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COVID-19 EDUCATION FUNDS

                              ----------                              


                      Wednesday, November 17, 2021

                  House of Representatives,
                   Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
               Elementary, and Secondary Education,
              Subcommittee on Higher Education and 
                              Workforce Investment,
                          Committee on Education and Labor,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 10:16 a.m. 
via Zoom, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary 
Education) presiding.
    Present: Representatives Sablan, Wilson, Scott, Courtney, 
Bonamici, Takano, DeSaulnier, Morelle, Hayes, Omar, Leger 
Fernandez, Jones, Manning, Bowman, Sherrill, Yarmuth, Owens, 
Murphy, Grothman, Stefanik, Allen, Banks, Fulcher, Keller, 
Miller-Meeks, Good, McClain, Miller, Cawthorn, Steel, Letlow, 
and Foxx (ex officio).
    Staff present: Melissa Bellin, Professional Staff; Katie 
Berger, Professional Staff; Ijeoma Egekeze, Professional Staff; 
Rashage Green; Christian Haines, General Counsel; Rasheedah 
Hasan, Chief Clerk; Sheila Havenner, Director of Information 
Technology; Ariel Jona, Policy Associate; Andre Lindsay, Policy 
Associate; Max Moore, Staff Assistant; Mariah Mowbray, Clerk/
Special Assistant to the Staff Director; Kayla Pennebecker, 
Staff Assistant; Manasi Raveendran, Oversight Counsel--
Education; Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information 
Technology; Viall Claire, Professional Staff; Cyrus Artz, 
Minority Staff Director; Michael Davis, Minority Operations 
Assistant; Amy Raaf Jones, Minority Director of Education and 
Human Resources Policy; David Maestas, Minority Fellow; Hannah 
Matesic, Minority Director of Member Services and Coalitions; 
Chance Russell, Minority Professional Staff Member; Mandy 
Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of 
Education Policy; Brad Thomas, and Minority Senior Education 
Policy Advisor.
    Chairman Sablan. Good morning. We're ready to begin our----
    Mr. Scott. Mr. Sablan, you want to speak without a mask? 
Yes, that's helpful. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. I will count down from five and then we 
will start. So let's 5-4-3-2-1. The Joint Hearing of the 
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary 
Education and the Subcommittee on Higher Education and 
Workforce Investment will come to order. Welcome everyone. I 
note that a quorum is present. The Subcommittees are meeting 
today to hear testimony examining the implementation of COVID-
19 education funds.
    This is an entirely remote hearing. All microphones will be 
kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary background 
noise. Members and witnesses will be responsible for unmuting 
themselves when they are recognized to speak or when they wish 
to seek recognition. I also ask that Members please identify 
themselves before they speak.
    Members should keep their cameras on while in the 
proceeding. Members shall be considered present in the 
proceeding when they are visible on camera, and they shall be 
considered not present when they are not visible on camera. The 
only exception to this is if they are experiencing technical 
difficulty and inform the Committee staff of such difficulty.
    If any Member experiences technical difficulty during the 
hearing, you should stay connected on the platform, make sure 
you are muted and use your phone to immediately call the 
Committee's IT director, whose number was provided in advance. 
Should the Chair experience technical difficulty or need to 
step away to vote in a mark-up in another Committee, Mrs. 
Wilson, as Chair of the Higher Education and Workforce 
Investments Subcommittee, or another majority Member is hereby 
authorized to assume the gavel in the Chair's absence.
    This is an entirely remote hearing, and as such the 
Committee's hearing room is officially closed. Members who 
choose to sit with their individual devices in the hearing room 
must wear headphones to avoid feedback, echoes, and distortion 
resulting from more than one person on the software platform 
sitting in the same room. Members are also expected to adhere 
to social distancing and safe care guidelines, including the 
use of masks, hand sanitizer and wiping down their areas both 
before and after their presence in the hearing room.
    In order to ensure that the Committee's five-minute rules 
are adhered to, staff will be keeping track of the time using 
the Committee's field timer. The field timer will appear on its 
own thumbnail picture and will be named 001_timer. There will 
be no one-minute remaining warning. The field timer will show a 
blinking light when time is up. Members and witnesses are asked 
to wrap promptly when their time has expired.
    Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c), opening statements are 
limited to the Subcommittee Chairs and the Ranking Members. 
This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provide 
all Members with adequate time to ask questions. I recognize 
myself now for the purpose of making an opening statement.
    Today, we're meeting to take stock of our Nation's K 
through 12 schools and institutions of higher learning and 
higher education are using the Education Stabilization Fund and 
including in the American Rescue Plan to weather the pandemic 
and keep students learning. We're joined today by 
Undersecretary Kvaal and Deputy Secretary Marten. We look 
forward to their testimony regarding the Department of 
Education's plan to ensure states, school districts, and 
institutions of higher education are using the Education 
Stabilization Fund as Congress intended.
    Mr. Kvaal and Ms. Marten, thank you very much for joining 
us. As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe 
impact on students of all ages. In response, Congress has 
provided a historic level of funding to help states and school 
districts reopen schools safely and get students back into the 
classroom.
    The American Rescue Plan Funding is the single largest 
investment in K through 12 schooling that the Federal 
Government has ever made. But we also provided support for 
schools and school staff and students. In the CRRSA Act, the 
Corona Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 
government made nearly $200 billion in total for K through 12. 
This funding is a major reason why school districts around the 
country can reopen safely, stay open safely, and offer students 
additional resources to catch up when needed. The money is also 
helping with the mental and social stress the students and 
staff have suffered during the pandemic.
    A few examples. In Michigan, a school district used the 
Education Stabilization funds to operate ventilation assistance 
to improve air quality and reduce the spread of COVID. In 
Virginia, a school district used the money to hire more tutors 
to help close the students' achievement gap. In North Carolina, 
a school district was able to bring in more mental health 
counselors. In Utah, a school district is using this Federal 
assistance to pay for after school programs to make up for lost 
time in the classroom.
    In my own district, the Northern Mariana Islands, the 
public school system is expanding career and technical learning 
to its career pathway programs so students in the Marianas are 
ready to enter the rebounding economy. I am sure that every 
Member of our two Subcommittees have their own examples of how 
emergency funding for schools that the Biden administration 
pushed for, and Congress delivered is helping our constituents.
    However, because this has been such a large investment of 
Federal resources, our two Subcommittees' responsibility to 
keep watch over spending is even more pronounced than normal. 
While there have been reported instances where districts use 
Education Stabilization funds for projects outside of the 
intended scope, these districts seem to be the exception, not 
the rule. Moreover, as we will hear from our witnesses, the 
Department of Education has a clear path of oversight on the 
Education Stabilization Fund.
    The COVID-19 pandemic revealed long-standing challenges in 
our education system. It should be the norm that schools have 
functioning ventilation systems, not something we only think of 
in a pandemic. It should be the norm that students have access 
to tutors and counselors to meet their needs. I would like to 
believe that these emergency investments we have made will 
demonstrate that this is the scale of support we should be 
always providing our schools and prove, what I believe, that by 
investing in education, we are strengthening America's economy 
and preparing young people for lifelong success.
    I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue 
investing in America's future by investing in our students' 
futures. I now turn to the Ranking Member, Mr. Owens, for the 
purpose of making an opening statement.
    [The prepared statement of Chairman Sablan follows:]

      Statement of Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Chairman, 
  Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

    Today, we are meeting to take stock of how our Nation's K through 
12 schools and institutions of higher education are using the Education 
Stabilization Fund, including in the American Rescue Plan, to weather 
the pandemic and keep students learning.
    We are joined today by Under Secretary Kvaal and Deputy Secretary 
Marten. We look forward to their testimony regarding the Department of 
Education's plans to ensure states, school districts, and institutions 
of higher education are using the Education Stabilization Fund as 
Congress intended.
    Mr. Kvaal and Ms. Marten, thank you for joining us.
    As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on 
students of all ages. In response, Congress has provided an historic 
level of funding to help states and school districts reopen schools 
safely and get students back into the classroom.
    The American Rescue Plan funding was the single largest investment 
in K through 12 schooling that the Federal Government has ever made. 
But we also provided support for schools and school staff and students 
in the CARES Act, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental 
Appropriations Act, totaling nearly $200 billion in total for K through 
12.
    This funding is a major reason why school districts around the 
country can reopen safely, stay open safely, and offer students 
additional resources to catch up, where needed. The money is also 
helping with the mental and social stresses that students and staff 
have suffered during the pandemic.
    A few examples:

   In Michigan, a school district used Education Stabilization 
        Funds to upgrade ventilation systems to improve air quality and 
        reduce the spread of COVID-19.

   In Virginia, a school district used the money to hire more 
        tutors to help close the students' achievement gap.

   In North Carolina, a school district was able to bring in 
        more mental health counselors.

   In Utah, a school district is using this Federal assistance 
        to pay for after-school programs to make up for lost time in 
        the classroom.

   And in my own district, the Northern Mariana Islands, the 
        public school system is expanding career and technical learning 
        through its Career Pathways Program, so students in the 
        Marianas are ready to enter the rebounding economy.

    I am sure that every Member of our two subcommittees have their own 
examples of how the emergency funding for schools that the Biden 
administration pushed for and Congress delivered is helping our 
constituents.
    However, because this has been such a large investment of Federal 
resources, our two subcommittees' responsibility to keep watch over 
spending is even more pronounced than normal.
    While there have been reported instances where districts used 
Education Stabilization Funds for projects outside of the intended 
scope, these districts seem to be the exception, not the rule. 
Moreover, as we will hear from our witnesses, the Department of 
Education has a clear plan of oversight of the Education Stabilization 
Funds.
    The COVID-19 pandemic revealed longstanding challenges in our 
education system:

   It should be the norm that schools have functioning 
        ventilation systems, not something we only think of in a 
        pandemic.

   It should be the norm that students have access to tutors 
        and counselors to meet their needs.

    I would like to believe that these emergency investments we have 
made will demonstrate that this is the scale of support we should be 
always providing our schools and prove, what I believe, that by 
investing in education we are strengthening America's economy and 
preparing young people for lifelong success.
    I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue investing 
in America's future by investing in our students' futures.
    I now turn to the Ranking Member, Mr. Owens, for the purpose of 
making an opening statement.
                                 ______
                                 
    Mr. Owens. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Biden 
administration has been so wrapped up trying to implement its 
radical agenda that the real problem facing K through 12 
education has taken a back seat. If students were the Left's 
true priority, the Biden administration would be offering 
solutions for the immense damage done by keeping kids out of 
the classroom for over a year, instead of attempting to sic the 
DOJ on parents at school board meetings.
    We're here to talk about oversight, and oversight of an 
extraordinary amount of money that's been thrown at schools. 
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
implementing the COVID-19 mitigation strategy would cost $25 
billion at most. Yet even after Republicans and Democrats in 
Congress allocated 70 billion in K through 12 relief funds, 
Democrats insisted on spending another 120 billion of taxpayer 
funds of schools under the American Rescue Plan.
    Now let me repeat that. 25 billion suggested, 70 billion 
allocated bipartisan, and 120 billion Congress spent by the 
assistance of Democrats. The Democrats radical spending spree 
should not be seen as anything but a frenzied attempt to score 
political points with teachers union. To spend the money, 
Democrats have shown little interest in how these funds are 
being used or if they're being accomplished--or if they 
accomplish any of the intended purposes.
    Spending 400 percent more to K through 12 schools than are 
normally received from the Department of Education in 1 year 
should warrant transparency and accountability at the very 
least. We have a duty as taxpayers--to our taxpayers to ensure 
their money is being used as efficiently and effectively as 
possible. However, I'm concerned the Democrats created no 
pathway for us to keep track on how the money, the ed 
assistance spending, is being spent.
    This will make it very difficult for Congress to fulfill 
its duties. But more importantly, the Democrats and the 
Department should refocus on students. We should not let their 
needs or voices be lost. Students should continue to be the 
priority and not the adults overseeing the labor unions. With 
that I yield back. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Owens follows:]

Statement of Hon. Burgess Owens, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early 
             Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

    The Biden administration has been so wrapped up in trying to 
implement its radical agenda that the real problems facing K-12 
education have taken a backseat.
    If students were the left's true priority, the Biden administration 
would be offering solutions for the immense damage done by keeping kids 
out of the classroom for over a year instead of attempting to sic the 
DOJ on parents at school board meetings.
    But we are here today to talk about oversight-oversight of the 
exorbitant amounts of money that have been thrown at schools.
    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
implementing its COVID-19 mitigation strategy would cost $25 billion at 
most. Yet, even after Republicans and Democrats in Congress allocated 
$70 billion in K-12 relief funds, Democrats insisted on spending 
another $120 billion of taxpayer funds on schools under the American 
Rescue Plan.
    Democrats' radical spending spree should not be seen as anything 
but a frenzied attempt to score political points with teachers unions. 
Since spending the money, Democrats have shown little interest in how 
these funds are being used or if they are accomplishing their intended 
purpose.
    Sending 400 percent more to K-12 schools than they normally receive 
from the Department of Education during a year should warrant 
transparency and accountability at the very least.
    We have a duty to taxpayers to ensure that their money is being 
used as effectively and efficiently as possible. However, I am 
concerned that Democrats created no pathway for us to keep track of how 
the money they insisted on sending to schools is being spent. This will 
make it difficult for Congress to fulfill its duty.
    Before I yield back I'd like to express my frustration and 
disappointment that our witnesses today have failed to submit testimony 
within the 48 hours included in the Committee Rules, they could not 
even manage to get it to us within 24 hours. This doesn't bode well for 
transparency or accountability, both of which taxpayers deserve.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairman Sablan. I now would like to recognize Ms. Wilson 
of Florida, the Chair of the Higher Education and Workforce 
Investment Subcommittee, for the purpose of making an opening 
statement. Ms. Wilson, please.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Chair Sablan and welcome to 
everyone. Thank for you for hosting this hearing and providing 
an opportunity to discuss how higher education institutions 
have used the Education Stabilization Fund to reopen their 
campuses safely, address the urgent needs of students, and 
cover the added operating costs during the pandemic.
    The economic fallout from COVID-19 has exacerbated the 
challenges our students and institutions face. Across the U.S., 
colleges and universities experienced sharp declines in 
enrollment, severe funding cuts, and revenue losses due to 
campus closures that were necessary to stop the spread of the 
virus. In response, Congress provided more than 75 billion in 
funding to institutions through three COVID-19 relief bills, 
including the American Rescue Plan Act, and pointedly 
institutions were required to use at least half of the funding 
they received to provide emergency financial aid grants 
personally to students.
    So for students across the Nation, the American Rescue Plan 
funding has helped prevent homelessness and hunger for our 
students. For institutions, the American Rescue Plan funding 
helped offset revenue losses and supported efforts to test for, 
track, and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. In my district, 
Florida International University used these funds to respond to 
pandemic-related challenges in real time, including to set up a 
COVID-19 testing lab, establish a prevention and response team 
to carry out contact tracing, conduct outreach to their campus 
community on best practices, and meet technology needs of 
faculty and staff that were attending classes or working 
remotely.
    Children were given cash money to help them through this 
pandemic, needy students, sometimes twice during the pandemic, 
and it's ongoing. The investments we delivered to colleges and 
universities provided a lifeline to students and may have 
prevented the financial collapse of our higher education 
system. The Education Department must continue to ensure that 
institutions are using this funding responsibly to support 
their students, faculty, and staff and that states are holding 
up their end of the bargain by maintaining their investments in 
higher education.
    Quality higher education remains the surest pathway to the 
middle class for Americans across this Nation. Congress and the 
Education Department must work together to help students and 
institutions fully recover from this pandemic and to continue 
expanding access to the life-changing benefits that come with a 
quality degree. I look forward to hearing Mr. Kvaal and Ms. 
Marten's plans to continue strengthening oversight and ensuring 
that our investments provide students access to a safe, 
affordable, and quality education. I'm now pleased to yield to 
the distinguished Ranking Member of the Higher Education and 
Workforce Investments Subcommittee, Dr. Murphy, to make his 
opening statement. Dr. Murphy.
    [The prepared statement of Chairwoman Wilson follows:]

  Statement of Hon. Frederica S. Wilson, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on 
               Higher Education and Workforce Investment

    Thank you, Chair Sablan, for hosting this hearing and providing an 
opportunity to discuss how higher education institutions have used the 
Education Stabilization Fund to reopen their campuses safely, address 
the urgent needs of students, and cover the added operating costs 
during the pandemic.
    The economic fallout from COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges 
our students and institutions face. Across the U.S., colleges and 
universities experienced sharp declines in enrollment, severe funding 
cuts, and revenue losses due to campus closures that were necessary to 
stop the spread of the virus.
    In response, Congress provided more than $75 billion in funding to 
institutions through three COVID-19 relief bills, including the 
American Rescue Plan Act. Importantly, institutions were required to 
use at least half of the funding they received to provide emergency 
financial aid grants personally to students.
    For students across the Nation, the American Rescue Plan funding 
has helped prevent homelessness and hunger for our students.
    For institutions, the American Rescue Plan funding helped offset 
revenue losses and supported efforts to test for, track, and mitigate 
the spread of COVID-19.
    In my district, Florida International University used these funds 
to respond to pandemic related challenges in real time, including to 
set up a COVID-19 testing lab, establish a prevention and response team 
to carry out contact tracing, conduct outreach to their campus 
community on best practices, and meet the technology needs of faculty 
and staff that were attending classes or working remotely.
    Children were given cash money to help them through this pandemic; 
needy students, sometimes twice, and it's ongoing.
    The investments we delivered to colleges and universities provided 
a lifeline to students and may have prevented the financial collapse of 
our higher education system. The Education Department must continue to 
ensure that institutions are using this funding responsibly to support 
their students, faculty, and staff, and that states are holding up 
their end of the bargain by maintaining their investments in higher 
education.
    Quality higher education remains the surest pathway to the middle 
class for Americans across the country. Congress and the Education 
Department must work together to help students and institutions fully 
recover from this pandemic and to continue expanding access to the life 
changing benefits that come with a quality degree.
    I look forward to hearing Mr. Kvaal's and Ms. Marten's plans to 
continue strengthening oversight and ensuring that our investments 
provide students access to a safe, affordable, and quality education.
    I am now pleased to yield to the distinguished Ranking Member of 
the Higher Education and Workforce Investments Subcommittee, Dr. 
Murphy, to make his opening statement.
                                 ______
                                 
