Author: BelieveAgain

The U.S. Department of Education is setting new priorities for roughly $1 billion in school mental health funding after the agency abruptly told former grant recipients their awards would end because they reflected Biden administration policies.The department, which is expected to publish the proposed priorities in the Federal Register on Thursday, will prioritize recruitment and retention incentives to increase the ranks of credentialed school psychologists and the “respecialization” of people who work in related fields so they can more quickly be certified as school psychologists.The Education Department said in the document outlining the proposed priorities that it will also prohibit…

Ten Republican senators on Wednesday joined a growing chorus of Democrats calling for the Trump administration to unfreeze $6.8 billion of money Congress allocated for education in March.Declining to give out money Congress allocated for schools runs counter to the Trump administration’s stated goal of “returning education to the states,” a group of senators led by Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., wrote in a July 16 letter to Russell Vought, director of the federal Office of Management and Budget. The letter is the highest-profile example yet of congressional Republicans challenging the Trump administration’s withholding of the funds that, by law, were…

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…