Author: BelieveAgain
A federal appeals court on Friday unanimously upheld a lower court’s injunction blocking Louisiana’s law requiring a display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom—a decision that may be consequential now that other states have adopted similar laws.“If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments,” said a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans. “This is not a permissible state objective under the Establishment…
From school restrooms to LGBTQ+ curriculum to disability rights, the nation’s courts weighed in on a wave of high-stakes education cases this spring.Many of these developments will have far-reaching implications for how schools navigate student rights, civil liberties, and access to federally funded programs.Here’s a look at some education-related court cases and stories from this spring. These cases span from mid-March through mid-June. Idaho can restrict transgender students’ restroom use, appeals court rules A federal appeals court has declined to block an Idaho law requiring public school students to use only the restroom and changing facilities corresponding to their “biological…
Schools nationwide this year are confronting a torrent of consequential changes and substantial threats to their federal funding—with little relief in sight. In its first months, President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to cut billions of dollars in education grant funding; terminate contracts for efforts to support students and support the educator workforce; and change rules for existing funding streams without warning. Some districts have temporarily lost access to money they were preparing to spend, and many are fretting over White House proposals to further shrink federal investment in schools.Federal funding for K-12 schools has never been entirely predictable or…
The Trump administration is proposing a change to a long-standing rule that requires schools provide equal opportunities under Title IX for all students to participate in noncontact sports. And it’s coming from the U.S. Department of Energy as the administration increasingly relies on other agencies to join the U.S. Department of Education in enforcing its interpretation of civil rights laws in schools. Multiple agencies in recent months have joined the Education Department in launching civil rights investigations into schools, athletic associations, and state education departments to advance the president’s directives to bar transgender athletes from girls’ sports and eliminate diversity,…
A federal court has again told the Trump administration to return laid-off U.S. Department of Education employees to the job—this time specifically to the arm of the federal agency that investigates discrimination complaints in schools.The same Boston-based federal judge who in May told the administration to reinstate nearly 1,400 laid-off Education Department employees issued an order in another case Wednesday telling the Education Department to restore its office for civil rights to how it existed when President Donald Trump took office in January. He also ordered the office to investigate all discrimination complaints it receives. The Trump administration had prioritized…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law banning certain gender-transition treatments for transgender minors, in a decision with potential ripple effects for other state-level restrictions on transgender rights in education, including bans on transgender girls’ participation in school sports.Two justices, in fact, sent a signal that they believe states have wide authority to regulate sports eligibility and access to restrooms for transgender students.The 6-3 decision in United States v. Skrmetti upholds the 2023 Tennessee medical law under the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause, which is the same basis upon which several federal courts have blocked laws in Arizona,…
As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs another case at the intersection of religion and public education, state school boards, legislatures, and other education officials are greenlighting a series of measures that would infuse Christianity into public schools in different ways.The measures that would directly bring religion into public school buildings include requirements that the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms, a policy setting aside time for prayer in school, and an order to incorporate the Bible into instruction.It’s a wave created by advocates who want to see how far they can push the church-state divide with a somewhat pliable U.S.…
Schools nationwide have spent most of 2025 confronting a dizzying slew of disruptions to federal funding—not just canceled grants and terminated contracts, but also slow reimbursements, delayed allocation estimates, unexpected rule changes, and a shortage of clear communications from federal agencies.The mounting layers of confusion and chaos have many district leaders on edge about what may be in store come July 1—the day when states and districts every year begin receiving federal funding in advance of the federal fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.Rural school leaders waited on tenterhooks after a routine federal funding dispatch showed up two months late.…
A group of principals from across the country met with Education Secretary Linda McMahon and federal lawmakers earlier this week to make one specific request—to continue the flow of funds and support that help schools recover from school shootings and other violent incidents, as well as damage from natural disasters.The principals are members of the Principal Recovery Network, a coalition of leaders from schools that have faced school shootings and other violent incidents, which is convened by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Led by Greg Johnson, a high school principal from Ohio, the school leaders asked policymakers to…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with students with disabilities, overturning a lower-court ruling that had required them to meet a more stringent standard of liability when suing their schools under two key federal disability-discrimination laws.The unanimous decision in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools makes it easier for students and families to seek monetary damages for alleged discrimination under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.“We hold today that ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims based on educational services should be subject to the same standards that apply in other disability…