    Mr. Murphy. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank everyone 
for coming today. Congressional oversight of the Federal 
Government is one of those--this Committee's most important 
duties. This includes, among other things, ensuring that 
taxpayer dollars are used effectively and for their intended 
purposes. There's no such thing as government-funded programs. 
These are only taxpayer-funded programs.
    And those hard-working taxpayers deserve to know how their 
money is being spent. Like other industries, the pandemic 
caught higher education flat foot. We did not understand this 
was coming and there was not much of a response that we had 
before then. In response, Congress provided colleges and 
universities over $70 billion in relief funding on top of over 
the $100 billion in grants, loans, and other student aid 
appropriated by Congress each year.
    Well, this support was a lifeline to many institutions of 
higher education. Many schools were previously already 
struggling prior to this once-in-a-generation or hopefully more 
than that pandemic. COVID-19 only accelerated the need for 
those institutions to rethink their business models if they're 
to survive in the future and shed further light on the issues 
that have plagued our higher education system.
    Regardless, despite what some think, as major recipients of 
taxpayer dollars, institutions of higher education are not 
exempt from congressional oversight and accountability. As it 
stands, 40 percent of all students now fail to graduate from a 
college or university within 6 years. Let me read that again. 
Forty percent of students fail to graduate from a college or 
university within 6 years.
    For those students who do complete their degree, they often 
find themselves ill-prepared for the workforce and worse off 
financially than they would have been if they had not attended 
that college or university. Yet many of my colleagues suggested 
the solution to double, is to double-down on the ill-conceived 
and misguided idea that more money always means better 
outcomes. When colleges spend exorbitant amounts of taxpayer 
dollars on administrative salaries and administrative bloat, 
instead of innovating funding ways to improve student 
outcomes., more money will result in much more of the same and 
poor student outcomes.
    It is Congress and this Department's responsibility to 
ensure that colleges and universities spend taxpayer dollars in 
a way that helps students, not hire more administrators and 
grow more non-academic programs, which is why I'm happy that we 
are having this hearing today. Unfortunately, however, I share 
the concern of many of my colleagues that the Department is too 
focused on implementing their progressive wish list and 
attacking colleges based upon their tax status, to carry out 
their necessary oversight of the $280 billion in pandemic 
relief funds the Department is responsible for.
    That said, I'm looking forward to hearing from Mr. Kvaal 
and Ms. Marten, whom I hope will provide some clarity regarding 
the numerous tasks they are responsible for overseeing at the 
Department.
    Last, I would just like to point out something and express 
a concern of mine regarding witness testimony. Our ability to 
provide sufficient oversight is hindered when witnesses don't 
have the courtesy to provide their testimony in a timely 
manner, as what's happened here. My hope that this does not 
become a pattern and our witnesses today do a better job of 
respecting the very busy schedule of this Committee in the 
future. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I will now yield back.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Murphy follows:]

 Statement of Hon. Gregory F. Murphy, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on 
               Higher Education and Workforce Investment

    Congressional oversight of the Federal Government is one of this 
committee's most important duties. This includes, among other things, 
ensuring taxpayers dollars are being used effectively and for their 
intended purposes.
    There is no such thing as `government funded' programs; there is 
only `taxpayer funded' programs, and those hardworking taxpayers 
deserve to know how their money is being spent.
    Like other industries, the pandemic caught higher education flat 
footed. In response, Congress provided colleges and universities over 
$70 billion in relief funding on top of the over $100 billion in 
grants, loans, and other student aid appropriated by Congress each 
year.
    While this support was a lifeline to many institutions of higher 
education, many schools were already struggling prior to this once in a 
generation pandemic.
    COVID-19 only accelerated the need for those institutions to 
rethink their business models if they are to survive in the future and 
shed further light on the issues that have long plagued our higher 
education system.
    Regardless, despite what some think, as major recipients of 
taxpayer dollars, institutions of higher education are not exempt from 
congressional oversight and accountability.
    As it stands, 40 percent of all students fail to graduate from a 
university or college within 6 years. For those students who do 
complete their degree, they often find themselves ill-prepared for the 
workforce and worse off financially than they would have been if they 
had not attended that college or university.
    Yet, many of my colleagues suggest the solution is to double down 
on the misguided idea that more money means better outcomes. When 
colleges
    spend exorbitant amounts of taxpayer dollars on administrative 
salaries and administrative bloat instead of innovative ways to improve 
student outcomes, more money will result in much more of the same and 
poor student outcomes.
    It is Congress and this Department's responsibility to ensure 
colleges and universities spend tax dollars in a way that helps 
students-which is why I'm happy that we are having this hearing today.
    Unfortunately, however, I share the concern of many of my 
colleagues that the Department is too focused on implementing their 
progressive wish list and attacking colleges based upon their tax 
status to carry out their necessary oversight of the $280 billion in 
pandemic relief funds the Department is responsible for.
    That said, I am looking forward to hearing from Mr. Kvaal and Ms. 
Marten--whom I hope will provide some clarity regarding the numerous 
tasks they are responsible for overseeing at the Department.
    Last, I'd just like to express a concern of mine regarding witness 
testimony. Our ability to provide sufficient oversight is hindered when 
witnesses don't have the courtesy to provide their testimony in a 
timely manner as what's happened here. My hope is that this does not 
become a pattern and that our witnesses today do a better job of 
respecting this committee in the future.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairman Sablan. Without objection, all other Members who 
wish to insert written statements into the record may do so by 
submitting them to the Committee Clerk electronically in 
Microsoft Word format by 5 p.m. on December 1st. I will now 
introduce our witnesses.
    Ms. Cindy Marten is currently Deputy Secretary of the 
Department of Education. Before joining the Department, Ms. 
Marten served as the superintendent of the San Diego Unified 
School District. She has spent 32 years as an educator holding 
various roles of increasing responsibility as a teacher, 
literacy specialist, vice principal, and principal.
    Mr. James Kvaal is currently Undersecretary of the 
Department of Education. He most recently served as the 
president of the Institute for College Access and Success in 
Research and Advocacy, a non-profit dedicated to affordability 
and equity in higher education. Mr. Kvaal also served in the 
Obama administration as the deputy domestic policy advisor of 
the White House and Deputy Undersecretary of the Department.
    He also served as a staffer on the Committee. We appreciate 
the witnesses participating today and look forward to your 
testimony. Let me remind the witnesses that we have read your 
written statement and they will appear in full in the hearing 
record. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(d) and Committee practice, 
each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to five 
minutes summary of your written statement.
    Before you begin your testimony, please remember to unmute 
your microphone, and during your testimony staff will be 
keeping track of time and the light will blink when time is up. 
Please be sensitive to the time and wrap up when your time is 
over and re-mute your microphone.
    If any of you experience technical difficulties during your 
testimony or later in the hearing, you should stay connected on 
the platform, make sure you are muted, and use your phone to 
immediately call the Committee IT's director, whose number was 
provided to you in advance. We will let all witnesses make 
their presentation before we move to Member questions. When 
answering a question, please remember to unmute your 
microphone. The witnesses are aware of the responsibility to 
provide accurate information to the Committee, and therefore we 
will proceed with their testimony. I will first recognize Ms. 
Marten. Ms. Marten, you have five minutes please.

STATEMENT OF CYNTHIA M. MARTEN, DEPUTY SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF 
                           EDUCATION

    Ms. Marten. Thank you very much. Good morning Chair Sablan, 
Chair Wilson, Ranking Member Owen, Ranking Member Murphy and 
Chair Scott and Ranking Member Foxx, and distinguished Members 
of the Subcommittees, I'm honored to be here alongside 
Undersecretary James Kvaal, to speak about the important 
progress the Department of Education is making in supporting 
our schools and students as they recover from the COVID-19 
pandemic.
    I thank this body for the important investments you have 
made to the Education Stabilization Fund, to get our children 
safely back in school, and to address the impact of the 
pandemic on students' social, emotional, mental health and 
academic needs. The pandemic has both shined a light on and 
exacerbated the existing challenges in our education system.
    Since the beginning of the administration, President Biden 
and the Department have had a clear objective: Getting students 
back in school in-person, full-time, and building back better 
to inspire our Nation's educators to turn the pandemic's 
lessons into a more equitable experience for all students. We 
cannot go back to the status quo. We know that students learn 
and develop best socially, emotionally, and academically at 
school, and early in the administration we built an 
infrastructure to support states and districts in tackling this 
goal.
    We continue to develop and refine resources, guidance, and 
support mechanisms to meet the needs of students, families, and 
educators around the country. These support systems are 
working. In January, only 46 percent of schools around the 
country were open for fully in-person instruction. Today, that 
number is 99.2 percent, representing 99.6 percent of all 
students. We know more about the COVID-19 virus than we did in 
early 2020, and we know more about the science that is 
effectively keeping our students safe in schools.
    Using layered mitigation strategies tailored to the needs 
of local communities, schools can now effectively plan for a 
healthy, in-person learning, ensuring minimal disruption and 
consistently safe in-person experiences for all students. The 
funding provided to the Education Stabilization Fund, including 
through the American Rescue Plan Act, is helping schools around 
the country implement these strategies and institutionalize 
evidence-based, creative and innovative approaches to meet 
students' social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs.
    To date, all 52 ARP ESSER State plans for every State, the 
District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have been submitted to 
the Department, and 46 plans have been approved. These 
resources make it possible for students to get what they need, 
when they need it, and in ways that help them thrive in the 
classroom and in their lives. Educators are able to teach and 
lead from a place of opportunity and innovation, rather than 
one of scarcity. At the Department, we are committed to 
maintaining a high level of service to all stakeholders working 
to keep students learning safely, and to ensuring that every 
dollar of these funds benefits students as Congress intended.
    The next step in fulfilling our promise of a high-quality 
education for every student is the Built Back Better agenda. By 
implementing the core tenets of this agenda, we can engage 
young minds by investing in universal pre-kindergarten and 
creating clear pathways between the early years of brain 
development and outcomes of literacy, skills competency, and 
articulation into elementary school and beyond.
    We can strengthen the relationship among pre-K and K-12 
education, higher education, workforce, and our Nation's long-
term economic health. We can ensure the Department of Education 
continues to meet the needs of students, educators, and leaders 
with the resources, expertise, guidance, and support they need 
to succeed in the 21st century.
    Last month, I had the opportunity to meet with the National 
Teachers of the Year. D.C. Teacher of the Year, Alejandro Diaz 
Granados, said something that has stuck with me since then and 
that inspires my work every day. He said we as teachers, 
administrators and staff worked to open schools in the fall, 
but it's students' love of learning that is keeping them open.
    We owe it to our students to create educational experiences 
that are safe, healthy, inspiring, and that they can connect 
to. We have more work to do, but the progress made is evident 
and enjoy the experiences of teachers and the students around 
the country sitting in their in their classrooms right now. 
We're eager to continue to support them and to Build Back 
Better together. Thank you, and I look forward to answering 
your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Marten follows:]

                Prepared Statement of Cynthia M. Marten
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you Ms. Marten, and we will now 
hear from Mr. Kvaal. Mr. Kvaal, you have five minutes sir.

    STATEMENT OF JAMES KVAAL, UNDERSECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF 
                           EDUCATION

    Mr. Kvaal. Good morning Chair Sablan, Chair Wilson, Ranking 
Member Owen, Ranking Member Murphy, Chair Scott, Ranking Member 
Foxx, and distinguished Members of the Committee. I commend you 
for your wisdom and foresight in creating the higher education 
emergency relief fund, which we call HEERF. It has made a 
tremendous difference for college students struggling with the 
devastating health, economic, and academic impacts of the 
pandemic and national emergency.
    HEERF has been a lifeline for students facing economic 
losses due to the pandemic, including many who are homeless or 
do not have enough to eat. It helps students afford new 
technology needs, stay enrolled in college, and helps colleges 
meet urgent public health needs and slow the spread of the 
pandemic, and save the jobs of faculty and staff.
    In early 2020 as the pandemic swept the country, college 
students faced the same sudden and severe challenges as other 
Americans, and yet students were ineligible or most students 
were ineligible for much of the financial assistance provided 
to other Americans, such as the one-time cash payments under 
the CARES Act.
    As colleges shifted from in-person to remote instruction 
overnight, the magnitude and stark inequities of the digital 
divide were immediately apparent. One student in five reported 
technology barriers to online learning, and many faculty felt 
unprepared. Colleges also faced unprecedented financial 
challenges. Falling enrollments, the potential for State budget 
cuts, and steep declines in revenue coincided with new 
pedagogical and public health expenses such as COVID-19 
testing, personal protective equipment, and new or transformed 
facilities and technology.
    Past economic recessions have driven up tuition and student 
debt, doing lasting harm to students. Public colleges and 
universities, which serve three out of four students, entered 
the pandemic with historically low per-student funding. 
Recognizing the severity of these challenges, Congress quickly 
passed bipartisan economic recovery legislation, the first ever 
to provide relief specifically for colleges, universities, and 
the students they serve.
    The third and final law, President Biden's American Rescue 
Plan, was enacted in March 2021 and contributed more than half 
of the total $76 billion investment in HEERF. HEERF has had a 
real impact on students and their colleges. For example, I 
recently received a letter from President Daniel Phelan of 
Jackson College in Michigan, describing how HEERF helped pay 
for student tuition and fees, food, housing, course materials, 
medical and mental health care, and childcare. According to a 
recent survey of college presidents, 93 percent said it funded 
emergency scholarships and helped retain students at risk of 
dropping out. 88 percent said it helped them meet urgent public 
health needs, and 70 percent said it helped them continue to 
employ faculty and stuff.
    In 2020, more than seven million students received 
emergency scholarships worth an average of $850 each. Students 
tell us these dollars had a great impact on their ability not 
only to survive the pandemic, but to stay in school and remain 
engaged with their studies. HEERF also helped stabilize the 
perilous finances of many colleges. Earlier this year, Moody's 
Investor Services cited HEERF as a factor in its decision to 
raise the higher education outlook to stable after years of 
negative projections.
    Although we are almost 2 years into the fight of COVID-19, 
students still face a long road ahead. Enrollment has fallen by 
700,000 students, threatening to leave a permanent dent in our 
country's educational attainment. Many returning students face 
continuing financial needs, academic gaps and mental health 
challenges. Colleges face revenue losses of between 75 billion 
dollars and 115 billion dollars over the next 5 years, as well 
as new costs for evolving public safety, pedagogical, and 
workforce needs.
    The Department of Education staff has worked harder to 
provide clear, comprehensive guidance to colleges and 
universities and establish strong internal controls to ensure 
funds are spent appropriately. We continue to monitor spending 
patterns, clarify allowable uses of funds, and work with 
grantees to maximize the impact of these funds. Driving an 
equitable recovery from the pandemic is a key part of President 
Biden's vision to Build Back Better.
    It is the foundation of his strategy to tackle the student 
debt crisis and build a stronger more inclusive system of 
higher education that serves the goals of equity and upward 
mobility. Working together, we can, and we will, heal, learn, 
and grow through this challenging time. I am committed to work 
collaboratively with Members of this Committee, to strengthen 
our colleges and universities and help students from all 
backgrounds earn college degrees and certificates that lead to 
better jobs and better lives.
    Thank you for the honor of appearing before you, and I look 
forward to our conversation.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Kvaal follows:]

