Author: BelieveAgain

The first three months of the second Trump administration have brought a dizzying cascade of threats to federal investment in K-12 schools, and even bigger existential battles loom in the near future.The administration has already terminated hundreds of grants and contracts supporting teacher preparation and education research; frozen funding doled out by the Biden administration for electric school buses and other clean-energy improvements; and canceled approvals for districts and states to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds on projects and programs they’ve already committed to carry out.The cuts and chaos are far from over. In recent…

Earlier this year, Tennessee legislators introduced three sets of bills that would require K-12 schools to verify students’ immigration status upon enrollment, charge tuition to undocumented students, and, in some cases, even deny these students enrollment.Tennessee became one of at least five states to propose actions since President Donald Trump’s re-election win that defied federal statute requiring compliance with the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe, which granted undocumented students a constitutional right to a free, public education.On April 21, the state’s efforts hit a snag after state House majority leader William Lamberth, a Republican, paused the…

A federal judge on Friday cast doubt on the Trump administration’s claim that its decision to terminate hundreds of Education Department employees in recent months was separate from its broader goal of shutting down the agency—a key distinction as the judge considers whether the staff cuts overstepped the president’s authority.Judge Myong J. Joun from the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts pressed Trump administration lawyers on what the president has meant when he’s spoken in recent months about “returning education to the states”; putting Education Secretary Linda McMahon “out of a job”; and closing the Education Department “to the maximum extent…

President Donald Trump is once again changing course on federal attempts to chip away at racial disparities in student discipline, issuing an executive order this week that calls on the education secretary to develop guidance for schools instructing them not to consider race at all when dealing with student behavior.Trump’s latest action continues to take aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. He says in the order that previous administrations applying “school discipline based on discriminatory and unlawful ‘equity’ ideology” ultimately resulted in “teachers and students … suffering increased levels of classroom disorder and school violence.”The order comes as educators…

Of the three school cases the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing this month, two have drawn widespread attention for their potential to significantly reshape public education. One is about whether parents with religious objections may opt their children out of LGBTQ+ storybooks. Another is about whether public funding may be provided to a religious charter school.The third case has received far less attention, but is being watched just as closely by educators. A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, scheduled for arguments April 28, centers on whether students with disabilities must satisfy a particularly stringent legal standard to prove they faced discrimination…

Oklahoma will withhold federal funds from school districts that don’t certify they aren’t using diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, the state’s superintendent announced Tuesday, in what could be the beginning of efforts nationwide to restrict funding for public schools that disobey President Donald Trump’s orders.Superintendent Ryan Walters said the state’s education department will halt subsidies for any districts that have not yet signed a letter issued by the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month. The withholding would start Friday, April 25, the day after the deadline districts face to sign the federal certification, Walters announced.The Education Department in early…

For the second time this school year, a court has deemed a state’s private school choice program unconstitutional and forced it to halt.The Utah Fits All program, an education savings account offering that 10,000 K-12 students currently use, violates the state constitutional requirement to spend state tax revenue on public education options all students can attend, Judge Laura Scott of the Third District Court of Utah ruled on April 18. The judge’s ruling mirrors last fall’s decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court that the state’s education savings account program violated the state constitution’s prohibition on public funds for private…

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Tuesday appeared strongly inclined to support the right of religious parents to excuse their children from a Maryland school district’s use of LGBTQ+ storybooks in its elementary schools.“The plaintiffs here are not asking the school to change its curriculum. They’re just saying, ‘look, we want out,’” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. told the lawyer for the Montgomery County school district during two-and-a-half hours of arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor. “What is the big deal about allowing them to opt out of this?”The district began using the storybooks in its English/language arts curriculum in…

A Miami college student in her 40s shares her experience returning to school and how motherhood has prepared her for this challenge. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: As the end of the school year approaches, it’s easy to ask yourself, where did the year go? Then add in your goals for summer break or graduation plans, and this transition period can feel overwhelming. But one mature Miami Dade College student story, a finalist in last year’s NPR College Podcast Challenge, reminds us you are not alone in this journey, no matter your age. Here’s Iman Maani with the story.IMAN MAANI, BYLINE: Meet…

When the Montgomery County school district in Maryland adopted several LGBTQ+ storybooks for use in its elementary schools, it initially allowed requests from parents to keep their children out of lessons using the books.But by March of the 2022-23 school year, the opt-out policy became “unworkable,” the district says. The number of parents seeking exemptions surged, and administrators believed the requests, besides being difficult to manage in the classroom, were undermining the district’s goals of offering inclusive lessons. So, the district ended the opt-out option.That decision has led to a showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments…