Author: BelieveAgain

For the second consecutive year, Tennessee legislators failed in their efforts to limit undocumented students’ access to free, public education during the legislative session.Since President Donald Trump’s reelection win, at least seven states, including Tennessee, have taken action to challenge that right, granted by the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v Doe. Five of those efforts have failed, according to an Education Week analysis.In Tennessee, House Bill 793—initially introduced along with companion Senate Bill 836 in 2025—would have required schools to collect students’ immigration status and charge tuition or even deny enrollment to those who were undocumented. While…

Every year, millions of students decide what comes next: which courses to take, whether to pursue college, an apprenticeship, or a job-training program, or go straight into the workforce. Too often, they make those decisions without all the information they need to choose wisely.At the same time, state leaders are trying to answer their own set of questions: Which programs are working to prepare students? Where should we invest? Are we closing opportunity gaps for students to access high-quality jobs? Right now, only the state leaders and researchers working in states with the most robust data systems that link early-childhood,…

The Trump administration is using an obscure and typically routine federal budget procedure to withhold more than $2 billion for education that Congress approved in February.Lawmakers belatedly approved a fiscal 2026 budget for the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 3. Before the agency can actually spend those dollars, the federal Office of Management and Budget by law must “apportion” the correct amounts, or dispense them, into the agency’s accounts.During past presidencies, the vast majority of apportionments occurred no later than a month and a half after lawmakers approved the federal budget, according to publicly available documents and former OMB…

Early last year, DOGE axed 90 percent of the staff and $900 million worth of contracts at the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. The draconian cuts raised a lot of eyebrows and some legitimate concerns but also offered a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink the federal agency charged with investing in education research and collecting vital education statistics.Few people have spent more time rethinking IES’ role over the past year than Amber Northern, the senior vice president for research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon tapped Northern to serve as a special…

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has greenlit Louisiana’s request to combine state-level slices of four federal K-12 grant programs into a single, flexible fund that the state can direct to a range of statewide school improvement efforts.The approval, announced May 20, marks the second time the department has given a state the go-ahead to merge its portion of funding for state-level activities for federal programs aimed at teacher training, services for English learners, student support and academic enrichment, and extended learning into one broad bucket.Iowa received a nearly identical waiver from the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act…

Private school choice programs have boomed across the country in recent years.But a case in Texas has surfaced a potential fault line in the private school choice movement over whether all types of private schools should be able to receive public funds. It’s also resurrecting a tension over public funding for religious schools that drove changes in American education funding policy more than a century ago.Texas was sued this spring for excluding Islamic private schools from its massive new Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, which gives school students roughly $10,500 a year—and more for students with disabilities—to put toward tuition,…

The Republican who leads the U.S. Senate panel that oversees the U.S. Department of Education is entering his final months in office after losing his primary election battle this past weekend.Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has been a champion of legislation to expand school choice and direct resources to students in special education since his election to the Senate in 2014.The May 16 primary election was the first time Cassidy has faced voters since becoming just one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict President Donald Trump in an impeachment…

Across the country, Americans often hear that public K-12 education is only partisan and polarized, leaving improvement stagnant. However, the real story is that collaboration and progress are possible when leaders prioritize people and opportunity over politics.While stories of division make headlines, they ignore what’s happening on the ground. In statehouses and education agencies nationwide, leaders in red and blue states are working together to improve student outcomes. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that the work is not easy. Politics is messy. Education policy touches deeply held values, fiscal priorities, and local control. Disagreement is real. From our lived…

“Our challenge didn’t start or end with the pandemic,” said one of the authors of a new report. 2026-05-15 20:43:11 Source link

We know that parents are the best advocates for their child’s education. But for too long, our education system has failed to give families a clear answer about how their child is doing in school.The information exists, but it is often buried, confusing, or shared in ways that do not give parents a straightforward understanding of what their child needs or allow students to take ownership of their learning. The nation’s report card serves as an illustrative example of this issue: On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, just 31% of 4th grade students scored at the “proficient” level…