                   Prepared Statement of James Kvaal
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Kvaal. So, under Committee 
Rule 9(a), we will now question witnesses under the five-minute 
rule. After the Chairs and Ranking Members, I will recognize 
Members of both Subcommittees in the order of their seniority 
on the full Committee. Again, to ensure that the Members' five-
minute rule is adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time 
and blinking light will show when time has expired. Please be 
attentive to the time, wrap up when your time is over, and re-
mute your microphones.
    As Chairman, I now recognize myself for five minutes, and I 
now--at this time I seek unanimous consent to insert into the 
record a letter to the two Subcommittees from Dr. Galvin Deleon 
Guerrero, president of the Northern Marianas College. Without 
objection, so ordered.
    Chairman Sablan. Mr. Kvaal, under the CARES Act, 50 percent 
of funds received by institutions from the primary allocation 
formula were required to be spent on emergency financial aid 
grants to students. The CARES Act also prohibited institutions 
from helping HEER Funds of contracted recruitment services, 
endowments, and capital spending related to athletics, 
sectarian instruction, and religious worship.
    How is the Department monitoring and overseeing 
institutions' compliance with this requirement?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well, thank you for the question Chair Sablan, 
and we have worked very hard to make sure that all colleges are 
spending funds within the allowable uses outlined by Congress. 
Let me mention a couple of things. First, we published clear, 
comprehensive guidance through letters, webinars, and 
associations. We have created quarterly and annual reporting 
requirements. We have worked with OMB to designate these funds 
as high risk, which means their auditors will prioritize them 
in the annual audit.
    We've imposed additional oversight for colleges that are 
financially risky or once known as Heightened Cash Monitoring 
2. We've imposed additional audit requirements on some grantees 
that are not current--were not otherwise required to conduct 
audits, and finally we required for public colleges, 
presidents, and major owners to sign certification forms 
indicating that they're aware of all the requirements of these 
funds.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you for that and let me go now to 
Ms. Marten. Ms. Marten, I'm encouraged by the Department's 
administration of the American Rescue Plan, and today all 50 
states plus the Northern Mariana Islands, District of Columbia, 
and Puerto Rico, have submitted ARP ESSER State Plans to the 
Department in line with the agency's interim final 
requirements.
    Further, the Department has approved 46 ARP ESSER State 
Plans and awarded approximately 91 percent of the ARP ESSER 
funds to State educational agencies. So, my two questions is 
how is the Department ensuring that State funds are consistent 
with the law, and what is the Department's plan for ongoing 
monitoring of states and districts implementing their plans, to 
ensure continued compliance with the law?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you so much for your question Chair 
Sablan and recognizing also that your area has that investment 
and that plan has been approved for the 52 State plans being 
submitted, and that 46 are approved, and it's so important that 
these funds are being used in the way intended, which is first 
of all the immediate needs, health and safety needs, social, 
emotional, mental health needs, and academic needs that include 
learning loss. We know students need access to those kinds of 
programs.
    So, the way we ensure that through monitoring the State 
plans, first of all as they come in, to ensure that the State 
plans include the efforts that were intended by the law that 
you all enacted. And so, to make sure that as we look at the 
plans, we're looking at it through those lenses. And then 
through the monitoring, it's ongoing monitoring. We are both 
focused and targeted monitoring that's looking at specifically 
an area that needs to be addressed, that certain states will 
look at that.
    We also have comprehensive monitoring, where we're looking 
at full programmatic areas, and then consolidated monitoring. 
This is super-important to us that the updates are done in a 
way that we have a transparency portal in the Ed Stabilization 
Fund, transparency portal that provides a clarity on 
transparency for everybody to be able to access that and make 
sure that the dollars are being used in the intended manner.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, thank you. Just as a courtesy, 
as the senior Member from the outlying areas of the five 
insular jurisdictions, would you please provide, under separate 
cover, provide the Committee with the status of plans submitted 
by these outlying areas, and also the status if the Department 
hasn't given its approval to those plans. Thank you.
    Ms. Martens. Yes, yes sir. We'd be happy to provide that.
    Chairman Sablan. So, I now recognize Ranking Member Owens 
for five minutes of questions. So, Mr. Owens please.
    Mr. Owens. Thank you again, Mr. Chair, and for the 
witnesses for being here today. Deputy Secretary Marten, 
earlier this year the Department proposed grant priorities--
just a second, hold tight. Hang on, sorry. Earlier this year, 
the Department proposed grant priorities under the American 
History and Civics Education Program, that would have promoted 
a curriculum aligned with Critical Race Theory.
    The Department partially backed off of the worse aspects of 
this proposal. Still, that move from the agency kicked off a 
firestorm of parents concerned about the racist indoctrination 
in America's public schools. Deputy Secretary Marten let's 
agree that the actual academic theory called Critical Race 
Theory is not likely being taught in any K through 12 schools. 
I do not dispute that.
    However, the curriculum, the teacher strategies, 
professional development inspired by the Critical Race Theory 
worldview, has without question, invaded our Nation's 
classrooms. What is that worldview? Thomas Chatterton Williams 
summarized the Critical Race Theory view of the world in an 
essay a few years ago.
    He said and I quote, ``Though it is not at all morally 
equivalent, it is nevertheless in synch with the toxic premise 
of white supremacists. Both sides easily reduce people to 
abstract color categories, all the while feeding off of and 
legitimizing each other, while those of us searching for gray 
areas and common ground get devoured twice. Both sides mystify 
radical identity, interpreting it as something fixed, 
interpreting it as almost supernatural. It is a dangerous 
vision of life that we should refuse no matter who is doing the 
conjuring.''
    Deputy Secretary Marten, will you reject the dangerous and 
divisive vision of the life embodied in Critical Race Theory as 
you implement your policies at the Department of Education?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you, Mr. Owens, but allow me to have a 
conversation about this. I want to make clear that the 
Department is not involved in any curriculum decisions. 
Curriculum decisions are made at the State and the local level, 
and we trust educators to make those decisions in that context, 
and it's made based on what students are learning.
    Mr. Owens. OK. Well, I'm going to disagree in that one 
area. Professional Development is being pushed at the Federal 
level, so that's a conversation we'll have at another time. 
Deputy, one other question here. The Defense of Freedom 
Institute recently released a report titled ``Teacher Union 
Resistance to Reopening Schools: An Examination of the Law 
Against U.S. School Districts.''
    That report included, and I quote, ``The record in several 
large school districts demonstrates that the teacher unions' 
response to school reopening plans differ only in degree, 
regardless of whether the local union was affiliated with NEA 
or AFT or independent. It also did not matter if the State or 
local policies were union friendly or not. In no instance did 
the teachers' union advocate that schools reopen with in-person 
classroom instruction. On the contrary, they were classroom 
instruction's primary opponents during the pandemic.''
    In a separate study from the Annenberg Institute at Brown 
University found out, and I quote ``Large school districts, 
where unions were undoubtedly stronger, on average are far more 
likely to heed the preference of the unions to keep in-person 
schooling closed and rely on fully remote models of teaching 
and learning.'' Ms. Marten, what efforts are you willing to 
take to protect students from the undue interference of teacher 
unions in our education?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for your question. I'm happy to point 
out now at this point 99.2 percent of our schools are open for 
full in-person learning, and that is so important because we 
know that's where students learn best is in-person, following 
all of the layer mitigation strategies that we know work, as 
well as allowing not only our schools to be open, but to stay 
open, and doing that in a way that keeps everybody safe, 
including the educators, the full school staff, the students, 
and the community in which those schools exist.
    That's always critical and the path forward. It's one 
that's aligned with safety and evidence of what works for 
schools and the communities in which they exist.
    Mr. Owens. All right, I appreciate that. Just a real quick 
question. Obviously, that's where we are moving forward. My 
question is how we make sure that this influence of the unions 
are not part of our future process moving forward, because 
obviously it was part of our past. So how do we make sure that 
doesn't happen again?
    Ms. Martens. All decisions around our schools are 
definitely made at the local level, and local communities 
having the critical conversations. What I know is that when 
stakeholders, including the employees and the parents and the 
students and everybody in the community at large in which the 
school exists, the more robust the conversation and inclusive 
of the people doing the work and the people that are impacted 
by the work is where we make the best decisions.
    I think we see that at the local level and local school 
districts make decisions that are inclusive of all important 
stakeholders.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you.
    Mr. Owens. Thank you. Thank you so much. I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Owens. I'd now like to 
recognize Ms. Wilson please for five minutes of questioning.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Kvaal, even 
before the pandemic, we knew that many students aspiring to 
attend institutions of higher education were having trouble 
meeting their basic needs such as housing, food, and 
transportation. These challenges have grown substantially due 
to the pandemic. So, we used taxpayer dollars to uplift 
taxpaying families who needed it.
    Have you heard from colleges and students about how the 
relief funding provided by Congress has helped them? What 
lessons have we learned from the pandemic about what students 
need to not only survive, but thrive in a college environment 
and to what extent could institutions and students use 
additional funds to ensure that their basic needs are not an 
obstacle to completing their higher education?
    Mr. Kvaal. Chair Wilson, thanks so much for this important 
question, and it's absolutely the case that even before the 
pandemic, disturbingly large numbers of students were 
struggling with homelessness or with food insecurity. And in 
part of course the President is working toward doubling the 
Pell grant. That's a really critical part of it.
    But colleges also need additional resources to meet the 
needs of students as they arise. The Pell grant is based on 
your financial circumstances at the time you're applying for 
financial aid. It may not help you if you lose a job, your 
parent loses a job, or you face other emergency circumstances.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you very much. We also know--this 
is for Ms. Marten--under the American Rescue Plan, Congress 
required State educational agencies to really reserve at least 
5 percent of their total ARP ESSER allocation to address 
learning loss and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic 
on underserved student groups.
    Likewise, the law requires that districts preserve at least 
20 percent of their ARP ESSER allocation for the same purpose. 
How is the Department monitoring it, overseeing this? Can you 
tell us more about how states and districts are using their 
ESSER funds and let us know what we can do to make Governors 
like Governor DeSantis release money that he's holding up, 
withholding critical ESSER funding for our state?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you, Chairwoman Wilson for the 
opportunity to talk about this. As you mentioned, the focus on 
learning loss was intended and it's part of how we review and 
approve the State plans looking for what we talked about the 20 
percent being dedicated to that. In just 13 days after the ARP 
was signed, we sent out $81 billion to states in that first 
release of funds, and now 95 percent of the $122 billion of 
those funds have been released.
    And as you mentioned, 25 percent, which is 3.5 billion, is 
directed toward learning loss. We're monitoring that State by 
State and LEA by LEA, and we're seeing the ways that we're 
addressing learning loss. For example, almost 6,000 districts 
were using educational technology that was needed for some 
students to continue their learning. We saw almost 6,000 LEAs 
and local districts spending $377 million just on cleaning and 
supplies, which was important to get schools open. We know that 
99 percent of the schools being open is critical.
    But then we got into the most important thing you're 
talking about, the learning loss, the summer programs. We're 
seeing summer learning programs, 851 LEAs with 51 million. All 
of this is available in our trans--at the Transparency Portal, 
and we're monitoring specifically the learning loss because 
health and safety, as that was important to get schools open, 
now we need to begin to address the learning loss, in other 
words, the mental health needs, examples as in New York, 
putting 500 social workers in place to make sure students' 
social and emotional needs are met, because we know that is 
helpful in addressing their learning needs, is making sure 
their social, emotional, and mental health needs are addressed, 
as well as their academic needs.
    So, State by State plans are being monitored, with the 
intent of understanding that these dollars are being applied in 
the way intended, especially around learning loss and that 
focus.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much, and I happen to be in 
a State with a Governor that does not understand that and 
refuses to release the moneys to our school districts. And I 
hope that the Department of Education will help us with that 
issue, and the Secretary of Education is in lockstep with him. 
So please help Florida with Governor DeSantis, who has withheld 
our ESSER funds.
    I will try to get this one in. We're going to have an 
onslaught of kindergarteners coming into our schools because of 
universal pre-K. Have schools been notified or have states 
getting--what are they doing to prepare for these 
kindergarteners? Full day, universal kindergarten. Not half 
day.
    Chairman Sablan. Ms. Marten, maybe you could provide Ms. 
Wilson that, an answer to that question please? We're going to 
move; we're going to move on.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you.
    Ms. Marten. Yes sir, thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Chairwoman Wilson. Dr. Murphy, 
sir, you have five minutes for questioning please.
    Mr. Murphy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank 
the witnesses for coming today. One of the things that has 
troubled me for many years since being on the college, the 
board of college trustees at my alma mater was the problem with 
free speech on campus. We've actually been told in this 
Committee that free speech, the free speech issue is not a 
problem or a problem on college campuses.
    Yet we held a roundtable a couple of weeks ago with 
institutions like Princeton, Yale, William and Mary, Davidson 
and we had a plethora of students and other individuals that 
talked about episodes that occur on campuses daily, bullying, 
canceling, etcetera that goes on regarding the abuses and 
attacks that occur, that students are not able to have free 
speech.
    So, Mr. Kvaal, I'd like to ask you, do you agree that 
public institutions of higher education should abide by the 
First Amendment?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Murphy for the question. My 
understanding is that is the law.
    Mr. Murphy. That is the law, but do you agree that's--that 
should be done by colleges and institutions of higher learning?
    Mr. Kvaal. I do. I think the free speech is an incredibly 
important concept in our society and our democracy. It's a 
foundational value, I think it is particularly important on 
college campuses and we need to support free inquiry, while 
also maintaining spaces that make everyone feel safe as well.
    Mr. Murphy. Yes. It's always troubling to me to hear that 
there are ``free speech zones'' on campuses. It's just--I mean 
I shake my head. Why isn't everywhere on campus a free speech 
zone? Do you agree that we should do anything possible to 
protect, to protect free speech, whether a student or a 
professor likes to hear what the person is saying or not?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well again, I do think that maintaining free 
speech is really important on college campuses, and we need to 
do that within a safe and welcoming environment. The Department 
of Education does not set policy regulating speech on college 
campuses. If there were a case where, you know, a court were to 
determine that a college had violated the First Amendment, then 
we would certainly look at that. But that is our--that's what 
our role is in the area of free speech.
    Mr. Murphy. All right well thank you, because I think you 
know there's been a large swell of alumni groups now in the 
country, because seemingly this is--a lot of college 
presidents, universities, and other faculty Members are tone 
deaf to the screaming that many students are seeing on college 
campus, that they're being canceled or that they cannot exhibit 
their true opinions in class for fear they'll have their grades 
altered or being condemned by other students.
    Because anybody that says that's not a problem is not 
living in the real world. So, I think that colleges and 
universities are going to see a swell, and we actually saw a 
group that was published in the Wall Street Journal of five 
universities. That has now swelled to over 90 universities, 
where alumni are actually walking away with their feet and with 
their resources because of the lack of free speech on campus.
    My particular alma mater, in my opinion, is giving lip 
service to that such. So it's very--it's going to be very 
interesting, because I think is going to be a First Amendment 
issue that goes on, on college campuses. So let me ask you 
another question. I know that you guys don't ``enact the 
policy,'' but do you believe that students should have the 
right to sue their college or university if they feel their 
First Amendment rights are being violated?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well, Dr. Murphy, I have to say I haven't 
studied that question. It's clear to me that you've thought a 
lot about this and you're very well informed, and I'd welcome 
the opportunity to have further conversations with you about 
it.
    Mr. Murphy. And that's fine. I mean I'll take that as a 
yes. But because it is a free speech issue, you know. We want 
everybody to speak, whether they be Communists, whether they be 
the other side of the political spectrum or not. It is not a 
cancel place to go on campus. This is where you're supposed to 
grow your mind. You're supposed to not be told what to think; 
you're supposed to be taught how to think.
    And it comes, leadership comes from the top down, and it 
comes from you guys as the Department of Education, that you 
should espousing that free speech should not have zones on 
campuses. It should actually have every classroom and every 
step and place on the campus. So, I appreciate your leadership 
in that matter. It's going to be a big deal and I think it's 
going to be a bigger and bigger deal as we saw that parents and 
everybody else see what's going on in classrooms as we move 
forward in this country. With that, Mr. Chairman, it looks like 
my time's up, and I will yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Let me now recognize Mr. 
Courtney. Mr. Courtney, you have five minutes for questioning 
please.
    Mr. Courtney. Great. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman and 
thank you for--to the witnesses for being here today to, you 
know, really dive into a really important topic. You know, 
across my district seeing the American Rescue Plan funding 
deployed in school districts like the Town of Enfield, which 
put a lot of its--a chunk of its money toward a summer program 
to address learning loss which I attended, and you can feel the 
energy, positive energy in the room with kids who were together 
again, and who again were there, really, I think very engaged 
in their classwork.
    In the Town of Salem, one of my favorite programs was a 
Parent Academy that was stood up to again, help connect parents 
to their kids' school issues. I think all of us can agree 
that's the healthiest way for school districts to engage 
parents as an important stakeholder in terms of making sure 
kids succeed. In the Town of Vernon, they boosted, where I 
live, their social worker staff to again help kids deal with 
the social-emotional fallout from the pandemic.
    But one other aspect of the Rescue Plan, Ms. Marten, which 
I wanted to talk about with you for a moment, was that, you 
know, as long as I've been in Congress, there's been a hue and 
cry about the fact that special education has been underfunded. 
It has not matched the mandate when Gerald Ford, President 
Gerald Ford signed it into law.
    Those three billion new dollars that was put into the 
special ed funding, which now in Connecticut is going to be, 
you know, helping every single district. Maybe you could just 
talk a little bit about that, particularly that population 
which took a real hit during the pandemic in terms of keeping 
them engaged with their schoolwork.
    Ms. Marten ----around some of the things that you 
highlighted, and specifically the $3 billion of the ARP funds 
that are identified for nearly eight million students with 
disabilities. Part of what's baked into our approach and the 
funding streams here is to address those who are most 
disproportionately impacted by what they've been through. And 
so specifically students with disabilities, we understand what 
they've experienced and some of the State plans have to 
specifically address those needs.
    We focus on everything has to be evidence-based. It has to 
address the social, emotional, and mental health needs of 
students, as well as if there's a disproportionate impact like 
we saw with students with disabilities. So, we're seeing State 
by State the plans are intended to address those. I'm seeing, I 
can say from a personal level, I'm a sibling of a person with 
developmental disabilities. It's my older brother, and I 
understand as states develop with the specific intention, I 
think it was smart that we set, made sure that $3 billion were 
allocated, because there's eight million students with 
disabilities that were disproportionately impacted.
    So the kinds of things that they need are decided school by 
school, State by State with a student in mind and we say we 
need to know our students by name and by need, and design 
what's going to best help them individually recover what's been 
missing for them.
    Mr. Courtney. So, I hope the Department, because again you 
described it, you know, perfectly in terms of the value of that 
priority. It's just that, you know, we can maybe get the, you 
know, sort of analysis of the impacts, because again this has 
been a, just a persistent nagging issue about the fact that for 
school districts who again don't dispute the need for helping 
kids with special learning plans, but you know again, it can 
get real expensive to make sure that we understand how this 
really worked in terms of Washington, you know, really living 
up to the mandate that was created.
    And again, I know in the Fiscal Year 1922 budget that the 
President sent over, there was an increase in special ed which 
again, has basically flatlined for decades. So anyway, kudos to 
the Department for working on that.
    Mr. Kvaal, it's great to see you again. Congratulations on, 
