Author: BelieveAgain

The Trump administration must restore two sets of centers that help state education departments and schools with improvement strategies and the use of education research, after two companies involved in the programs sued over the abrupt cancellations of their contracts earlier this year.A federal judge in Maryland on Friday concluded that the administration violated federal law and the Constitution’s separation of powers by effectively shuttering the U.S. Department of Education’s Comprehensive Centers and Regional Educational Laboratories programs.By 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, lawyers for the federal government and the companies that sued must provide the judge, Brendan Hurson, with a…

The Trump administration ran “into serious constitutional problems” by asking states to certify their school districts don’t use diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, a federal judge ruled this week.Maryland District Judge Stephanie Gallagher on Thursday sided with a coalition of plaintiffs—including the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union, and the Eugene, Ore., school district—that sued in an effort to strike down several efforts made by the U.S. Department of Education to curb educators’ use of what it called “illegal DEI practices” without defining the term.The plaintiffs were challenging a Feb. 14 department memo, sent to K-12 schools…

A federal appeals court has upheld an Indiana school district’s decision to limit the scope of flyers that a “Students for Life” club could post on school walls to only time and place details for meetings, excluding broader anti-abortion messaging.A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, in Chicago, rejected a claim on behalf of the club’s founder, a 9th grader at Noblesville High School, that the school’s decision violated her First Amendment free speech rights.“This is not a case about tolerating private student speech,” the court said in its Aug. 14 decision in…

Students in one Arizona district will take fewer standardized tests this school year, the result of an educator-led push to devote less time to testing.The Tucson Education Association, backed by the school board and several parents, reached an agreement with the Tucson Unified school system in May to reduce the number of district-mandated standardized assessments students take annually starting in the 2025-26 academic year.The “memorandum of understanding” between the TEA, which represents Tucson’s teachers, and the 41,000-student district reduced by half the number of district-mandated standardized assessments students in grades 2-8 will take during the academic year. Students in those…

Federal funding cuts are starting to hit U.S. classrooms in unexpected ways, not just through delays from the U.S. Department of Education but through the loss of grants from cultural and library institutions that quietly support K-12 education.The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are among the agencies facing deep reductions.A March executive order called for the dismantling of the IMLS to the “maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” In April, the Department of Governmental Efficiency slashed NEH grants to thousands of institutions—which include nonprofits, museums, and universities—in a move that…

A full federal appeals court has declined to overturn a panel ruling that upheld school administrators who required a Michigan 3rd grader to remove a hat picturing an AR-15 style rifle with the phrase, “Come and take it.”The Aug. 12 order in C.S. v. McCrumb by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, in Cincinnati, was accompanied by a sharp exchange between two judges.One judge suggested the student’s hat at school was likely protected by the First Amendment.“I find it difficult to accept the notion that displaying an image of a gun on one’s clothing at school,…

A federal judge said Wednesday the U.S. Department of Education has not meaningfully complied with his June order to reinstate hundreds of civil rights enforcement staff after layoffs greatly reduced their ranks.The statement by Judge Myong J. Joun, a Masschusetts-based U.S. district judge, was part of an order he issued denying the Trump administration’s request to drop his initial directive to the agency, which stemmed from an April lawsuit challenging only terminations in the office for civil rights—the Education Department division charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws in the nation’s schools.The administration sought to have Joun overturn his June…

A federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out a preliminary injunction that had blocked the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing sensitive individual records at the U.S. Department of Education and two other federal agencies.A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va., ruled 2-1 to vacate an injunction issued in February by a federal district judge. The order had barred DOGE access of data at the Education Department, the Treasury Department, and the Office of Personnel Management.The lawsuit, filed by the American Federation of Teachers along with other unions…

More than 1 of every 10 charter schools in the country operate in rural areas, and their numbers could rise. Two states—Montana and North Dakota—recently passed laws to authorize charters and the two have the second- and fourth-highest percentages of rural schools in the country, respectively. “I think it’s just so important that our rural kids get to have choice as well,” said Jennifer Ketring, the executive director of the Pacific Community Charter School in rural Point Arena, Calif. With increased federal funding for charter schools under the Trump administration, new state charter school laws, and growing parent support for…

President Donald Trump is resurrecting what he’s calling the “wonderful tradition” of the Presidential Fitness Test, through which a new generation of students will—if the new test resembles the old—compete in their schools and nationally to earn recognition for their prowess in pushups, pullups, and the mile run, among other athletic feats.The test, which draws its lineage back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s but was phased out in 2013, is part of a broader focus from the president on athletics and fitness in recent months. It’s also part of a long history of presidential involvement in, and…