Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is hitting the road this week in another attempt by Biden administration officials to buoy the president's dismal approval ratings by telling Americans to ignore their lying eyes and accept that everything is going well in America. On Tuesday afternoon, Cardona's travels will bring him to Arkansas.
According to the Department of Education, the secretary will "participate in a roundtable to highlight student debt forgiveness and speak with borrowers who have been approved for relief" and visit "a FAFSA clinic for high school seniors and families held at Little Rock Central High School." The trip, according to the Biden administration, is to highlight its "commitment to fixing the broken student loan system" — by saddling millions of American taxpayers with more than $140 billion worth of student debt they did not incur.
Well, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders isn't letting his and Biden's agenda come through Arkansas unchallenged.
"We welcome you to our state, but we fear that his visit will only serve to highlight some of your administration's worst mistakes," Sanders wrote in a letter co-signed by state Education Secretary Jacob Oliva to Cardona this week. "The Biden administration's forgiveness of certain student loans is unfair, unwise, and unlawful. Not only does it force Arkansans who chose not to attend college to pay for others' education, not only does it offer forgiveness for past loans with no plan to address the future growth of college tuition expenses, but it has also been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court," Sanders reminded. "This administration's gleeful disregard for our nation's highest court should appall every American."
On the second portion of Cardona's visit, Sanders said her administration is "deeply concerned" about the Biden administration and the secretary's "mishandling of the FAFSA program" that has rendered the platform "functionally nonoperational, causing extreme delays, complexity, and difficulty for students and families."
"Each week, new issues arise," said Sanders of the Department of Education's mismanagement of FAFSA. "Students, particularly from low-income families, need answers."
"Your department is a constant source of frustration for Americans and Arkansans," Sanders emphasized. "You've promised to shut down the nation's largest Christian university. You oppose education freedom. You attack parents who speak up for their children's education at school board meetings," she continued, ticking off a list of Biden administration controversies impacting students.
"Here in Arkansas, we have taken a different approach," Sanders noted, contrasting her successful education policies with the mess the Biden administration has made at the federal level. "Through the Arkansas LEARNS Act, we have raised starting teacher pay from $36,000 to $50,000 — from 48th in the nation to top five — invested in literacy and career and technical education, are preparing to implement universal education freedom, and are protecting girls and girls' sports."
"The botched FAFSA update, the unlawful student debt forgiveness program, and so much more have created a mess," Sanders summarized of Cardona's tenure helming the Department of Education. "I hope that your visit to Little Rock offers more than just empty words for struggling Arkansas."
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