Author: BelieveAgain

President Donald Trump is once again proposing to slash more than $8 billion from federal programs for K-12 education.But that doesn’t mean schools should immediately brace for cuts of that magnitude. Congress still has until Sept. 30 to approve a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. If recent history repeats itself, it might take many months after that for lawmakers to reach an agreement—and that agreement could bear little resemblance to Trump’s proposal.In the meantime, Trump’s budget provides a window into how the current administration is thinking about education funding as midterm elections loom. It also provides another opportunity to…

The new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit and the explosive growth of educational choice have raised big questions about how to provide parents with flexibility while minimizing concerns about waste and fraud. Jamie Rosenberg has a lot of thoughts on the subject. Rosenberg is the founder of ClassWallet, a financial technology platform that helps government agencies distribute public funds directly to parents and teachers. Before ClassWallet, Rosenberg founded AdoptAClassroom.org, one of the country’s largest education philanthropy platforms. A lawyer by training, Rosenberg has been featured in Time, Parade, and on CBS. I reached out to talk dollars, cents, and choice. Here’s…

The U.S. Department of Education said Monday it has terminated agreements that previous administrations reached with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding rights and protections for transgender students.The decision means the department will no longer play a role in enforcing those agreements, which called for schools to take steps to comply with federal civil rights law. The districts affected are Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware; Fife School District in Washington state; Delaware Valley School District in Pennsylvania; and La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, Sacramento City Unified, and Taft College in California.Under the Biden and Obama administrations,…

Just two months after Congress maintained steady year-over-year federal funding for most education programs, the second Trump administration is asking lawmakers to once again consider major cuts that would take effect for the 2027-28 school year.The White House budget released Friday likely won’t resemble the spending package Congress eventually approves. Instead, President Donald Trump’s administration is using the budget proposal process as presidents typically do—to signal its political priorities.For the second year in a row, Trump is proposing to zero out longstanding federal education programs that support educators’ professional development (currently $2.2 billion a year), services for English learners ($890…

The Trump administration is shifting large swaths of the U.S. Department of Education’s congressionally mandated portfolio to other agencies, as part of its ongoing campaign to shutter the Education Department altogether. As of April 1, 2026, the Education Department has struck 10 interagency agreements with five separate Cabinet-level agencies to transfer at least 119 K-12 and higher education programs, according to an Education Week analysis.    The Trump administration is also transferring some Education Department staff to those agencies using “detail” agreements, which are typically temporary but can be renewed indefinitely.Congress hasn’t yet approved proposals to eliminate the department. Education Secretary Linda…

The Supreme Court seemed poised Wednesday to reject President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship in a consequential case that was magnified by his unparalleled presence in the courtroom.Conservative and liberal justices questioned whether Trump’s order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens comports with either the Constitution or federal law.The case, Trump v. Barbara, is being watched by educators. If the court upholds the policy, more U.S.-born children could lack legal status, potentially discouraging families from enrolling their children even though Plyler v. Doe guarantees access to…

Previously: Chavez-DeRemer served as mayor of Happy Valley, Ore., from 2011 to 2019. From 2023 to 2025, she represented Oregon’s 5th District in Congress. Schooling: She attended public K-12 schools and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Fresno. Education policy positions: Her 2022 campaign for Congress emphasized education priorities including a parental bill of rights and ending critical race theory instruction in public schools. While in Congress, she bucked her party’s majority on some labor issues, including by co-sponsoring legislation to expand public-sector workers’ rights to organize unions. During her Senate confirmation hearing, Chavez-DeRemer expressed…

The U.S. Supreme Court this week will consider the legality of one of the biggest items on President Donald Trump’s immigration-enforcement agenda—an executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil of immigrant parents who are undocumented or have lawful temporary status.The case, Trump v. Barbara, is being watched by educators because enforcement of the order would vastly expand the population of undocumented children, which could discourage their enrollment in public schools—even though a 1982 Supreme Court decision bars states from denying students a free public education based on immigration status.That decision, Plyler v. Doe,…

The Trump administration sued Minnesota and its school athletics governing body on Monday, carrying out a threat to punish the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports.The lawsuit is part of a broader fight over the rights of transgender youth. More than two dozen states have laws prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports and some have barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Courts have blocked some of those policies.In the lawsuit filed Monday, the Justice Department alleges the state Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League are violating Title IX, a…

The U.S. spent about $946 billion on public K-12 schools in 2022-23, the most recent year for which statistics are available. The money comes from federal, state, and local governments, and the percentage coming from each source varies between and within states.The average per-pupil spending was $16,526 in 2022-23, but four states (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont) and the District of Columbia spend more than $25,000 per student. On the other end of the spectrum, two states (Idaho and Utah) spend less than $11,000 per student on average. Read more statistics about U.S. schools.Per pupil spending nationally in…