you know, being back in the saddle. You know, as we look at the 
Rescue Plan money and the other, you know, higher ed funding 
which again, some of it went directly to students, has there 
been any sort of, you know, sort of data in terms of what 
that's done in terms of student borrowing?
    Because clearly this was direct cash grant money that, you 
know, colleges were able to get out to kids. You know whether 
or not that, you know, is going to show up in terms of any 
reduced borrowing for the last 18 months, 2 years, because you 
know again as we talk about the Pell grant initiative and Build 
Back Better, I mean that's obviously part of the benefit, which 
is to reduce student loan borrowing.
    Mr. Kvaal. Mr. Courtney, thanks so much for the question. I 
know you're a long-time leader and have some ambitious 
proposals in the area of student debt. We don't have data yet 
to suggest what impact this has had on borrowing levels. 
Obviously, students had a lot of additional expenses, lost 
jobs, new technology needs, new housing costs.
    So, we'll have to wait and see until the numbers come in, 
whether that was a net positive or negative on student debt.
    Mr. Courtney. Great. Well, thank you. I yield back, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. I would now like to recognize 
Mr. Allen. Mr. Allen, you have five minutes of questioning 
please.
    Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank both 
Secretary Marten and Undersecretary Kvaal for being with us 
today. In my home State of Georgia, both K through 12 schools 
and our university system did an excellent job of reopening 
schools in 2020 and have been trying to get COVID funds out the 
door as quickly as possible.
    I want to give a break or credit to the administration and 
all those who worked tirelessly to get our schools open under a 
difficult situation. There are remaining questions that need to 
be answered by the Department, and I am submitting several 
questions for the record for--from our institutions. And I 
would like both of you to commit to responding to these 
questions in a timely manner. Would you agree to do that, yes 
or no?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes.
    Ms. Marten. Yes.
    Mr. Allen. OK, all right great. Deputy Secretary Marten, 
earlier this year our Committee heard testimony from parents of 
children with disabilities harmed by their states and school 
districts' refusal to provide adequate in-person instruction. 
One parent testified about her family's experiences in Oregon 
and said ``My middle daughter is Lizzie, age nine in the third 
grade, and Lizzie has Down's Syndrome. She is a hidden victim 
of pandemic policies and prolonged school closures. She has 
been denied services mandated by the IEP.''
    Another parent testified about his experiences in Virginia 
and said quote, ``Our son is diagnosed with autism spectrum 
disorder and ADHD. Before school closed due to the pandemic, he 
was a very happy boy who loved school, especially being around 
his friends. But things changed quickly after schools closed. 
During the fall as we watched him deteriorate before our very 
eyes, and not be able to engage in virtual learning, we pleaded 
with school administrators to open schools for in-person 
learning for students with disabilities, which aligned with the 
guidelines by the Virginia Department of Health.''
    Ms. Marten, how many investigations has the Department 
launched of school districts that refuse to provide students 
with disabilities the education and services they are entitled 
to under Federal law?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for bringing up the important topic 
of students with disabilities and making sure that their needs 
are being met as required by law.
    Mr. Allen. And how many investigations have you launched 
into this problem?
    Ms. Marten. I don't know the answer to the number of 
investigations, but I'm happy to have staff followup with you 
on the exact number of investigations.
    Mr. Allen. OK, all right. I would appreciate that, and the 
extent of those investigations. On the other hand, the 
Department initiated investigations of nine states into alleged 
violations of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 due 
to those states' masking policies. Committee Republicans sent 
Secretary Cardona a letter on September 1st asking substantive 
questions about the legal interpretation underpinning those 
investigations.
    It's now two and a half months later, and we still have not 
received a response. However, in an interview with Axios in 
October, Secretary Cardona said that it was unlikely any 
Federal funds would be withheld from states or school districts 
over mask mandate. Was that an admission from the Secretary 
that these investigations were political, and would that be a 
yes or a no?
    Ms. Marten. So, thank you sir for the question. It's a 
little bit more complicated than a simple yes or no. But what I 
will say is that a safe path to reopening and following all of 
the guidance that we know gives students access to in-person 
learning, as you pointed out is so important. And so we're 
going to continue to support looking at safe paths to reopening 
and implementing the best protocols that are recommended by the 
CDC. When those are not being used, we will investigate.
    Mr. Allen. OK. So how would I interpret that?
    Ms. Marten. I'm sorry sir. Sometimes it's not as simple as 
yes or no, but I do----
    Mr. Allen. Was that an admission from the Secretary that 
these investigations were political?
    Ms. Marten. Well sir, it's important that we have the 
safest path forward, and that this is not about political; it's 
about safety for our schools, our students, and their 
communities.
    Mr. Allen. OK, Ms. Marten. I have just one more question, 
thank you. Why is the Department been more--why has the 
Department been more aggressive over masking policies than it 
has been--than it has been over school districts' refusal to 
serve students with disabilities?
    Ms. Marten. It's about a safe path for all students, and 
it's not a difference between students with disabilities or 
safety around masking, or the mitigations. We're following the 
science and the recommendations that when mitigations are put 
in place, students have access to their learning, schools can 
open and stay open, and that's what we want for all children in 
our country.
    Mr. Allen. Yes, but we have seen the results of this issue 
with students with disabilities. But anyway, I'm out of time. 
Thank you so much and I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, thank you Mr. Allen. I now 
recognize Ms. Bonamici for five minutes of questioning please.
    Ms. Bonamici. Thank you so much to the Chairs and Ranking 
Members and thank you to our witnesses from the Department of 
Education. We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has been an 
unprecedented public health crisis, and in response the country 
took steps to mitigate the spread of the virus. That included 
closing schools and transitioning students to remote learning. 
Congress created the Education Stabilization Fund through the 
CARES Act at the beginning of the pandemic, and then this past 
March we passed the American Rescue Plan and additional robust 
investment in our K through 12 system.
    These funds have helped districts reopen schools safely, 
keep schools open, and make up for lost instructional time. The 
resources have really been a lifeline for our Nation's schools, 
providing critical supports. For example, in Oregon's 1st 
congressional District, which I'm honored to represent, the 
Tigard-Tualatin School District was able to create a K-12 
virtual school for families who were not ready to have their 
students return to the classroom in person.
    Funding was used to hire the additional teachers and 
support staff to serve more than 600 students, and in the 
Hillsboro School District, funds were used to expand their very 
successful bilingual and math summer intervention programs that 
helped address unfinished learning among their students with 
the highest needs.
    So, I want to ask this, Ms. Marten. What data has the 
Department collected about how states and districts are using 
or plan to use the American Rescue Plan funds and can you point 
to any best practices for programs and investments that have 
been the most successful?
    Ms. Marten. Yes, thank you. You actually started to answer 
the question with some of the best practices that you've seen 
in your State, and that's what we want to do, is lift up those 
practices that address how these funds are intended. The 
programs in the State plans, they give us a great window into 
what states are doing and how they're using the funds as 
intended. The programs and the actions and services need to be 
evidence-based. They need to address social and emotional needs 
of students; they need to address those that are most 
disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
    All of those State plans when you start to unpack them and 
have great programs that you just uplifted, give us a whole 
data base of what we're seeing out there. There's a 
clearinghouse where we're able to share best practices, provide 
technical assistance, hold webinars so that we can share across 
the country what we hear people doing using the funds in the 
ways that are intended.
    Ms. Bonamici. Now that's really helpful. I just wanted to 
note too is that what we all know is that the pandemic did not 
affect all communities and school districts the same way. I had 
conversations with school districts with high populations of 
Latino students and many of their students have lost family 
Members. They weren't ready to come back to school at the same 
time as the students in other communities.
    I want to use the rest of my time to ask questions to Mr. 
Kvaal. It's really nice to see you again. Congratulations on 
your position at the Department of Education. Now because the 
pandemic required a move to depend upon remote learning, in so 
many instances educational technology providers and online 
program managers have seen an increase in the number of 
contracts with school districts and institutes of higher--
institutions of higher education.
    So how is the Department monitoring both education 
technology providers OPM and is the Department planning to 
issue guidance to school districts and colleges about how to 
approach these relationships and really guarantee the quality 
of education?
    Mr. Kvaal. Thanks, Ms. Bonamici. I really appreciate the 
question and your long-term leadership on higher education 
issues. Of course, there has been I a big trend toward online 
education, especially for working adults in recent years, and 
then over the course of the pandemic, a big sudden shift to 
online for everybody else.
    In my conversations with college presidents, it doesn't 
sound like they're planning to go back to traditional 
classroom, at least to the full extent that it was before, but 
they're exploring hybrid and other options. You're absolutely 
right, that a big part of this trend has been private companies 
called online program managers who work with colleges to put 
those programs online.
    This is real interest of ours. We're working very hard to 
highlight the good practices in the areas of online and try and 
make the most out of it, and where online is not serving 
students well, we're going to be very aggressive. Rich Cordray 
has set up a new enforcement unit, and I imagine that will be 
an area that he is looking at. We're also starting a new 
regulatory process in just a couple of months that will look at 
some related issues.
    Ms. Bonamici. I think obviously there are significant 
equity issues. One of the reasons I was so excited to help pass 
the bipartisan infrastructure bill is because of that broadband 
investments that will be made, and that's just one of the 
inequities that the pandemic exposed and highlighted. Online 
learning doesn't work if people don't have the connectivity.
    Mr. Kvaal, I also want to ask you, I know in Oregon 
enrollment is down particularly at community colleges, and I'm 
concerned about--as a graduate of a community college myself, 
I'm concerned about the declining enrollment and how that will 
affect our community colleges. I just want to ask how will the 
Build Back Better Act, particularly the community college and 
industry partnership grants that will help create those paths 
to a good job for so many across the country as we transition 
to a clean energy economy, how will that help enrollment with 
the decline in enrollment?
    Chairman Sablan. Mr. Kvaal, maybe you could provide that 
answer----
    Ms. Bonamici. Oh goodness. I see I'm over time. If you 
could please submit that for the record. I apologize, Mr. 
Chairman. I look forward to receiving that answer on the 
record. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. I now recognize the Member from Indiana 
Mr. Banks. You have five minutes of questioning sir.
    Mr. Banks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to discuss the 
reporting requirements for institutions who receive gifts or 
donations from foreign entities. The Chinese Communist Party's 
influence on college and university campuses across the country 
through indoctrination and coercion, using Confucius Institutes 
and the theft of sensitive information and research by way of 
that coercion and other tactics is alarming, to say the least.
    Mr. Kvaal, the Trump administration took steps to ensure 
schools were following statutorily mandated reporting 
requirements with respect to foreign gifts and donations, while 
also making public on a regular basis these disclosures. I 
bring this up because it appears that for whatever reason, 
schools have reported significantly less foreign gifts and 
donations since President Biden took office.
    In fact, between July 1, 2020, and January 2021, U.S. 
schools reported $1.6 billion in foreign gifts. Since January 
20th, however, schools have reported just $2.2 million in gifts 
over a much longer period of time. Moreover, it is my 
understanding that this administration has not launched a 
single new investigation into foreign funding in universities. 
Mr. Kvaal, has the Department continued President Trump's 
approach to enforcing these requirements?
    Mr. Kvaal. Mr. Banks, thanks for raising this very 
important issue, and I agree that there is real reason for 
concern about Federal Governments seeking to inappropriately or 
secretly access U.S. research and technology. When it comes to 
Section 117, my belief is that most universities want to comply 
with these requirements. I talked to college presidents who are 
confused about what requirements are.
    So, we're committed to working with them to make sure that 
they fully and completely follow the law, and of course if they 
willfully refuse to follow the law, there will be consequences.
    Mr. Banks. What do you make of that discrepancy?
    Mr. Kvaal. Say it again.
    Mr. Banks. $1.6 billion in foreign gifts reported between 
July 1, 2020, and January 20, 2021, but since you've been--and 
since you've been in your role, only $2.2 million has been 
reported. Now what do we make of that discrepancy?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well, I hadn't heard those numbers before. 
Assuming those numbers are accurate, I agree with you. Those 
raise some questions, and I'd be delighted to look into them 
with and get back to you on them
    Mr. Banks. Has the Department launched any new 
investigations into schools' compliance with Section 117 since 
Biden had taken office?
    Mr. Kvaal. I'm not familiar with that answer, but I'd be--
I'd be glad to get back to you and talk to you more about that.
    Mr. Banks. Has the Department continued any existing 
investigation from the previous administration?
    Mr. Kvaal. I don't know the answer to that, but I do know 
that, you know, I agree with you. This is an important 
challenge. We're committed to working with colleges and 
universities to make sure they comply with Section 117, and I'd 
be glad to work with your office to make sure that we have 
whatever tools we need to enforce the law.
    Mr. Banks. Well, since you're not informed about any new 
investigations, any old investigations, or discrepancies 
between the drastic difference between what was reported last 
year and this year, would you commit to getting back to us on 
the record to answer those questions?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes, I'd be delighted to.
    Mr. Banks. And will you commit to following up with my 
office and the Committee over the next week and provide 
detailed answers as to the status of Section 117 reporting and 
investigations, including the number of cases pending and 
ongoing investigations?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes.
    Mr. Banks. Another subject, according to the American 
Academy of Pediatrics, between .01 percent and 2 percent of 
COVID cases in children resulted in hospitalization. Between 1 
and 4 percent of total COVID hospitalizations were children. 
Despite these shockingly low numbers, students from 
kindergarten to college have been shuttered inside their homes 
and forced to participate in learning online for what would be 
2 years or more.
    According to a study by the Northwest Evaluation 
Association, reading scores for students in grades 3 through 8 
were 6 percentile points lower and math scores have dropped by 
12 percentage points. Ms. Marten, what metric is your 
department using to determine success versus failure of COVID 
relief programs?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you so much for that question, and for 
looking at specifically the way we're implementing these 
dollars, to make sure students are able to be in-person 
learning, because we know that is the best chances for them to 
learn, and the safe path to reopening is to put in place all of 
the mitigation strategies, including masking, testing, 
ventilation, air circulation----
    Mr. Banks. Ms. Marten, how can parents know that COVID 
relief funds have had a net positive impact on their children?
    Ms. Marten. Through our ongoing monitoring of those funds, 
we'll be able to provide them through the Transparency Portal.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you.
    Mr. Banks. My time has expired.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. I'll now recognize Ms. Hayes. 
Ms. Hayes, five minutes. Oh, hold on, Mr. Takano. Mr. Takano, 
you have five minutes of questioning. My apologies.
    Mr. Takano. Well, thank you. I forgot that my camera was 
not turned on. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Kvaal, Congress has 
provided three large infusions of money into higher education 
through the CARES Act, CRRSA and the American Rescue Plan, 
totaling more than $76 billion. Can you tell us more about how 
HEER funds, H-E-E-R funds have been used to support students 
and ensure the health and safety of the campus community?
    Mr. Kvaal. Mr. Takano, thanks so much for that question, 
and you know, we've seen HEER funds make a tremendous 
difference for students in the area of emergency scholarships 
and technology needs that help them survive the pandemic and 
stay enrolled. We've seen them help colleges keep staff and 
faculty employed during difficult challenges, and we see 
colleges using the funds to institute public health measures 
that slow the spread of the pandemic both upon campus and in 
their communities.
    So, for example, Amarillo College has used HEER funds to 
hire case managers that help students connect to the resources 
in the broader community, to make sure that they're not left 
homeless or needing food and security. Fort Lewis College, 
which is a Native American-serving college, has used these 
resources to help deal with the mental health challenges facing 
their students, especially Native American students. And of 
course colleges are investing in things like testing, contact 
tracing, PPE, new facilities, new educational equipment. So, 
these funds are making a tremendous difference every day on 
college campuses across the country.
    Mr. Takano. Well, thank you, Mr. Kvaal. Ms. Marten, Title I 
of the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 or ESEA requires 
that only students with the most significant cognitive 
disabilities may take an alternative assessment and provides 
that no more than 1 percent of all students in the grades 
assessed can be assessed using an alternative assessment.
    This requirement was first in effect for the 2017-2018 
school year, and at that time, most states were exceeding this 
percentage. The Department recently created guidance regarding 
alternative assessments that indicates that given the 
disruption caused by COVID-19, states following procedures 
outlined in the letter can expect to receive a waiver of this 
requirement.
    Now this flexibility may be necessary under the 
circumstances, but in real terms it means more students with 
disabilities will not be--will not be assessed, may lose access 
to the general education curriculum, and will be on track to 
receiving a certificate of completion rather than a standard 
diploma. Given the need for flexibility this year, how do we 
ensure that students with disabilities receive the appropriate 
services and supports they need to make academic progress in 
the general curriculum and graduate with a standard diploma?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for bringing up this very specific 
issue that's incredibly important for students with 
disabilities, especially more severe disabilities. I can say 
that the Department's very committed to supporting these 
states, so that they will fulfill the requirements that are in 
ESEA, that only students with the most significant cognitive 
disabilities can take the alternative assessment.
    And that's totally normal the 1-percent of students, as you 
mentioned, in the grades that are assessed. So, the alternate 
assessment is based on the alternate achievement standards, and 
that's designed to be appropriate only for students that have a 
significant cognitive disability. So, we need to make sure 
we're staying within what it was designed for.
    Students with other disabilities that might represent the 
vast majority, they represent the vast majority of students 
with disabilities who receive special education services, 
should not be assessed to that standard. It's a different 
standard that was meant for students with the most severe 
disabilities. That's not changed and that has not been waived, 
nor will it be.
    Mr. Takano. Thank you so much for the response. Mr. Kvaal, 
I want to go back to build on your response. Is it fair to say 
that the HEER funds have actually, in terms of facilitating the 
purchase of PPE, testing capacity, that those HEER funds have 
been really critical in terms of schools being able to open up 
safely, that universities and colleges have been able to safely 
open up because of these Federal funds?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes, sir, Mr. Takano. That's what I hear from 
college presidents, that it's made a tremendous ability in 
their efforts to keep students and faculty and staff safe on 
their campuses.
    Mr. Takano. So really, it's, you know, the Federal 
assistance has really been critical in terms of educational 
institutions, whether it's K through 12 or higher ed. This has 
been essential in order for them to be open?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes.
    Mr. Takano. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. All right, thank you. I'd now like to 
recognize the Ranking Member of the full Committee, Ms. Foxx, 
for five minutes of questioning. Ms. Foxx.
    Ms. Foxx. Yes sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Sablan. All right, thank you.
    Ms. Foxx. I appreciate it. Mr. Kvaal, my staff received an 
email last night from the Department that seems to indicate 
that the Department is finally willing to release the 
unredacted copy of the student loan value report with us. Can 
you confirm we'll receive a copy of FSA's report, as well as 
other accompanying reports and relevant documents within the 
next month?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes.
    Ms. Foxx. It is a shame you stonewalled this Committee, but 
more importantly taxpayers for over 6 months. So, with your 
11th hour response, I'd like to discuss your role as it relates 
to congressional oversight more broadly. Mr. Kvaal, at your 
confirmation hearing before the Senate HELP Committee, on April 
21, 2021, Ranking Member Burr asked if you would commit to 
providing Senator Burr and his staff with quote ``The 
information that he or the minority Members of the Committee 
request from you or the Department of Education in the 
requested timeframe.''
    To which you responded, ``I do.'' The Committee has sent 
several letters to the Department that pertained to issues 
under your portfolio, including several with Senator Burr. 
While the Department has raced to provide responses to some of 
