Author: BelieveAgain

The Trump administration has framed its education agenda as one of “returning education to the states,” as it’s outsourced the U.S. Department of Education’s responsibilities to other agencies and waived certain federal requirements for states.Now, a grant program focused on training teachers to work with English learners offers a glimpse into how that priority is playing out as the Education Department disburses competitive grant money.In May, the department opened applications for a new round of funding under the National Professional Development program. When it put out the notice inviting applications, the agency encouraged applicants to submit letters of support from…

The federal school choice program that’s launching next year could become one of the nation’s largest sources of K-12 funding, even if just a slice of taxpayers eligible for the federal tax credits the program provides decide to use them.The American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy group, estimates that if the program incentivizes 1 of every 5 eligible taxpayers to contribute to groups that give out scholarships to K-12 students, it would raise $37.6 billion. That sum rivals the combined funding of Title I—targeting disadvantaged students—and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the U.S. Department of Education’s two…

The Trump administration is pressing forward with efforts to relocate U.S. Department of Education staffers, offload agency funding, and scale back the federal role in education—even as it touts a new initiative to help state education agencies measure policy outcomes.Administration officials have repeatedly pushed for closing the department, shifting its core functions to other agencies, and “returning education to the states.” Hundreds of Education Department staffers now work from other agencies’ buildings, and billions of dollars for education programs have recently shown up in at least one other agency’s spending accounts.But during a call with reporters on Tuesday, an Education…

The tech backlash in schools has entered the courthouse.Seven Pennsylvania families have sued their Philadelphia-area school district seeking to be able to opt their children out of required use of school computers, such as take-home Google Chromebooks and Apple iPads.In addition to arguing the internet-connected devices expose their children to distractions and dangerous content, they say that officials in the 8,600-student Lower Merion school district declined to honor an opt-out policy and “contrived” to withdraw it.The suit in Lev v. Lower Merion School District, filed Aug. 26 in federal district court in Philadelphia, appears to be one of the first…

A federal judge this week threw out the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit challenging California policies that allow transgender athletes to compete on school sports teams that match their gender identity.The Justice Department alleged that the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation were in violation of Title IX, a 1972 federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. It argued the law requires that sports eligibility and facilities access be based on biological sex, not gender identity.But U.S. District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela found that Title IX does no such thing—and…

The U.S. Department of Education’s research arm has nearly a quarter of its annual budget left to spend with only a month before those funds expire, the department revealed in a court filing last week.Congress each year gives the Institute of Education Sciences an annual round of funds that must be spent by the end of the following fiscal year—essentially, a two-year period. Out of $768 million lawmakers approved in 2025 for IES, the agency had spent $587 million as of Aug. 26, according to IES Acting Director Matthew Soldner. That leaves roughly $180 million for the agency to spend…

Congress on Tuesday approved a plan to extend ongoing federal budget negotiations and delay implementation of controversial grant rule changes from Oct. 1 until Dec. 11, after the midterm elections.House lawmakers voted 370-48 on Sept. 1 in favor of a continuing resolution, already approved last month by the Senate, that carries over current fiscal 2026 federal funding levels into the first two months of fiscal 2027. The measure now awaits the signature of President Donald Trump, who already indicated his support earlier this month.Education advocates will now have to wait until at least mid-December to find out what funding will…

The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas have formally filed suit against the Kansas City, Kan., public schools over the school district’s guidelines pertaining to its transgender students, the department announced in a Tuesday news release.The lawsuit comes after several months of back and forth between Wyandotte County’s largest school district and the federal government. The government has long maintained that the school district’s staff are facilitating “secret ‘gender transitions’ for children at school,” without telling parents about it.KCKPS, meanwhile, has defended itself, claiming that it is not breaking any laws in this situation.…

This summer, the Trump administration announced plans to overhaul the $12 billion federal Head Start program. The plan has sparked fierce debate, with fiery critiques from Democrats and early-childhood advocates. What is the Trump administration seeking to do? What motivated this effort? Is this ultimately about trying to abolish the program? For the administration’s take, I talked to Alex Adams, the guy steering this effort. Adams is the assistant secretary for family support at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He came to this role after more than a decade in Idaho state government, including as budget director…

The Trump administration is proposing to give itself greater authority to cut off education grants and reduce the size of multiyear awards after its efforts to end in-progress grants have repeatedly run into legal trouble.The U.S. Department of Education issued a new set of proposed regulations for grantmaking this week that would codify tactics it’s used over the past year and a half to terminate more than $2 billion in multiyear competitive grants and enforce presidential executive orders on grant recipients.The new rules would also cut off some avenues for grantees to appeal the loss of their funding and end…