Author: BelieveAgain

A federal appeals court has granted the Trump administration’s request to keep millions of dollars in teacher-training grants frozen while a legal challenge to the abrupt February termination of the grants proceeds in a lower court.The order from a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., represents the latest legal victory for the president as his administration fights federal district court orders that have held up a number of his executive actions and broad spending cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.The appeals court’s order is a response to a…

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia on Thursday sued the Trump administration over its decision to essentially halt hundreds of millions of federal dollars schools have already committed to spend—and often pledged to outside vendors through contracts.In a March 28 letter, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced she was immediately rescinding extensions her agency had granted allowing states and districts additional time to spend the last sliver of their federal emergency pandemic aid. The extensions had generally pushed the Jan. 30, 2025, deadline for spending all funds to March 28, 2026. But with no warning, schools in more than 40…

In recent weeks, Education Week Opinion has received scores of submissions from individuals in the K-12 field reacting to the current state of education in the United States and, in particular, the actions of the Trump administration. As the federal government appears poised to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, the time seemed appropriate to share a sample of those essays from educators, researchers, and advocates. Education Week Opinion reached out to select authors seeking permission to excerpt from their original submissions with the goal of sharing a broad range of viewpoints.Excerpts have been edited for clarity and length. Responses…

More than two months after the federal government terminated dozens of grants for programs aiming to grow the educator workforce, some recipients of those funds still don’t know whether they’ll ever see their money again, and what they’ll do if they don’t.Two separate lawsuits have challenged the Trump administration’s February decision to terminate close to 140 Department of Education grants for teacher colleges, school districts, and education-focused nonprofits. In both cases, federal judges have offered temporary relief to the plaintiffs by ordering reinstatement of their federal money.But both legal challenges are limited in scope, which means court orders in either…

Some Democratic-led states and cities are pushing back on a Trump administration threat to cut education funding over diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, creating a standoff that could test how far the White House is willing to go to press its demands on the nation’s schools.State leaders in Minnesota and New York said they will not comply with an Education Department order to gather signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.” Chicago’s mayor promised to sue over any cuts. California and Vermont told schools…

The prominent conservative group, Moms for Liberty, launched its own “university” in January and now claims more than 7,000 people have participated in its educational events. The Moms for Liberty University, or M4LU, which is not an accredited university, says its mission is to “inform, equip, and empower parents with knowledge, understanding, and practical tools,” according to its site.The program is meant to be a place where parents can take an in-depth look at education issues. “Moms for Liberty was growing at a rapid pace, and our parents have been asking questions, trying to understand a lot of the issues…

Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended the Trump administration’s deep cuts to the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday by saying it’s time to “shake it up” and “revamp” some of the agency’s key data collection and accountability functions that have been subject to some of the steepest reductions.McMahon addressed attendees at the annual ASU+GSV Summit here, which has brought together thousands of ed-tech entrepreneurs and other education professionals to discuss K-12 and higher education.Her remarks, in an on-stage discussion with two moderators—Jon Hage, the founder of a multistate charter school network, and Phyllis Lockett, who headed up a charter school…

Philadelphia in recent years has had only two full-time librarians in a school district with 216 schools and 118,000 students. It’s a challenge Debra Kachel, an affiliate faculty member at Antioch University, has been working to solve.Kachel is partnering with the district on a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to study how other urban school systems rebuilt their school library programs and funded training for a new generation of librarians. Using the findings, the plan for the project is to develop a long-term plan to restore school library services in Philadelphia and train school librarians.But…

Organizations representing scholars and researchers are asking a federal judge to order the reinstatement of canceled contracts and laid-off employees at the U.S. Department of Education’s data-gathering and research arm, arguing that the cuts have “functionally eliminated” a congressionally mandated office.The lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in Washington, is yet another challenging a massive reduction in force at the Education Department that has touched virtually every office and sliced staffing in half as part of President Donald Trump’s goal to abolish the agency. It also challenges the abrupt termination of scores of contracts that preceded the staff cuts.This…

Several states are urging U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to immediately restore previously approved pandemic relief funding that the Education Department canceled last week, even as her agency doubles down on a new appeal process for states and districts to release funding for projects they, in many cases, have already started.New York will pursue “legal redress” over the department’s “unilateral, unexplained reversal” if McMahon doesn’t withdraw the rule changes she announced on March 28, Daniel Morton-Bentley, the state’s deputy education commissioner, wrote in an email to McMahon on April 2.Education chiefs in Kentucky, Mississippi, and North Carolina have also sent…