those, before this hearing and the hearing with Mr. Cordray, 
the responses are hardly worth the time it took to send them.
    Many of them provided zero information or responses to the 
questions asked. That is hardly in line with the commitment you 
made that day during your hearing. You also committed to 
providing Government Accountability Office with information in 
documents when they are requested. Have you ensured your office 
and those you oversee are providing all documents requested by 
GAO? Is there any request your office or those you oversee has 
not--have not provided the requested document, and if so, why?
    Mr. Kvaal. Ms. Foxx, thank you so much for the question. I 
absolutely do appreciate Congress' appropriate role in 
overseeing the work of the Department of Education, and I think 
it is incumbent upon us to answer your questions.
    Ms. Foxx. Just answer the question, yes. Have you given 
everything to the GAO?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well, I have. I regularly meet with the Office 
of the General Counsel and the others who work with the GAO on 
those inquiries, and my understanding is we're working with the 
GAO to fully satisfy their request.
    Ms. Foxx. OK. Well, we agree on the critical aspect of 
making this Republic work because of oversight that Congress 
has. So, will you commit to us today to ensure timely, 
responsive replies to our request from this point forward?
    Mr. Kvaal. I do.
    Ms. Foxx. Will you please provide a followup on how you 
communicate this to your team and the offices you're charged 
with overseeing, including how you intend to ensure compliance 
with your directives?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes, I'd be glad to.
    Ms. Foxx. We can resend our request, or you can go back and 
answer our questions. Will you provide answers to every 
outstanding question the Committee has sent to the Department, 
as well as any and all documents requested prior to this 
hearing by the end of next week?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well, we will provide them to you as quickly as 
possible.
    Ms. Foxx. OK. So that's a no. So, Deputy Secretary Marten, 
earlier this year the Department sent letters to Texas and 
Florida implying that the Department could impose new 
requirements on COVID aid related to states masking policies. I 
wrote a letter to Secretary Cardona asking for clarification on 
the Department's policy.
    Secretary Cardona sent a response letter, but that letter 
did not answer the questions. Let me ask you those questions, 
and I'd appreciate a forthright answer. First, are states 
required as a condition of State receipt of ARP ESSER funds, to 
allow school districts to mandate the use of masks, yes, or no?
    Ms. Marten. We're following the science on masks, and we 
can't compromise student health and safety with masking. When 
it comes to masking----
    Ms. Foxx. That's not a yes or no. So, then it must be a no. 
Second, under Section 2001(i) of the American Rescue Plan Act, 
school districts were required to make a publicly available 
plan for the safe return to in-person instruction. Has the 
Department required those plans to include policies mandating 
the universal wearing of masks in schools, yes, or no?
    Ms. Marten. Safely reopening schools includes wearing 
masks. That is proven to help.
    Ms. Foxx. And will you share with us the science that backs 
up what you're saying, since you say you're following the 
science? We know that you all are selective in following 
science. So, we want to see the science you're following. Mr. 
Chair, I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Foxx. I now recognize the 
Chairman of the full Committee, Mr. Scott, for five minutes of 
questioning. Ms. Hayes is next; I mean will come. Mr. Scott, 
please.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and I apologize. The 
lights went out in this part of the Rayburn Office Building, so 
we're sitting here in the dark. And I think as I was getting 
back on my phone rather than the computer, that Ms. Marten was 
explaining the total costs and why it was so expensive to open 
schools safely, keep them open safely and make up for learning 
loss.
    I would ask her if those costs, Ms. Marten, included the 
cost of ventilation?
    Ms. Marten. Yes sir, thank you. I'm sorry that you're in 
the dark right now, but we'll try to answer the questions for 
you. Yes, absolutely. Safely reopening schools is the path 
forward, and initially schools being able to spend dollars for 
the physical safety of the schools, whether that was protective 
equipment or ventilation or filtration systems, the dollars 
were absolutely intended for what local needs would be for the 
physical structures to safely reopen, and absolutely we saw 
including ventilation.
    Mr. Scott. And did that include mental health and health 
care?
    Ms. Marten. Yes. The second aspect that's critically 
important, and it's hard to put them in order, but the physical 
safety of the schools and implementing all mitigation efforts 
was No. 1, and second, right in line with it was the social, 
emotional, and mental health needs of our students, and all of 
the State plans that have been submitted must show how they 
were going to be implementing and addressing student social, 
emotional, and mental health needs. And I think I'll tell you 
what the third one is, but you're probably about to ask it.
    Mr. Scott. Well, go ahead.
    Ms. Marten. Another very important aspect--exactly, yes 
sir. The very important, the third important aspect of the way 
these funds need to be directed and the way that the State 
plans need to indicate is evidence-based ways that we are 
addressing learning loss and giving students opportunities, 
whether that's through summer programs or extensive tutoring 
programs, where we're seeing some districts have changed class 
sizes to give smaller student-teacher ratios.
    Each local LEA is deciding how to address the needs of 
specifically a learning loss, where those who are most 
significantly and disproportionately impacted, the plans need 
to show how those students who are most significantly impacted, 
especially have plans in place to address their learning 
losses. We're seeing that all across the states, that built 
into their plans as required.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. The American Rescue Plan had a 
provision that required maintenance of equity. Can you tell me 
what that is and why it's important?
    Ms. Marten. That's another part of the learning loss 
approach to it. Maintenance of equity was specifically built 
into this because we wanted to make sure that those that were 
most disproportionately affected were going to be able to have 
the resources that they need to improve and to recover.
    And this pandemic has been--is worldwide, but the 
disproportionate impacts, this maintenance of equity is 
intended to make sure that we are addressing students by name 
and by need, and where there's greater need, there must be 
greater investment, and we must maintain an equitable approach. 
So that when districts are designing their plans, they're 
understanding those who are most negatively or significantly 
impacted, the dollars are being directed to them and the 
maintenance of equity approach is designed to do that.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you, and I'm running out of time, but I 
just assume that you're providing localities with best 
practices, and for those that are wasting the money, you're 
getting the names in the paper?
    Ms. Marten. Yes, sir. The law is very clear on what these 
funds are intended for and they're clear for a reason. So that 
is our job, is to have technical assistance, guidance we've 
just released, guidance, multiple documents around the best use 
of the funds. And so, there is a plethora of resources for 
states and districts to know how to direct the funds in the 
ways intended, and that's our job, is to provide those 
resources and best practices.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you, and Mr. Kvaal, in the reconciliation 
plan, we couldn't get into much discussion about how to 
separate good for-profits and bad for-profits, and so the 
decision was made not to let the--any for-profits benefit from 
the increase in Pell grants. Can you commit to working with us 
so we can separate the good from the bad, so that the good for-
profits can benefit?
    Mr. Kvaal. Yes, I commit to working with you on that.
    Mr. Scott. OK, and what is being done to prepare students 
for the resumption of student loan payments, to make sure that 
they're prepared, and they are getting into the appropriate 
repayment plans like public service loan forgiveness and 
others, and are you working on what authority you can exercise 
in terms of combining loans, refinancing loans, and reducing 
interest rates?
    Mr. Kvaal. Mr. Scott, the answer is we are doing quite a 
bit of work. We consider this to be one of the most significant 
challenges that we have faced in the history of the student aid 
programs. We've already begun reaching out to students. We've 
already begun exploring everything we can do within the 
authority provided by Congress, and we'd be delighted to share 
additional information with you either in the record or in a 
briefing.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. I think a briefing would be, would be 
good, and thank you Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Chairman Scott. I now recognize 
the gentlelady, the Member from New York, Ms. Stefanik for five 
minutes please.
    Mr. Stefanik. Thank you very much. When Congress passed the 
bipartisan CARES Act in March 2020, New York State received 
over $1 billion to help K through 12 schools, address the many 
unprecedented challenges they faced during the early months of 
the pandemic.
    Yet New York State quickly offset this funding to fill a 
pre-existing hole in the State budget, and then moved to 
withhold even more funding from schools. This left many schools 
in my district under-resourced as they strived to keep students 
on track and began returning to in-person learning in the fall 
of 2020, which was ahead of many schools across the country.
    With this unprecedented amount of taxpayer funding Congress 
has since provided to K through 12 schools, it is critical that 
this funding reaches the local level without being offset, and 
that it is used as intended by Congress to address learning 
loss and advance student success. My question is for Ms. 
Marten. How is the Department enforcing the maintenance and 
effort requirements that accompany the COVID-19 relief funds, 
to ensure funding is not captured by states like New York, 
seeking to solve their self-made fiscal problems?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for this important question. The 
implementation of the law as written is critical to us. We 
understand the law and it's our job to make sure the states are 
following it as we provide monitoring and oversight of that, 
and we will work with your State as well as every other State 
closely. Our staff works with each State to ensure that they're 
following as intended. It's critical.
    Ms. Stefanik. And my followup to that Ms. Marten would be 
that the Department is not going to consider waivers to these 
fiscal requirements and let states displace the education 
funding like New York did. Is that accurate? Did you hear that 
question? Hello? Hello?
    [No response.]
    Chairman Sablan. OK. Can the timer be paused--, so at this 
time please in fairness to Ms. Stefanik.
    Ms. Marten. The screen froze for a moment, and can you hear 
us?
    Ms. Stefanik. Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me?
    Ms. Marten. You froze for a moment. I apologize. You were 
right in the middle of a really important question, but 
you're--I can hear you now and you can finish the question.
    Ms. Stefanik. Great. My question was the Department does 
not intend to issue waivers to states like New York that are 
displacing this education funding. Is that accurate?
    Ms. Marten. To my knowledge, that is accurate.
    Ms. Stefanik. OK, and then my second question is Section 
1116 of ESSA, as updated by this Committee in 2015 with a 
bipartisan passage, requires schools in districts that accept 
over $16 billion in annual Federal assistance through the Title 
I program to have a parental engagement policy. Specifically, 
schools must hold an annual meeting with parents to explain 
their rights to be involved, provide parents with a description 
and explanation of the curriculum being taught, and provide 
parents opportunities for regular meetings to participate in 
decisions relating to the education of our children.
    Ms. Marten, how is the department ensuring schools and 
districts are upholding these obligations under Section 1116 to 
involve parents in educational decisionmaking?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for the important question about 
parents being involved in the decisionmaking, and part of all 
of the State plans that have been submitted specifically for 
the ARP funds require that there was engagement with parents 
and other stakeholders, and that's baked into when we review 
the plans, if that's missing, we have to be in dialog with the 
states to ensure that they've followed that expectation.
    As one example, we absolutely believe that parents play a 
critical role and it's baked into what you've just--what you've 
just shared for a reason, and it's our job to make sure it's 
being followed.
    Ms. Stefanik. And if it comes to the Department's attention 
that the school does not have a parental engagement policy, 
what are the steps the Department takes? Did this freeze again?
    Chairman Sablan. Ms. Kvaal, Ms. Marten? Hello?
    Ms. Stefanik. Can you hear me Mr. Chair?
    Chairman Sablan. Yes, I can.
    Ms. Stefanik. OK. I will submit that for the record, Mr. 
Chair, while we wait for the technical issues to be worked out. 
Thank you, yield back.
    Ms. Marten ----back again. So, I heard you say you're going 
to submit a question for the record. I'll be happy to answer 
that. I'm sorry that the technology froze.
    Ms. Stefanik. I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very 
much. I'd like to now recognize--well, I think Mrs. Hayes was 
very patient. Oh, let me see. Mrs. Hayes. All right. So I now 
Ms. Teresa--Ms. Leger Fernandez, who knows timing very well. 
For five minutes, please.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you so very much Chair, and it's 
wonderful to see you here in D.C. I can't wait to see you on 
the floor and thank you so much Deputy Secretary Marten and 
Undersecretary Kvaal for joining us today, in your important 
work to bring the much-needed aid to our American students.
    You know, this pandemic laid bare pre-existing inequities 
in every aspect of our society, but perhaps most notably in our 
schools and in the schools, we have in New Mexico, which 
include so many Title I schools. You know students who are 
already struggling because of lack of access to technology or 
broadband were shut out, right. They didn't have access to 
remote learning. They received lesson plans from a bus.
    Jemez Valley Public Schools is an example. 25 percent of 
our students, especially in Jemez and Zio Pueblos, did not have 
access to the Internet. My State of New Mexico has struggled to 
administer education equitably in the past. Native American, 
Latino and students with disabilities actually sued and won a 
lawsuit, to say that the State was not providing an adequate 
education. That's the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit. There was 
reference to it earlier in the testimony.
    So, you know, we are now faced with an opportunity as the 
new funding comes in, to address things like the Yazzie/
Martinez lawsuit, and I'm really glad to see that there were 
set aside requirements for the underserved student groups, 
because this is exactly for the Yazzie/Martinez students. So, I 
do--wanted to have some discussion about how these funds could 
be used to address those kinds of discrepancies, and given that 
the Department of Education is aware of that lawsuit and those 
discrepancies, how you think that--how you think that might, 
you know, how that could happen?
    So, Ms. Marten, what tools does the Department of Education 
have to assist or encourage New Mexico to address the Yazzie 
deficiencies?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for highlighting some of the really 
significant disparities that were, like you said, laid bare 
during this pandemic, that we were all in the same storm but 
not all in the same boat. And as we're addressing--as we're 
addressing the pandemic, there's specific--the funds are 
available in ways to meet the needs at the community level, and 
community by community, school by school, in neighborhood by 
neighborhood, the needs are different.
    So, we're not intending to pretend like we know the answer 
for every community. I can say that specifically the plans are 
including ways to address the things that are laid out in that 
suit that you mentioned, but specifically being able to 
purchase educational technology, hardware/software connectivity 
is one of the ways that we're spending, that we're seeing the 
dollars being spent and directed.
    But they're decided. Locally what is standing in the way of 
a student accessing their education, and what kinds of barriers 
need to be removed and how can the funding address those 
barriers. And we're providing the technical assistance, the 
guidance, and nationwide webinars so people can tune in with 
each other and help each other with some of the smart and 
innovative, wise actions they're taking to use the funds to 
address the disparities that frankly were there before the 
pandemic, but definitely the funds are intended to interrupt 
and change.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Well, I look forward to having 
discussions with you about the Yazzie/Martinez suit and how, 
what progress we're seeing in ways in which the Department can 
assist in that. I'm also, you know, concerned about the 
learning loss. So, all of our students who are already behind, 
it simply increased. We also have a thousand teacher shortfall, 
right, and we know that we need to have our students catch up. 
We know we need to put those additional resources there.
    But I mean the truth is, teachers are already overworked 
and underpaid. So are there ways in which you see across the 
country, that we can address learning loss in ways that don't 
add unmanageable work and unmanageable burdens on our teachers. 
Like, you know, when I met with Teachers of the Year and other 
amazing teachers from New Mexico in my office, they pointed out 
that they'd love to see, you know, tutoring, interventionists, 
where we're bringing in additional resources rather than asking 
the stressed and dedicated, dedicated teachers to do even more, 
right, to go beyond, and they've already gone beyond during 
this pandemic.
    So, what are your thoughts and what are some of the 
examples you've seen across the country?
    Ms. Marten. You just listed some of the examples. The 
tutoring programs. It's a whole community approach and we're 
seeing best practices of communities coming together to address 
the overarching needs that our students have, and it's not just 
the classroom teacher that will address the learning loss 
needs. It's a whole school, whole community, whole neighborhood 
approach and the funds that we're seeing being used in that 
way.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you. My time is expired, I yield 
back.
    Chairman Sablan. All right, thank you. I now recognize Ms. 
Miller-Meeks for five minutes of questioning please.
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you, Chair Sablan. I thank our 
witnesses for their testimony and the comments of the other 
Members. But as a physician and a former director of the Iowa 
Department of Public Health, certainly we want to keep kids in 
safe in school, children safe in school, teachers and all those 
who work within the school system.
    But we also know the tremendously detrimental effects of 
how we responded to the pandemic in closing schools. We know 
that there has been a loss of learning and that's especially 
affected our minority and low-income populations. It's affected 
rural areas where there may not have been access to broadband 
in order to do virtual learning. But we also know that it's had 
a very deleterious effect to the mental health of children, and 
this also includes the masking.
    I know it's been mentioned by other Members but, you know, 
I think it bears witness that the American Academy or American 
Journal of Pediatrics had published last August that 
transmission rates in children were very low to minuscule, a 
little bit different with the delta variant, however. But we 
know that in other countries, other European countries, 
Scandinavian countries, UK, that they are not requiring masking 
of children in elementary levels, nor from under age 11 and 
certainly not in kindergarten.
    And I think to--if you watch how children wear masks, that 
they probably are contaminating themselves and their masks if 
in fact they're infected, then if they were wearing no mask at 
all, and better hand-washing might be a mitigation strategy 
that would be extraordinarily helpful.
    Having said that however, one of the things I found as 
Director of Public Health is when we talked about evidence-
based programs. Deputy Secretary Marten, you had mentioned 
several critical evidence-based investments in programs in your 
written testimony, and I'm just going to list several of them. 
One is the Connecticut Learner Engagement and Attendance 
Program (LEAP), and you talked about the initiative and that 
LEAP will support enrollment and work with families to 
transition back to school.
    You also mentioned New Mexico's Public Education 
Department. You also mentioned Detroit Parent-Teacher Home 
Project, and that teachers have conducted 5,567 such visits. I 
have the same issue with this that I had when I was director of 
the Department of Public Health and as a physician. An 
evidence-based program isn't evidence-based because there's one 
study or one article that mentions that it's something that may 
be helpful.
    What is lacking are outcomes. So, making visits or having 
people have access or having a program available doesn't have 
any outcome results for us, whether that's an improvement in 
mental health or that's a decrease in visits to a mental health 
provider, whether that's a decrease in disruptive behavior 
within the classroom.
    So, in any of the programs that you listed in your written 
testimony, do we have any outcome data for any of those, and 
are you requiring outcome data, and if so, what is the outcome 
data? Thank you.
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for lifting up some of the programs 
that are being implemented, and as the funds are going out as 
quickly as possible so that we can get to the recoveries that 
are intended by these dollars, the outcomes are coming in as 
the work is being implemented and understanding the specifics 
around the programs people are using.
    Some of them are programs that have been used at a smaller 
scale. So, teacher visits, for example. I forgot what State but 
the one that you just mentioned, is something that we do have 
evidence. I can give you some examples of evidence of that but 
wasn't done at scale. Now that we have investment to do some of 
the best practices or promising practices that may have been 
done on a smaller scale before there was this large investment, 
now we're able to take these to scale and replicate them and 
collecting evidence as we go about doing that.
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. So would you be willing to share with 
this Committee and in a timely fashion, meaning you know not 
late next year but hopefully by the end of the year or end of 
January, what outcomes measures you have for the programs that 
are listed in your document, so that we know what outcomes are 
being anticipated and then when you expect to have those 
outcome measurements available to you so that as we look at 
funding, we can address whether or not we're funding programs 
that are successful and have true outcomes, or whether it's an 
outcome that is just a number of visits or a number of children 
reached.
    I think it's important to have those metrics so that we can 
make accurate appropriations of funds to programs that are 
successful, especially in our minority communities.
    Ms. Marten. I couldn't agree with you more, and yes, I do 
commit to following up with you and working with you on that. 
Outcomes matter, as much as programs. How are they actually 
impacting the children that they're intended to serve is 
critical.
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chairman. 
I yield back my time.
    Chairman Sablan. All right, thank you very much. I now 
recognize Ms. Hayes. Ms. Hayes, you have five minutes please.
    Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Congress has made 
