Author: BelieveAgain

Private school choice is surging across the nation—but not without opposition, as many state-level programs are embroiled in court challenges.Judges in several states are currently weighing or poised to weigh the legal and constitutional merits of programs—including vouchers, education savings accounts, and tax-credit scholarships—that fund private education with public dollars. (See our glossary for definitions of each form of private school choice program.)Previous iterations of these lawsuits against state-level programs haven’t always been successful in their goals. Courts have offered a wide range of opinions on private school choice, endorsing some programs while striking down others. In some cases, state…

The U.S. Department of Education on Monday announced it will begin offloading the management of key federal programs for school safety, community schools, educational TV programming, and family engagement as the Trump administration continues its bid to wind down the agency.The department announced Monday afternoon that it’s struck an “interagency agreement” with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to “take a growing role in administering” six grant programs related to K-12 schools.Separately, the U.S. Department of State will take over management of a grant portal that displays foreign gifts to higher education institutions, the department announced on Feb.…

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, ruling in cases brought by a variety of businesses, including a pair of Chicago-based educational toy companies, that the president exceeded his powers under a federal statute.In a 6–3 decision issued Feb. 20, the court held that Trump lacked congressional authorization to impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the 1977 law his administration cited to justify the policy.Although the education companies’ specific claims were dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, their lawsuit helped produce the broader outcome they sought: invalidating the tariff policy. One…

For years, social media companies have disputed allegations that they harm children’s mental health through deliberate design choices that addict kids to their platforms and fail to protect them from sexual predators and dangerous content. Now, these tech giants are getting a chance to make their case in courtrooms around the country, including before a jury for the first time.Some of the biggest players from Meta to TikTok are facing federal and state trials that seek to hold them responsible for harming children’s mental health. The lawsuits have come from school districts, local and state governments, and the federal government,…

Mark Zuckerberg and opposing lawyers dueled in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people’s use of Instagram, his congressional testimony, and internal advice he’s received about being “authentic” and not “robotic.”Zuckerberg’s testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm children. During questioning by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Zuckerberg said he still agrees with a previous statement he made that the existing body of scientific work has not proved that social media causes mental health harms.The plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Lanier, asked Zuckerberg if people…

Undocumented students are reaching the end of high school in districts across the U.S. at a time of heightened uncertainty, as federal and state-level immigration policy changes threaten their ability to remain in the country and pursue postsecondary education.A new analysis from the Migration Policy Institute using U.S. Census and national graduation rate data found that an estimated 90,000 undocumented students have reached the end of high school each year within the last five or so years, while an estimated 75,000 graduate from high school.The estimates reveal both the academic progress and persistent struggles undocumented students face on the path…

Intensifying a policy clash with the Trump administration, California this week sued the U.S. Department of Education over the agency’s recent finding that the state is violating federal student privacy law by not requiring schools to disclose students’ gender transitions to parents.California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit Feb. 11 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against the department, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, and others. The suit is seeking to block the department’s demands that the state take multiple corrective actions to come into compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which guarantees…

Oklahoma’s charter school board on Monday rejected a proposal for a Jewish charter school, with several board members saying they supported the idea but felt constrained by legal decisions against religious charters.“If I could have voted for this school today without being bound, I would have voted yes,” Brian T. Shellem, the president of the Statewide Charter School Board, said during the meeting. “I think it would be great for the Jewish community and the Jewish kids to have this high-quality option of a school.”The proposed Ben Gamla Jewish charter school, which aims to offer an explicitly religious curriculum, was…

President Donald Trump last fall promised new legal guidance from the U.S. Department of Education that would ensure “total protection” for the right to pray in public schools.That guidance is now out, and it makes clear that students and teachers can pray in school as long as it’s not disruptive to other students and school activities and that no one is coerced into praying. The guidance also says teachers and school staff can pray at school as long as they’re not doing so in their professional capacity and requiring students to participate—though it’s OK to pray with willing students.In addition,…

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it’s an especially good time to reflect on the civic mission of democratic schooling. Today, Ashley Berner, the director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, and I discuss what the erosion of civil society means for students, educators, and school leaders—and what we can do about it.—RickAshley: I’ve been thinking a lot about civil society’s role in sustaining democracy and what that means for schools. Democratic theorists talk about the twin threats of an overbearing state and the isolated individual; in other words, extreme collectivism and extreme…