Author: BelieveAgain

The Trump administration has injected fresh chaos into school budget planning for the quickly approaching academic year with its abruptly announced and unprecedented nationwide halt on $6.8 billion in education funding Congress allocated in March.In the two weeks since states and schools learned that key funding for English learners, teacher training, and more wouldn’t arrive on time, education agencies and districts nationwide have been grappling with a range of unappealing options for adjusting staffing and programs for the upcoming school year. Layoffs and service suspensions have already begun in some places; advocates are calling for states and other potential funders…

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, over the sharp dissent of three justices, granted a request by the Trump administration to allow the U.S. Department of Education to proceed with layoffs of roughly 1,400 employees.The court’s order in McMahon v. New York is not a final ruling on the merits, but it removes a barrier that had blocked the administration from taking its first steps toward dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, called the action “indefensible” and cast it as allowing President Donald Trump and Secretary…

The U.S. Department of Education is resuming a partnership that will move some of its functions to another federal agency after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a lower court’s order that temporarily halted mass firings and other changes to downsize the department.The department will partner with the U.S. Department of Labor, with Labor taking “a greater role in administering” programs that support career and technical education funded by the $1.4 billion Perkins program, and adult education and family literacy programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the Education Department announced Tuesday. The programs will be managed “alongside ED…

In “Straight Talk with Rick and Jal,” Harvard University’s Jal Mehta and I examine the reforms and enthusiasms that permeate education. In a field full of buzzwords, our goal is simple: Tell the truth, in plain English, about what’s being proposed and what it means for students, teachers, and parents. We may be wrong and we will frequently disagree, but we’ll try to be candid and ensure that you don’t need a Ph.D. in eduspeak to understand us. Today’s topic is how values shape educational research.—RickJal: With the Trump administration clapping back against anything that could be considered “leftist” research,…

The Supreme Court’s Monday order allowing the Trump administration to proceed with layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education wasn’t surprising, but was still an emotional blow to employees who lost their jobs and would have been reinstated, as well as some of their former colleagues, they said in interviews.“This is a hurdle that greatly impacts myself, and those 1,400 people, and the people that we served,” said Rachel Gittleman, who helped respond to loan borrower complaints in the department’s federal student aid office. “But this is not a loss. The fight continues.”Meanwhile, the 1,400 staff members who received layoff…

The recent action by the Trump administration to delay and review the disbursement of billions in federal funding for education is yet another example of political efforts to undermine public education and inflict pain on our most vulnerable students, families, and communities. It’s causing educators and families to scramble at the last minute to create alternative plans to provide critical summertime support, serve multilanguage learners, and train teachers in evidence-based practices.While it’s egregious—especially given the spurious claims from the administration that these funds support “a radical left-wing agenda”—it’s also indicative of a perennial dynamic in public schools. School district funding…

The Trump administration is seeking to prohibit undocumented students from federally funded early childhood and postsecondary career and technical education as part of a multi-agency effort to bar undocumented immigrants from accessing services it says are similar to welfare.The U.S. departments of Education and Health and Human Services were among several federal agencies to submit official notices Thursday arguing that undocumented immigrants were ineligible for a wide range of the programs they oversee.The notices take aim at Head Start, the preschool program for children from families living in poverty, and federally funded, postsecondary CTE programs and adult education. The restrictions…

On June 27, the Supreme Court released its decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor. The decision has not received the attention it merits. A close reading of the conservative majority’s opinion suggests that the high court is moving toward determining that public schooling violates the First Amendment of the Constitution. The decision could mean the end of public education in America.The case concerned the Montgomery County, Md., board of education’s decision to integrate LGBTQ+ inclusive readings into its literacy curriculum to further its goal of representing diversity. At first, the district permitted parents to opt out their children, but when that…

Students could face more difficulty accessing free school meals and school-based health services—and schools and states could have a harder time providing them—under Congress’ sweeping budget bill passed last week, experts say.Congress’ sprawling, megabill that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4 slashes federal Medicaid spending by 15% over the next decade, affecting the fourth-largest federal funding stream for schools. It also shifts a greater share of the cost of providing food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to states.About a third of the budget cuts to Medicaid and SNAP come from imposing work requirements…

There’s a lot of uncertainty about federal education policy today. How does it really work? What’s changed? Well, uber-insider Vic Klatt has just stepped back from a storied career and is perfectly situated to give the inside scoop. He’s worked on federal education policy since 1989, starting out as a senior official for congressional affairs at the Department of Education under President George H. W. Bush, then serving in a senior role on the House education committee, and eventually helping to found the Penn Hill Group. He was named one of Washington’s most influential people by Washingtonian magazine in 2022…