significant investments in K-12 schools through the CARES Act 
and the American Rescue Plan, to help them address and recover 
from this pandemic. There was no question about the absolute 
need for these funds. Chronic disinvestment in education had 
already burdened our system before COVID-19, and then districts 
were forced to transition to virtual learning and take measures 
to ensure student and teacher safety, and faculty safety.
    I also strongly agree with my colleagues that we must 
ensure that we remain good stewards of taxpayer dollars. As a 
Member of Congress, we have a duty to make sure that fund we 
appropriate are used appropriately, and that we understand 
areas of improvement in future legislation. As a teacher, I was 
thrilled to see these significant investments in things that I 
had championed my entire career, things that I know educators 
and school districts need, things that I know that have been 
chronically underfunded for years.
    So, I have a particular interest in making sure that these 
funds are not misused, so that could then be used as an excuse 
against future investments. Again, before I start my questions, 
I just want to thank teachers everywhere who took on the 
Herculean task of ensuring that our students returned to school 
safely and had a welcoming environment.
    So, my question is for you, Ms. Marten. You talked a lot 
about the Transparency Portal, and I have a series of questions 
that I understand you may not have the answers to all of that. 
So, if you could just followup and I trust that the Department 
follows up as soon as they have the information available. In 
the last administration, it took me sometimes 15 to 20 months 
to get a response on things, and I just take it on good faith 
that was the earliest that you could get the information to me.
    So, I don't think that anyone is looking to hide any 
information, but what safeguards are used to prevent the misuse 
of Education Stabilization funds, and have you identified any 
states or localities where these funds have been misused or 
have been subject to fraud, and what percentage of overall 
funds that have been disbursed can be identified as having been 
misused or misappropriated?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for that very specific question 
that's about the oversight and use of these funds because we 
understand in historic investment, we want to see the outcomes 
that are intended, and as you mentioned being a teacher, we 
know how important this is. But I can get, I can have staff get 
back to you on the specific percentages. We're engaged in 
ongoing monitoring, and the ongoing monitoring is sometimes 
focused and targeted.
    When we hear an example of a misuse, we will go in and 
better understand what's happening. But then there's 
comprehensive monitoring of full programmatic decisions that 
are happening, and then there's some more consolidated 
monitoring that we're doing, and that's across programs and 
across states. And so those are some levels that we're doing. 
As you mentioned, in the Education Stabilization Fund 
Transparency Portal is intended to provide clarity and 
transparency, because the importance of these dollars can't be 
understated. The monitoring and following up is critical, and 
we're happy to followup with you on the very specific questions 
and important questions you just asked.
    Mrs. Hayes. Absolutely, thank you. There was an incident of 
misuse in my own State that was identified promptly by local 
leaders, and action has been taken. But I just feel just 
incredibly invested in making sure that we are good stewards 
over this money because these are historic investments that are 
long overdue, and I do not want misuse, as I stated, to be a 
barrier for future investments.
    My next question is about ESSER funds. Local education 
agencies were required to report on funds in six broad 
categories, including purchasing technology, addressing the 
unique needs of vulnerable student populations, mental health 
services, sanitation, summer, after school or supplemental 
learning, and other. According to ProPublica, just over half of 
what has been expended has been categorized as ``Other.'' Does 
the Department plan on making public more granular data and 
information on how these funds, specifically those categorized 
as Other, have been used, and how can the Department help to 
improve LEA transparency and good governance when it comes to 
spending relief dollars?
    Ms. Marten. Yes. Thanks for pointing that out. That's very 
important. That's part of why we have the Transparency Portal, 
so that the dollars are very clear on how they're being spent 
in each of those categories a more granular level. We're 
regularly updating the Education Stabilization Fund Portal and 
can get more granular about the category of Other as you 
recommended.
    Mrs. Hayes. I think that will be very important because 
again, it cannot be overstated these funds have been long 
overdue. For many districts, these massive investments just 
brought them back to zero, because they had been disinvested 
for decades. So, we have to get this right, and we have to make 
sure that this money is used in the way in which it was 
intended. That's all I have, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, thank you. I now recognize Mr. 
Grothman for five minutes of questions please.
    Mr. Grothman. A couple of questions. First of all, I'm kind 
of concerned that this program is a little loosey-goosey. In 
Wisconsin, $3 billion were allocated. So far, 650 million's 
been spent. So, I don't know if that was the intent or if that 
was common for other states around the country, but I'd like to 
have the panelists comment on that, what you expect to do with 
the money is this typical around the country.
    Ms. Marten. I can begin, and if my colleague wants to 
continue, I'm happy to do that as well. The dollars, the 
ability to spend the funds, they have--states and districts 
have until September 30th, 2024, to spend the dollars, and that 
was very intentional in the way that you all put the funding 
together. The initial funding that went out the ESSER 1 
dollars, they have until September 30th, 2022. What happens is 
you're making very strong plans for first addressing the 
physical needs in the campuses making them safe, and some of 
the expenditures that we see happen right away is what allowed 
us to have 99.2 percent of our schools open across the country.
    As for funds, the next amount of funding schools and 
districts have till September 30th, 2023, and then the final 
amount is till 2024. So, we're seeing a thoughtful, engaged 
approach to how to spend the dollars, and remember we've also 
baked in the requirement that there's stakeholder involvement 
and stakeholder engagement in developing the plans for spending 
those dollars.
    Mr. Grothman. I mean it looks to me like you've spent about 
22 percent of what's out there. You don't feel that's a sign 
that it was kind of wildly overfunded in the first place, 
that's what you would expect at this point?
    Ms. Marten. Specifically, the--the overall ESSER dollars 
that have gone out, the first pot of money that was available 
to obligate through September 30th, 2022, 81 percent of those 
dollars have been expended, and we know districts and LEAs are 
working, and State agencies are working on the comprehensive 
plans over time. We know the dollars were needed in these--in 
these areas around the safety mitigations, social-emotional and 
mental health needs and then learning loss.
    Some of the learning loss dollars and social-emotional 
needs are being expended on staff. When we expend and allocate 
dollars on staffing, the dollars are not spent immediately upon 
allocating them. It's over time and over a school year and over 
the next 3 years those dollars will be spent. It's not, it's 
about recovering but it's about long-term sustainable 
investment, and when you put staffing into it, the roll out--
the spending of those dollars does take time.
    Mr. Grothman. OK, seems kind of loose to me. I'll give you 
another question. While the effects of COVID-19 may result in 
permanent closure of some colleges and universities, a lot of 
these--at any given time, a lot of schools were struggling 
financially prior to the pandemic, to a certain extent for 
demographic reasons or just they were in trouble. According to 
Federal data compiled by the Hechinger Report, more than 500 
institutions showed signs of problems prior to 2020, and more 
than 50 institutions have closed or merged in the last 5 years.
    According to the Department of Education's Inspector 
General, several funds drew down their funds just days before 
their closure. So, in other words just to pay some bills on the 
way out the door, not to keep things open. I don't believe that 
was Congress' intent, and even giving this money was not enough 
to stop the coming consolidation.
    Rather than waiting for the abrupt closure of institutions, 
should Congress be more proactive in the future and do a little 
bit more to prevent the disruption on the kids' college 
careers, and what can we do to anticipate this and make sure 
that this money doesn't go just to close an institution, and 
more be targeted toward helping people with their education?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well thank you so much for the question. I would 
note in the area of higher education, colleges are now drawing 
down funds at a rate of close to a billion dollars a week, and 
the funds that they have remaining are relatively small 
compared to the financial losses that they're expected to incur 
over the coming years.
    With respect to closed schools specifically, you know, I 
note that it's not necessarily inappropriate. It's possible 
that they had eligible expenses under the laws passed by 
Congress. But it is very, very important to us and we have 
focused on those closing schools specifically, including new 
internal controls to frequently monitor the status of schools. 
We are making sure that schools that are in the process of 
closing need prior approval in order to draw down funds. We are 
requiring even closed schools to complete audits, to make sure 
that the funds were spent in accordance with Federal law.
    And the Inspector General said that if we do follow through 
on the steps that we've committed, that would address their 
concerns. So, we are taking that problem very seriously.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. OK, so I'm----
    Mr. Grothman. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Grothman. I understand our 
witnesses were asking for a five-minute break at 12:15, but 
right now I see Ms. Manning
    [inaudible], the last questioner hopefully. But so, we'll 
continue. We're almost done here. Ms. Manning please, you have 
five minutes of questions.
    Ms. Manning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I so 
appreciate it. Thank you to our witnesses for bearing through 
the next couple of minutes. Mr. Kvaal, in your written 
testimony you noted that many of the colleges which have been 
successful at creating opportunities for all students, 
including HBCUs, entered the pandemic with historically low 
funding, largely due to historical inequities.
    In my district, North Carolina's 6th congressional 
District, we're home to three outstanding HBCUs that are using 
the Higher Education Emergency Relief funds to make critical 
investments in addressing students' hardships due to the 
pandemic. For example, North Carolina A&T announced a series of 
major investments, including $250 housing and dining 
scholarships for students, need and merit-based tuition 
support, and several programs designed to help students 
complete their degrees at reduced cost.
    And Winston-Salem State University has made similar 
investments in its students through a series of initiatives 
including funding for summer school, free and reduced cost 
textbooks, and assistance with clearing student debt for the 
fall 2019 and the spring 2020 semesters. Noting the historical 
funding challenges that many HBCUs faced prior to the pandemic, 
can you tell us how the emergency relief funds have 
particularly supported HBCUs during the pandemic?
    Mr. Kvaal. Thanks so much for your question, and it's 
really important to the President and the Secretary that we 
honor those colleges that are committed to inclusivity, that 
are working toward equity, and of course historically black 
colleges and universities are at the forefront of that.
    You're absolutely right, that the HEER funds provided 
additional relief to those institutions and helped them make 
investments. Delaware State is another one that has cleared 
institutional debts that allowed students to re-enroll, or if 
they've already graduated to access their transcript in case, 
they need one to get a job. Those types of investments are 
really, really important in unlocking opportunity and trying to 
support those really important institutions.
    Mrs. Hayes. And I'd just like to add that UNCG, another 
school in my district, is using the funds, which is a minority-
serving institution that's using the funds similarly, and they 
did find that there were a significant number of students that 
when the pandemic hit, they couldn't afford food, they didn't 
have any place to live. They certainly were unable to bear many 
of the normal costs of life, and so there was great 
appreciation that there were these kinds of funds to use.
    Deputy Secretary Marten, many students have experienced 
significant trauma. As we've heard over and over from some our 
Members, trauma as a result of the pandemic, as a result of 
staying home and having their learning disrupted, and 
especially students in economically distressed communities, 
which have been disproportionately impacted. And of course, 
research shows that trauma significantly impacts academic 
success.
    I hear it from people in my district, frankly from all 
economic backgrounds. According to a 2019 GAO study, schools 
that adopt a trauma-sensitive approach report many positive 
outcomes, including improvements in school climate and better 
relationships between and among teachers. In North Carolina, 
addressing the social and emotional health and well-being of 
children has been one of my top priorities for the use of the 
American Rescue Plan, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency 
Relief, the ESSER funds.
    This funding is specifically being used to expand an 
existing model that provides elementary schools with access to 
health care professionals via telehealth technologies. Early 
indications have shown that this telehealth option reduces 
barriers to care for students, resulting in reduced chronic 
absenteeism, improved health outcomes for children and a 
decrease in health-related costs for parents and caregivers.
    Can you tell us more about how states and school districts 
are using the ESSER to implement trauma-informed practices and 
support students' social and emotional needs?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for talking about one of the most 
important parts of this recovery that we've all intended from 
the start, that the State plans that are being turned in 
include specific plans for addressing social and emotional 
mental health needs. Just as recently, looking at what we have, 
879 of the LEAs in 42 states have $20.9 million in the subgrant 
funds to provide mental health supports and services, and you 
just highlighted a great example of the wise actions that 
localities are coming up with.
    For example, working with the mental health professionals. 
The dollars are intended for those local decisions around the 
priority that matters, around mental health services.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you.
    Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. All right. So I've been informed that 
there will be additional Members who ask questions, so we'll go 
to Mr. Good, and after Mr. Good we'll take a five-minute break. 
Mr. Good, you have five minutes please.
    Mr. Good. Thank you so much Chairman and thank you to our 
witnesses and everyone else involved with the hearing. 
Throughout the spring, the Biden administration and Democrats 
in Congress said that schools couldn't reopen without passage 
of the American Rescue Plan, and yet here we are a quarter of 
the way through the school year with most schools open, almost 
all the Rescue Plan's core K to 12 education funding has not 
been touched. In fact, only 2 percent of the $111 billion that 
was awarded in COVID relief funding has been used for its 
intended purpose, to help elementary and secondary schools.
    In addition, Department of Education reported as of October 
31 that of our 11,000 school districts, 99 percent are fully 
opened for in-person instruction. Only 87 school districts in 
the country are still stuck in the hybrid, with just one school 
district being reported as fully remote. I realize that you 
were not here in the spring Secretary Marten, but was the Biden 
administration and their Democrat allies in Congress, were they 
deliberately lying when they claimed that schools couldn't 
reopen with the American Rescue Plan funds, or did they simply 
not know what they were talking about?
    Ms. Marten. Specifically speaking about the path to 
reopening, which was everybody's goal, that schools--students 
learn best when they're in-person physically in the brick-and-
mortar buildings on their campuses and what it would take to 
reopen, State by State, school by school, neighborhood by 
neighborhood was very different. Each community had different 
needs----
    Mr. Good. OK, my time is short. I'm going to stop you 
there. So, we were told that we couldn't reopen without all the 
hundreds of billions of dollars that were allocated, and yet 
we've reopened anyway, and that money has not been sent. Since 
schools have reopened without the money being spent, how will 
future funding decisions be made regarding schools in states 
that do or don't stay open, God forbid that we've got people 
trying to close the schools again, or they do or don't have 
vaccine mandates, or they do or don't require masks to be worn. 
Will funds be withheld from school districts or states in any 
of these situations under these bases?
    Ms. Marten. I understand--yes sir. Understanding they have 
to reopen starting with the physical safety, expending the rest 
of the dollars on addressing the learning losses, the disparate 
impacts that students experience, the social, emotional, and 
mental health needs. That's where the rest of the dollars are 
being implemented now, and districts are making those plans 
going forward.
    The goal is not only that we are open, but we want to stay 
open, implementing the mitigation strategies that we know work. 
When those----
    Mr. Good. OK, thank you. If I may reclaim my time. We can 
all see that American students are falling behind, and the 
COVID shutdowns just made that much worse, and of course many 
parents have started to look for alternative education. That's 
why I've introduced a bill this Congress called the Children 
Have Opportunities in Classrooms Everywhere Act. It's called 
the Choice Act, and it would give parents the ability to 
deposit Federal funds into a 529 savings account to follow 
their students to the public school, private school, or home 
school of their choice.
    As we've recently seen in the election results in my home 
State of Virginia, parents are rightfully demanding choices and 
input regarding their children's education, and my Choice Act 
would help in that regard. Now back to another question, given 
the policies of this administration, and given the previously 
mentioned 98 percent of COVID-related school funds that are 
unspent, will prioritizing illegal immigrants be part of that 
funding for how those funds are eventually spent?
    Ms. Marten. The path forward is implementing the dollars as 
they were intended, and that's our job is to make sure we 
understand the State plans reflect the requirements as written 
into this law.
    Mr. Good. If I may interject, my concern arises because 
back on June 17 of 2020, the outstanding former Secretary DeVos 
published a rule clarifying the definition of student to those 
eligible for student aid until Title IV of the Higher Education 
Act, in restricting international students and non-citizens 
from receiving assistance under the Higher Education Emergency 
Relief Fund or HEERF.
    However, on May 24 or excuse May 14 of this year, your 
department published a rule updating guidance for the student 
portion of HEER funds under the CARES Act and the COVID 
Supplemental Appropriations bill, to remove the restriction and 
allow illegal immigrants, undocumented students, asylum 
seekers, and others previously ineligible to receive these 
grants.
    This is not surprising given this administration's interest 
in redistributing up to $450,000 to illegal immigrant families. 
Do you think that illegal immigrants should have the same 
eligibility for these precious education funding as needy 
American families do?
    Mr. Kvaal. Mr. Good, I'm happy to take a crack at that 
question since it's in the area of higher education. It is true 
that this administration published a regulation clarifying that 
all students are eligible for financial support under the HEER 
funds for those emergency scholarships. We believe that's 
consistent with the statute and it makes students eligible 
regardless of whether or not they've included a FASFA, and that 
would include----
    Mr. Good. My time has expired, so I'll yield back. But here 
we go again putting Americans last and here we've got illegal 
immigrants being put ahead of Americans.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Good.
    Mr. Good. Thank you so much.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. At this time, the Chair's going 
to declare a five-minute recess. We'll be back at--it's now 
12:22. We'll be back at 12:27. Thank you.
    [Recess.]
    Chairman Sablan. Hello everyone, the hearing is reconvened. 
I'd like to recognize Mr. Bowman. Sir, you have five minutes of 
questioning.
    Mr. Bowman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My first question goes 
to Ms. Marten. Thank you for joining us today. Like you, I'm a 
former educator, so I know how important these emergency funds 
have been in helping schools support their students during the 
pandemic. When schools are equipped to meet the needs of the 
whole child, they see not only better academic outcomes for 
students but also better mental health, which is so important, 
physical health and economic outcomes for students, families, 
and the entire community.
    This is why I founded a public community school in the 
Bronx, and why I'm a huge advocate of expanding the full-
service community schools model to as many neighborhoods as 
possible. Earlier this year, the Department released a helpful 
FAQ for how states and school districts could use funding to 
adopt a full-service community school model to better meet the 
needs of the whole child.
    For many schools, the community school model is brand new, 
so technical assistance is critical for getting started 
successfully. Based on the technical assistance ED as provided 
on this thus far, what have some of the biggest hurdles been 
for schools trying to adopt the community school model for the 
first time during COVID?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for bringing--lifting up a really 
important model, the community schools approach, and the 
technical assistance that we've provided. Specifically, some of 
the impediments, I couldn't speak to what those exact are 
community by community, but what I know is the reason why we 
provided the technical assistance as well as collaboration from 
districts that are doing it well, lifting up best models, is so 
that people can learn from each other. With this historic 
investment, schools and communities that are implementing these 
kinds of practices that we've known for a long-time work, we 
need to be able to share those.
    That's why we have the programs like webinars and 
clearinghouses and reconvening, so people can actually learn 
from one another. So, I'd be happy to work with you more to 
understand some of the best practices and any impediments you 
may be hearing from the field. That's our job is to help people 
understand how to best use in the way intended.
    Mr. Bowman. Absolutely. Definitely looking forward to 
working more together on this issue. I want to drill down a 
little bit on mental health and social-emotional learning. One 
of the most important aspects of supporting the whole child, as 
you know, is focusing on mental health. But we also know that 
far too many schools do not have enough counselors, social 
workers, and mental health professionals to support their 
students' social-emotional needs when we are in the midst of a 
global pandemic.
    Even prior to COVID, this was needed, and schools did not 
have the resources or the perspective in my opinion. This is 
why I co-led the Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act 
with Congresswomen Presley and Omar. I am also pleased to see 
that the Department put out a new resource in October for 
supporting mental health during COVID, to emphasize how COVID 
relief could be used to hire more high-quality trauma-informed 
staff.
    Ms. Marten, are you finding that schools and districts are 
choosing to use ESSER funds to hire more mental health staff 
and implement social-emotional learning programs? How many more 
school-based mental health staff have been hired as a result of 
COVID relief? Let me just add, in New York City it's been a 
real struggle to get money out the door into the hands of 
districts and schools, to hire personnel in these areas. That's 
what I'm seeing in New York City. I'm wondering if you're 
seeing it in different places across the country?
    Ms. Marten. You're exactly right, that the mental health 
needs are very important and a clear path forward for a 
recovery and what recovery really will look like, and that was 
why it's part of the plans. The plans that are being submitted 
must require or require that they put in what they're planning 
to do to address students' social-emotional and mental health 
needs, and specifically we are seeing districts working with--
hiring more mental health professionals.
    For example, in New York, they hired 500 social workers, 
ensuring each school has at least one school-based social 
worker and one mental health professional, and they've already 
hired 90 percent of them. That's one example. We're see the 
funds being used as intended. When they turn in their State 
plans if there is not a plan for mental health needs, that plan 
is continued to be worked on until it is addressed. It must be 
addressed because frankly our students need it.
    Mr. Bowman. Awesome. Thank you so much. I yield back the 
balance of my time.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Bowman. Mr. Keller, you 
have five minutes for questioning please. I think you need to 
unmute, Mr. Keller.
    Mr. Keller. Yes, I had it on my mute and getting my mask 
off and everything else.
    Chairman Sablan. OK.
    Mr. Keller. So, thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Kvaal, in July 
the Wall Street Journal published a report about many students' 
challenges after graduating from elite institutions with 
graduate degrees in Fine Arts programs. Recent film program 
graduates of Columbia University, who took out Federal student 
loans, had a median debt of $181,000. Yet 2 years after earning 
their master's degrees, half of the borrowers were making less 
than $30,000 a year.
    Further, the Wall Street Journal published another story of 
a highly regarded private institution that knowingly encouraged 
parents to take out Plus loans that they knew they could not 
afford. These types of reports underscore the need for Congress 
to bring accountability to higher education based on student 
outcomes. Unfortunately, many have suggested that 
accountability measures should be focused exclusively on the 
proprietary sector.
    Yet the Wall Street Journal story highlights that the 
problem is much broader, and that any solution should be 
applied evenly across all sectors of higher education. So, Mr. 
Kvaal, do you think that all students in all sectors should be 
protected from this type of behavior, including those at elite 
institutions?
    Mr. Kvaal. Thank you for the question, Mr. Keller. I think 
it is fair to say that there are challenges with student loan 
affordability at all types of colleges for a lot of reasons, 
that we should not--we need to work very hard to make sure that 
student loans are a good investment and a path to upward 
mobility, and not something that pulls people down, and that no 
college and no program should routinely leave students with 
debts they can't afford to repay.
    Like I said, historically the biggest problems that we have 
seen have been in the for-profit sector, and that's something I 
think we need to all be aware of as we're thinking about how we 
address this problem.
    Mr. Keller. I'll just jump in there. I think there's 
problems all across. It shouldn't matter, and with that, I 
guess I'll get to my next question, Mr. Kvaal. It was about 5 
months ago, we had the Secretary here at a hearing and 
Secretary Cardona basically came to the same conclusion that I 
believe, but he actually said it to the Committee, that he 
believes that all institutions should be treated the same 
regardless of their filing status, whether not-for-profit or 
public.
    My question is that was 5 months ago. Has the Secretary 
talked to you about any plan to implement how we measure 
institutions and bring them all to the same playing field?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well thanks for the question. I talk of course 
to the Secretary very regularly. I don't want to get into the 
details of those conversations, but I know that he shares the 
view that you and I have, that all institutions should serve 
students and taxpayers well, and that no institution should 
routinely leave students with unaffordable debts.
    Mr. Keller. OK. So, my question is on measuring outcomes, 
have you--has he talked to you. I mean I know we were here; it 
was 5 months ago. Is there any plan to get started on making 
sure that everybody's measured the same way?
    Mr. Kvaal. It's very, very important to us to make sure 
that colleges and universities are routinely helping students 
graduate, and then move on, whether it's to further education 
or directly into a career.
    Mr. Keller. No, I'll take my time back. My question is we 
agreed that everybody should be measured under the same 
metrics.
    Mr. Kvaal. Right.
    Mr. Keller. What is the plan or has a plan been started or 
is there a timetable when we can expect to see the work on a 
plan that will be measuring the outcomes for students based 
upon the student, and making sure that we measure every 
educational institution in the same way?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well, we are beginning a rulemaking on 
institutional eligibility issues early next year, and we'll be 
taking public comment and working with colleges from all 
sectors and all types of colleges and universities, including 
the for-profit sector, to try to design a new set of rules 
around institutional eligibility including potentially student 
outcomes.
    Mr. Keller. Well, it should be based on that. On October 
8th, the Department announced a new enforcement unit at FSA to 
ensure that schools adhere to the Federal student aid program 
rules and deliver quality education to their students. If the 
reporting by the Wall Street Journal is correct, it appears 
these actions warrant further investigation. Can you confirm 
that this new enforcement unit will look into all schools, 
public, private and for-profit alike, who are alleged to have 
misled their students and their parents?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well, I would say I think we're very fortunate 
to have Rich Cordray leading Federal student aid, and he is 
going to put students and taxpayers first. I know his vision 
for that unit is going to be looking wherever the problems are, 
not limited to any one sector.
    Mr. Keller. OK. I just want to make sure that the 
commitment we got from the--or the recognition from the 
Secretary that everybody should be measured the same, we take 
action on that sooner rather than later, because it's that 
important to our students. Our students deserve that.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Keller.
    Mr. Keller. Thank you, I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, sir. Thank you, appreciate it. 
Mr. Jones, you're now recognized for five minutes of 
questioning please. Mr. Jones, I think you need to unmute.
    Mr. Jones. Can you hear me now?
    Chairman Sablan. Yes.
    Mr. Jones. All right. Well thank you Mr. Chairman and thank 
you to Chairwoman Wilson for convening this important hearing. 
Of course, thank you to Undersecretary Kvaal and Deputy 
Secretary Marten, for your commitment to helping schools reopen 
safely and address learning loss.
    A quality education is a right, not a privilege. It 
shouldn't be based on the zip code of a family or based on how 
much money that family has in its bank account. The American 
Rescue Plan made critical investments in our Nation's K through 
12 education system, and it's the Education Department's 
responsibility to ensure that these funds have the effect that 
the House Education and Labor Committee intended.
    The funds must be spent properly, and in accordance with 
the statutory requirements in the American Rescue Plan. That's 
why we're here today.
    As a proud product of the East Ramapo Central School 
District in Rockland County, New York, which was so overwhelmed 
and under-resourced in January of this year that it was talking 
about cutting 32 teaching and other staff positions mid-year, 
in the midst of a pandemic, getting this right is personal for 
me. I was proud to deliver over $240 million for K through 12 
public schools in New York's 17th District through the American 
Rescue Plan, including $150 million for the East Ramapo School 
District.
    But again, this money will only be effective if properly 
invested. Now my office has worked to impose oversight and 
community input through the formation of an advisory task 
force, which worked to develop recommendations for school 
district staff on how to best use this historic funding. 
Oversight from the State Department of Education in New York 
will further strengthen our efforts to ensure that this funding 
is used as effectively as possible.
    Anticipating potential abuses, my colleagues and I wrote a 
provision in the American Rescue Plan that requires all $9.4 
billion in K through 12 funding that New York State receives go 
to public schools, and it mandates that the distribution of 
those funds be overseen by the Department of Education.
    Undersecretary Kvaal, during the previous administration, 
certain schools were eligible for and took advantage of two 
sources of funding administered through the CARES Act, 
specifically the Education Stabilization Fund and the Small 
Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program. To 
prevent this, Congress prohibited schools from participating in 
both ESF and PPP at the same time, and they placed additional 
restrictions on the use of ESF money by for-profit schools.
    How is the Department monitoring the allocation of funds to 
ensure that schools are not able to access multiple sources of 
funding in violation of the law?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well thank you for that question, Mr. Jones, and 
we are working very hard to make sure that institutions are 
eligible for whatever funds that they draw down. That includes 
close collaboration with our colleagues across the Department 
and the government, and we have imposed audit requirements on 
additional for-profit colleges that unlike their non-profit 
peers were not subject to Federal auditing requirements before.
    And we've required signatures by executives and principal 
owners of for-profit colleges to ensure that they're familiar 
with all the terms and conditions of accepting HEER funds, and 
of course that includes the eligibility that you mentioned.
    Mr. Jones. Thank you. Deputy Secretary, do you have 
anything to add?
    Ms. Marten. No. I appreciate the level of sincerity that 
you understand how important it is that these funds are spent 
in the way intended. That's why we have our--the Department of 
Education Stabilization Fund Transparency Portal. That's around 
clarity and transparency, and we're providing a detailed annual 
reporting that at the end of each Federal fiscal year, that 
you'll be able to see how those funds are being allocated in 
the way that they were intended and following the law as 
written, including student social-emotional needs, mental 
health needs, addressing learning loss and any of the physical 
things that were needed to change in our schools so that we can 
safely reopen.
    The oversight of those dollars in the funds matter to us, 
monitoring those on an ongoing basis and then providing clear 
annual reports through a portal that has the transparency 
that's required.
    Mr. Jones. Thank you. Finally, what information-sharing, 
and cooperation has occurred between the Department, the Small 
Business Administration and other agencies to ensure 
compliance?
    Mr. Kvaal. Well, I would want to give you a more complete 
answer. So perhaps we can followup with that. But again, both 
the auditors and the executives and owners of for-profit 
colleges are fully aware of Federal requirements, and we've 
taken steps to make sure that they are enforcing all of the 
rules, including the overlap with the PPP programs that you 
mentioned.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you.
    Mr. Jones. Thank you. I look forward to that additional 
information. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Ms. McClain. Ms. 
McClain you have five minutes of questioning please. Thank you.
    Mrs. McClain. Thank you, sir, and thank you to all of our 
witnesses today. Obviously, education is extremely important to 
the future of our country and our progress, and I appreciate 
your time today. Ms. Marten, my first question is for you. 
School districts have until, if I'm correct, September 2024 to 
use their ESSER funds for new HVAC systems and other pandemic-
related needs. So first of all, is that the correct time, 
September of '24?
    Ms. Marten. Yes, that's the correct time for the third pot 
of money for the ARP ESSER funds. The first timeline does 
expire September 30th, 2022. Then the next pot of money was 
September 2023----
    Mrs. McClain. Thank you. Some of the concerns or issues 
that I'm hearing from not only school systems in my district 
but also in the surrounding Metro Detroit districts is they 
have this pot of money and they're extremely grateful because 
they can use this pot of money for clearly infrastructure needs 
that they need to complete to make their school systems safer 
and better for learning and what-not.
    The issue comes down to this. We are having some supply 
chain issues and some workforce shortages. Their concern to me 
is what, what happens if because of the supply chain issues and 
the workforce shortages, if we can't get all of those projects 
completed, are we going to lose those funds? Can we talk about 
perhaps--I mean these are funds that we're actually using for 
good projects, but because of the other situations that we're 
in, is there anything we can do, or have you thought about any 
extensions to these timelines, so we don't just hurry up and 
use the money for something, so we use it, and we actually use 
it for proper educational tools? Does that make sense?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you. Yes, that makes sense. That is 
something that we're hearing, not just from your area and I 
understand that. So, we're back to the original intent of these 
dollars, which is our job to implement and follow the law as 
we're using the funds and approving the plans.
    And so, we have to follow the law at this point. There is 
no extension on the timelines, but understanding what you're 
saying, that's something that maybe is going to be discussed in 
the future. But I'm not aware of those discussions at this 
point.
    Ms. McClain. Would you be opposed to that?
    Ms. Marten. Well, the focus is on safely reopening the 
schools, and knowing that schools might need things like 
infrastructure. The dollars can be used for infrastructure. So, 
I'd like to know more about particular issues. Our staff has 
worked very closely State by State with any of the issues 
around implementation and compliance that they're facing. But 
we will always continue to do that is work closely with states. 
I would think----
    [Simultaneous speaking.]
    Mrs. McClain. So, you're open--you're open to it? I'm just 
concerned. I'm concerned for these schools, and that they're 
actually trying to do the right thing. So OK, let me switch. My 
second question is for Mr. Kvaal. Inflation has reached 
obviously the highest point in 3 years, and Americans seem to 
be paying more for everything. On the higher education front, 
tuition over the past 30 years has increased over 130 percent, 
and yet we're giving more and more money in Federal aid to 
colleges and universities that are still raising their prices. 
So, my question for you is what are you and the administration 
going to do to stop the rising cost of tuition?
    Mr. Kvaal. Thank you for that question. First and foremost, 
the single biggest reason for rising tuitions at public 
colleges and universities, which enroll three-quarters of the 
students----
    Mrs. McClain. I'm talking about public and private, so 
let's not segregate because I mean the college is the college.
    Mr. Kvaal. Fair enough. But the biggest factor at public 
colleges, which is where three-quarters of students are, has 
been State budget cuts over time. And so that is one reason why 
the bipartisan action to invest in colleges during this 
recession and prevent tuition spikes will hopefully help us 
avoid a repeat of past experiences.
    I think there are other things that we can do to help 
colleges and universities help students earn college degrees as 
quickly as possible, and we want--and important part of the----
    Mrs. McClain. So, hang on 1 second. I want to make sure I 
understand you. Shorten, you know, where the average student 
takes four and a half maybe 5 years, try to get them to 
graduate on time? So run, run our college programs more 
efficiently? Is that what you're saying?
    Mr. Kvaal. Graduating on time is one important factor. We 
also want to invest in things that help students complete, 
because as you know our national completion rate is only about 
60 percent, and that will make investments in college. We can 
bring down the cost per graduate by helping many more students 
complete.
    Mrs. McClain. Thank you. Thank you all and I'm out of time, 
so I yield back. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. McClain. Mr. DeSaulnier, 
DeSaulnier. Sir, you have five minutes of questions.
    Mr. DeSaulnier. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Excellent French 
pronunciation. I have two questions and I'll give them both to 
you and let you both decide who should best answer them. One 
that's sort of a more macro one, and one is specific to the 
disability community.
    The first question is I come from a big State, California. 
The Superintendent of Public Instruction is a friend and 
constituent, Tony Thurmond, I have had meetings with him and 
with my county superintendent, just to make sure that within my 
district we know we don't want a one-size-fits-all in a big, 
diverse country. But we want these funds to be spent as 
efficiently and appropriately as possible.
    And then we have hopefully, not hopefully. We're going to 
have this new, very significant investment in education, a 
historic one. So, my concern is just the infrastructure, of 
providing that oversight to the Federal and State to local 
level, and how we do that in a responsible way, not 
overprescribe. Sort of core question is what is the right 
temperature, and what can we do either within our districts to 
help your department to work with our State education 
departments and our local departments to have a good 
conversation about the best practices to get these investments 
out appropriately and efficiently?
    And then the second question is specific to the disability 
community. Individual Education Plans, IEPs have been very 
difficult for this community. How do you see us being able to 
facilitate these funds being spent with the disability and 
special needs community? So those two questions? I'll leave it 
to you to give us guidance and respond.
    Ms. Marten. I can begin because anybody who uses an 
elementary fairy tale reference of Goldilocks and the porridge 
example, you want to get this just right. Not too hot, not too 
cold, and get it just right in the oversight. It's an 
incredibly important and serious topic, though I make light of 
it because you made a literacy reference.
    But it's very important that the oversight of not just the 
plans as the plans are coming in, that they address 
specifically what they're intended to address, the physical, 
health and safety needs, social-emotional, mental health needs, 
and the learning loss needs, and then that they're designed for 
students that were most negatively or disparate impacts of the 
pandemic, and there's very specific funds specifically for 
students with disabilities, and the nearly eight million 
students with disabilities and $3 billion that were in the ARP 
funds.
    This very clear intention, and so in the way that we 
implement here at the Department of Education, to follow the 
law, follow the good strong intentions that were meant, that 
were designed to meet the needs of kids that were most 
disproportionately impacted, and the oversight begins with the 
Transparency Portal that we've put up.
    There will be annual reporting on it, but there's also not 
waiting for the annual reporting, there's ongoing monitoring, 
focused and targeted monitoring as we hear of hot spots that 
might be coming up across the country. So, I'll answer, and 
I'll let my colleague address that as well.
    Mr. Kvaal. I don't have anything to add to that.
    Mr. DeSaulnier. And if you could maybe help us just for all 
of us, how can we help within our districts and in our 
communities? Most of us, all of us I probably assume, have 
relationships with our county education departments in our 
State, in our districts. So, what's appropriate for us to 
interact with you, appropriate, so that we're all providing as 
much resources as possible and oversight?
    Ms. Marten. Well, I would--thank you. I believe I would 
lift up the example of how you're working with your State 
Superintendent, Tony Thurmond, you're working with your county 
superintendent. You're providing a lot of what, how that could 
look like. This is a whole of government and whole of community 
approach that it's not just one silver bullet or one answer on 
how we're going to recover from this pandemic. It's all of the 
funds being used in the ways that they're intended and creating 
the very specific plans for how you're going to work together 
in communities.
    I would also point everybody to the multiple resources that 
this Department has published, the mental health resources, the 
resources for students with disabilities, the webinars that 
we've been putting on for staffing shortages or ways to address 
learning loss. Or we did a program this summer for summer 
learning. So, we're putting clearinghouse-type documents out 
and if you want to work with us on that, help us with--to put 
out the--to disseminate the materials that the Department has 
been publishing, specifically with the kinds of guidance that 
we know people are hungry for, that best decisions are made 
local. But we also know that we can provide good examples that 
show how to use the funds as intended.
    Mr. DeSaulnier. That's terrific. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I 
yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. All right, thank you. I now recognize Mrs. 
Miller. Mrs. Miller, you have five minutes please.
    Mrs. Miller. Thank you. Deputy Secretary Marten, the 
Department of Justice issued a memo directing the FBI to 
investigate parents who show up at school board meetings. Does 
the Department of Education believe the FBI should be used to 
intimidate and scare parents out of showing up for the school 
board meetings?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for that question. Rather than 
mention or weigh in on what the Department of Justice has done, 
I can talk about the importance of parents being involved in 
their child's education, and what it looks like.
    Mrs. Miller. But what do--the FBI though, investigating. We 
now have evidence that the FBI was using counter-terrorism 
tools against parents in response to the DOJ's school board 
memo. Do you agree with this practice by the DOJ and the FBI?
    Ms. Marten. I'd rather not weigh in on what other agencies 
have done, and what they're choosing to do. That's something 
that they choose, and that's their decision.
    Mrs. Miller. OK. Did you or anyone at the Department of 
Education have conversations with the DOJ, FBI, or the White 
House while the memo was being written?
    Ms. Marten. I am not aware of that, no.
    Mrs. Miller. So, neither you nor anybody at the Department 
of Education had conversations with the DOJ, FBI, or the White 
House while the memo was being written, is that right? You're 
saying no, they did not?
    Ms. Marten. I did not. I can speak to what I know, and my 
experience is that I did not.
    Mrs. Miller. OK. So, do you know of anyone in the 
Department of Education that had conversations with the DOJ, 
FBI, or the White House while this memo was being written?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you. Thank you for the question. I am not 
aware of that myself. What we know is that it's been a very 
difficult year for parents around our country.
    Mrs. Miller. Right. Did you or anyone at the Department of 
Education have any conversations with the National School Board 
Association while they were writing their September letter to 
the DOJ, because we know Members of the National School Board 
Association spoke with the DOJ and the White House Office while 
they were crafting the letter? Were you involved in any of 
these conversations, or was anybody at the Department of 
Education?
    Ms. Marten. I'd be happy to have our staff followup with 
you on that, because I'm not aware of the specific details of 
the question that you're asking at this point.
    Mrs. Miller. OK, and Deputy Secretary Marten, when 
Secretary Cardona testified before this Committee, I asked him 
about the Department's guidance to schoolteachers, that they 
could be charged with harassment if they say that there are 
only two genders, male and female. I asked the Secretary how 
many genders there are, and he couldn't answer. Could you 
please tell me how many genders are there?
    Ms. Marten. Well, I'd rather talk about the bigger value 
around our students being able to learn----
    Mrs. Miller. Under your guidance, under your guidance, you 
are saying that teachers could be investigated for harassment 
if they State the biological fact that there's two genders.
    Ms. Marten. What's most important is that all----
    Mrs. Miller. Are you saying that teachers could lose their 
job over this, but you can't actually say how many genders 
there are?
    Ms. Marten. We don't make decisions at the local level 
about teachers----
    Mrs. Miller. This isn't local. This came from the 
Department of Education. This is not local. If it was local, I 
assure you regular Americans, including rank and file 
Democrats, are furious that the Department of Education is 
promoting the teaching of gender identity in schools. It's a 
made-up concept that's going to have significant implications. 
Every human is either a male or female. That's a biological 
fact.
    Ms. Marten. Thank you.
    Mrs. Miller. So, you still can't say how many genders there 
are?
    Ms. Marten. I can tell you that the Department is committed 
to student safety and all students' right to access education 
in all of the----
    Mrs. Miller. What about the teachers that teach Biology or 
Genetics, and they say that there's two genders, male and 
female. It's--your department's guidance is saying that they 
could be subject to investigation for harassment. What do you 
say about that?
    Ms. Marten. At the end of the day, I know that----
    Mrs. Miller. I know it's hard to come up with an answer 
that could satisfy parents in our country.
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for your questions.
    Mrs. Miller. Yes. Did you have an answer for that because 
teachers could be losing their jobs over this, over saying 
that--stating a biological genetic fact that there's two 
genders. It's your department that put this guidance out.
    [Simultaneous speaking.]
    Mrs. Miller. You're making teachers vulnerable, and even 
students perhaps that don't feel safe in the locker rooms or 
bathrooms, and they go in and, you know, communicate that to 
perhaps a principal or a teacher, perhaps then they're accused 
of harassment also. This has really got significant 
implications. So, I hope next time you could tell us how many 
genders there are. Thank you, and I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you. And now finally I 
recognize the distinguished gentlelady from Minnesota, Ms. 
Omar. You have five minutes for questions please.
    Ms. Omar. Thank you, Chairman, and I just want to thank the 
witnesses for their testimonies and Ms. Marten for your ability 
to stay the course while you're faced with a non-sensical line 
of questioning. In response to the unprecedented challenges 
caused by COVID-19, Congress provided a historic investment in 
our Nation, to our Nation's educational system, helping schools 
reopen safely and provide extra support to their students.
    As of this month, approximately $23 billion of the ESSER 
funds have been drawn down by states and school districts. 
According to a recent survey from the School Superintendent's 
Association, 75 percent of district leaders are using the 
American Rescue Plan funding to address lost instructional and 
extracurricular time by offering robust summer learning and 
enrichment programs.
    66 percent of district leaders are hiring more counselors, 
social workers, and reading specialists, and 62 percent of 
district leaders are purchasing digital devices and addressing 
connectivity issues. Ms. Marten, how is the Department ensuring 
these programs address the disproportionate impact of the 
pandemic, that the pandemic has had on underserved student 
groups?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you so much for highlighting some of the 
wise actions that you've just outlined that people are taking, 
to spend the dollars as they were intended. The intentions 
around spending this money in a way that gives schools a chance 
to reopen and reopen safely and stay open to address the mental 
health and social-emotional needs, to address learning loss, 
and to design the plans in ways that ensure that those that 
were disproportionately impacted get a good chance of recovery 
and being stronger in terms of us identifying students by name 
and by need and developing the programs that will help them 
most significantly.
    I think that State plans give us the kind of window into 
the very detailed programs, actions and services that states 
are coming up with, to address the needs that you just 
outlined. You know, specifically in your State, you had an 
effort. One of the--some of the ways they were spending the 
dollars was a roll up your sleeves campaign to connect public 
health departments to the LEAs, to provide the onsite 
vaccination clinics.
    That's just one of the health and safety mechanisms, 
because we know kids can't learn if they're not in-person or 
they learn better when they're in-person. And so, we're seeing 
these wise plans and actions coming State by State and 
developed with the local community voices. That was part of the 
intention of the dollars being spent.
    Ms. Omar. Wonderful, and Ms. Marten, the American Rescue 
Plan also includes an unprecedented $800 million to support the 
specific needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness. 
State and local educational agencies must use these funds to 
provide homeless students and use with wrap-around services to 
address challenges that have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Can 
you tell us more about how these funds are being used to serve 
these vulnerable students?
    Ms. Marten. Yes. I'll point people to some of the guidance 
and supports that the Department's putting out as great 
examples of what local districts and states are putting into 
their plans, and I think that it's very significant. This is my 
32d year in education, and it's very significant for me to be 
able to witness the intentions that were put into this, the 
fact that we put $800 million specifically in students 
experiencing homelessness. There are districts and states and 
localities that have come up with good plans to serve students 
experiencing homelessness, but they haven't been able to scale 
those.
    And with this investment that we're making now, we can 
actually bake in long-term programs, actions, and services to 
address students who experience homelessness, whether it was 
because of the pandemic or even before the pandemic. I think we 
can continue to lift up the best practices that we're seeing 
around the country with the dollars that have such specific 
intention, and the fact that it was designed at the outset to 
meet those needs says a lot about what we're going to do to 
meet the needs of our students.
    Ms. Omar. Thank you for the thoughtful responses. I look 
forward to us engaging and Mr. Chairman before I end, I want to 
say that our school environments are supposed to be more 
inclusive in addressing the needs of our children, and that's 
what this Committee should be committed to, the fact that there 
are people on this Committee that are constantly trying to find 
ways to create environments that are hostile for our students 
is really disheartening, and I do hope that we go back into the 
business of trying to make sure that our school environments 
are welcoming and inclusive for all of our children. I say that 
as a mother and someone who represents one of the youngest 
districts in Congress. With that, I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Ms. Omar, I also agree with you as a 
father of two teachers. I can't agree with you anymore. Thank 
you. Mr. Cawthorn. Sir, you have five minutes of questioning 
please.
    Mr. Cawthorn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Deputy Secretary 
Marten, since this is the first opportunity, we've had to speak 
with you since you assumed your current role, I want to hear 
your thoughts on some of the controversies you experienced in 
San Diego, and how you might see these issues playing out for 
you at the Department of Education.
    First, your nomination was opposed by the San Diego Chapter 
of the NAACP, largely because of your perceived opposition to 
charter schools. The NAACP in San Diego was apparently 
rightfully concerned about the extensive achievement gaps 
between white and black students in your city and were 
concerned with your participation in some statewide initiatives 
to limit the growth of charter schools as a means for providing 
better educational opportunities to those students.
    Second, you invited a Critical Race Theorist named Bettina 
Love to provide professional development to your teachers in 
San Diego. According to press reports, her presentation 
included strong elements of Critical Race Theory, greatest hits 
if you will, including the idea that white teachers ``spirit 
murder'' black students. Mrs. Marten, do you believe like Ms. 
Love's talk that white teachers, and I quote ``spirit murder'' 
black students, and do you believe as she asserted that black 
students' achievements are dependent upon the actions of non-
black students?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for your question. I'm pointing out 
that this is the first time we've had a chance to meet one 
another, so it's nice to meet you and thank you for putting up 
a couple of questions. The work that we did in San Diego was 
critical around addressing the long-standing disparities and 
the achievement outcomes that we saw in San Diego is work that 
I was dedicated to and committed to.
    32 years in education and 8 years as Superintendent, that 
was the work that we put in place to address long-standing 
disparities and to give students access to the kinds of 
supports and resources that they needed to achieve.
    Mr. Cawthorn. OK. So, by taking away charter schools, you 
were giving them the assets that they needed. That doesn't make 
much sense to me, but Deputy Secretary, research shows that 74 
percent of voters supported School Choice, including 73 percent 
of black voters, 69 percent of Hispanic voters and 70 percent 
of Democrats. That's not surprising. Americans value choice and 
low-income families deserve the same freedom to pursue the 
educational opportunities their wealthy neighbors enjoy.
    The failures of many public schools to be responsive to 
families shows the need for increased opportunities. And yet in 
the President's Fiscal Year 2022 budget proposal, the 
Department proposed eliminating the D.C. Opportunity 
Scholarship Program. This program has been a lifeline for 
thousands of low-income students to escape the underperforming 
schools. In April 2019 this Committee held a hearing examining 
the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education.
    Virginia Walden Ford, a parent advocate and driving force 
behind the creation of the D.C. Choice Program, wrote the 
Committee saying, and I quote: ``The same schools that we 
fought hard to get into the 1960's after the Brown v. Board of 
Education decisions, have become the schools we must diligently 
find a way to get minority children out of. These schools and 
programs that our children are now forced to attend are 
creating environments where our kids cannot get the education 
they deserve.''
    Deputy Secretary, why are you proposing to take away the 
educational freedom that so many parents have fought so hard to 
achieve?
    Ms. Marten. School matters so much for every student. 
During my 32 years, I could see the importance of everybody 
having access to a school that meets their needs. That is 
critically important, and I can see the difference that public 
education provides for our students. It's about bringing people 
together and giving them learning conditions that allow them to 
live their best life and achieve their academic potential.
    It's not about dividing one another but coming together and 
give schools and students access to the kinds of learning 
communities and conditions that are best for them.
    Mr. Cawthorn. So, Deputy Secretary, I find it interesting 
that you said you find the necessity and how beneficial it is 
for public education for students, yet you mention nothing 
about charter schools and school choice. Do you oppose charter 
schools and school choice?
    Ms. Marten. Charter schools are public schools, and the 
work that I did in San Diego reflects our investment, our 
commitment to charter schools. We passed some successful local 
bond measures that invested over $350 million in improving 
charter school facilities and worked closely with our charter 
school partners to make sure that every student in San Diego 
had access.
    Mr. Cawthorn. Deputy Secretary, I hate to interrupt, but 
then why did the NAACP resist your nomination to be in that 
position in San Diego because of what they said as extensive 
achievement gaps between white and black students in your city, 
and they were concerned with participation in some statewide 
initiatives, to limit the growth of charter schools. Why did 
the NAACP think that you're limiting charter schools?
    Ms. Marten. I would be happy to followup with you with a 
more extensive conversation on the details of the achievement 
as recognized by the Learning Policy Institute, how we closed 
achievement gaps for black and brown students, and were 
distinguished as a positive outlier district, and was able to 
prove results for students of color. I could get into more 
detail about the work we did specifically with charter schools 
and the local concerns, and happy to have a further followup 
questions if you'd like to submit them.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you.
    Mr. Cawthorn. All right, Deputy Secretary I'm out of time. 
With that Mr. Speaker or Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you for the elevation to 
speaker also Mr. Cawthorn. Mrs. Steel, you have five minutes of 
questioning please.
    Mrs. Steel. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. I have a 
question to Deputy Secretary Marten. I understand that in many 
states, emergency assistance to non-public school funds are 
helping private schools meet the extraordinary needs of 
students caused by the pandemic. I am also told that there are 
a few states like California and Maryland that have still not 
delivered any services under this program to the students.
    What is the Department doing to ensure that those states 
comply with the law and begin delivering services to non-public 
students, and what are you doing to ensure as many non-public 
education students as possible are receiving emergency relief 
services?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for the question. It's our job to 
implement the law as it was designed and written, and as of--I 
believe it was as of Wednesday, at least 27 of the plans will 
be approved and we'll continue to work with all of the 
remaining states if their plans aren't in or working with them 
on what they need to do to get their plans finished.
    Mrs. Steel. OK. So, they're going to get it soon, or you 
are actually asking that these states what they are doing?
    Ms. Marten. We're in active conversation with each State. 
If their plan has already come in and we're still in dialog 
with them, we're actively working with each State as we see 
their plans come in and make sure that we're continuing to work 
with any of the remaining states that do not have plans.
    Mrs. Steel. OK, thank you. Under the American Rescue Plan, 
Congress limited eligibility to private schools with 
``significant'' percentage of low-income students. The 
Department defined the term ``significant'' to mean 40 percent 
of the children in a non-public school. However, Hawaii 
submitted an application that defined the low-income threshold 
at 47.5 percent, not 40 percent, which cutoff services to 
private school students who need them.
    At the same time, you have pushback on some states who have 
sought to reduce the threshold in order to provide services to 
a greater number of low-income private school students. Why did 
you approve Hawaii's application which further limits access to 
services for non-public schools?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you for your question. This is important 
that we're implementing as it was written and as expected, and 
you talked about specifically the significant percentage. There 
were 14 plans that adopted the 40 percent threshold of 
significant percentage of students from low-income backgrounds, 
and then there were 13 plans that have approved the alternative 
threshold. They approved alternative thresholds so far as range 
between 20 and 47 percent. But we're going to continue to work 
with any of the remaining states to problem solve this.
    Mrs. Steel. OK. So, the next one is the rollout of the non-
public education provision was rocky and maybe or slow in the 
hand full of states where their own State legislatures or 
procurement rules held up the process. What kind of flexibility 
can be offered in these states to ensure that the State can 
fully meet needs of students in non-public schools, and what is 
the Department doing to ensure the money is used to address the 
needs of non-public school community within the confines of the 
statute?
    Ms. Marten. And that is our role, is to ensure that we're 
meeting the needs of non-public schools and stay in compliance 
with the statute, and while we're hearing some different kinds 
of rollouts where the timelines may not have been met, we're 
working with those states to ensure that these dollars get to 
the students as intended by the statute.
    As we learn about states that may have been stopped or the 
timelines may have been compromised, we're going to work with 
them to ensure that we're implementing with fidelity to the 
intent of this--of the statute.
    Mrs. Steel. Mr. Chairman, do I still have more time, 
because I have about the charter school question.
    Chairman Sablan. You have 45 seconds, Mrs. Steel.
    Mrs. Steel. Then you know what? I'm going to submit this, 
that last question regarding charter school question then.
    Chairman Sablan. All right, yes.
    Mrs. Steel. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. You yield back?
    Ms. Marten. Thank you.
    Mrs. Steel. I yield back, I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. All right, thank you Mrs. Steel. Thank you 
everyone. Now I remind my colleagues that pursuant to Committee 
practice, materials for submission for the hearing record must 
be submitted to the Committee Clerk within 14 days following 
the last day of the hearing. So, by close of business on 
December 1st, preferably in Microsoft Word format.
    The materials submitted must address the subject matter of 
the hearing. Only a Member of the Committee or an invited 
witness may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing 
record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents 
longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via 
an internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk 
within the required timeframe. But please recognize that in the 
future that link may no longer work.
    Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for the 
record should be submitted to the Clerk electronically by email 
transmissions to [email protected]. That's 
[email protected]. Again, I want to thank our 
witnesses for their participation today. Members of the 
Committee may have some additional questions for you, and we 
ask the witnesses to please respond to those questions in 
writing.
    The hearing record will be held open for 14 days in order 
to receive those responses. I remind my colleagues that 
pursuant to Committee practice witness questions for the 
hearing record must be submitted to the Majority Committee 
Staff or Committee Clerk within 7 days. The questions submitted 
must address the subject matter of the hearing.
    I now recognize Chairwoman Wilson for a closing statement.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Before I--oh shucks. Before I close----
    Chairman Sablan. Please proceed.
    Chairwoman Wilson ----from the Association of Public and 
Land Grant Universities about the importance of HEER funds, and 
I would like to submit it for the record.
    Chairman Sablan. Without objection, so ordered.
    Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you for hosting this important 
hearing, and I want to thank our amazing witnesses. You were 
absolutely great. Your leadership and testimonies helped 
America understand what we do on the Education Committee and 
what happens in the Department of Education. Thank you so much 
for being with us today.
    Today we reflected on the historic investments Congress and 
President Biden delivered to institutions of higher education 
through three COVID relief packages, including the American 
Rescue Plan. It's clear that the relief we provided has been 
critical to helping both institutions and students weather this 
pandemic. It is crucial that we continue to conduct strong 
oversight to ensure that institutions are using these funds 
responsibly to support their students, faculty, and staff.
    And as our witnesses testified, the Education Department 
has a clear plan to do so, and we appreciate those efforts. I 
look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to help 
all students access the life-changing benefits that come with 
high college degrees. Thank you again to our witnesses, and I 
just want to make this statement.
    Critical Race Theory is not taught in any K through 12 
school in this Nation. Critical Race Theory is a specialized 
curriculum that is taught in law schools and in specified 
colleges and universities that want to offer it as an elective. 
Critical Race Theory is not taught, not written or is 
appropriate, not offered in any K-12 school in the United 
States of America. This is a talking point that is being used 
by the Republican Party to divide races in our Nation, divide 
people and they need to stop. It is very dangerous, and we need 
to stop doing this now.
    We're not on, in Congress to divide the country. We have to 
work together as a Nation, not divide black against white and 
color with all kinds of ideas to do that. It is--Mr. Chair, I 
yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I 
appreciate your thoughts. Thank you, Undersecretary Kvaal and 
Deputy Secretary Marten, for briefing the Subcommittees this 
morning and this afternoon, to ensure states, school districts 
and institutions of higher education are all using the 
Education Stabilization Fund, including--included in President 
Biden's American Rescue Plan as Congress intended.
    The Education Stabilization Fund is the largest single 
Federal investment in K through 12 schools in our Nation's 
history, and in the midst of the pandemic, congressional 
Democrats and the President included the funding in the CARES 
Act, the CRRSA and the American Rescue Plan because we knew 
states and districts needed this help to reopen schools safely 
and because we wanted students back in the classroom.
    The Committee plans to continue checking in with the 
Department of Education to make sure these historic investments 
in our schools and our children remains on track, and I am 
confident that under Secretary Cardona and the leadership of 
your witnesses today, of our witnesses today, the Education 
Stabilization Fund will not only help schools and students 
recover from the pandemic but will also affirm the importance 
of investing in public education.
    Again, to our witnesses, thank you very much for the 
insight you provided to us, and also for your patience in 
today's hearing. I thank you again and if there's no further 
business, without objection the Committee stands adjourned. 
Have a good night or good afternoon.
    [Additional submission by Chairman Sablan follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    [Whereupon, at 1:27 p.m., the Subcommittees were 
adjourned.]

                        [all]