On February 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division announced the dismissal of a 60-year-old desegregation case in Tennessee’s Dyersburg City Schools, continuing the Trump administration’s efforts to end school desegregation orders. A DOJ press release said that the school district “no longer operates as a…
The U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) did not enter into any resolution agreements for sexual harassment and assault cases in K-12 programs in 2025 after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, according to a K-12 Dive analysis of the USDE’s resolution agreement database. Sexual harassment…
The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) will continue to target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools under Title VI despite a court block on its controversial February 14, 2025 anti-DEI Dear Colleague letter. That letter announced the USDE’s policy interpreting Title VI, which protects students from discrimination based…
On February 9, 2026. leading U.S. health official Dr. Mehmet Oz urged people to get inoculated against the measles as outbreaks across several states mount and the U.S. is at risk of losing its measles elimination status. Despite misinformation creating suspicion about the safety and importance of vaccines from his…
New federal accessibility rules for web content and mobile apps will start being enforced as early as this April, but recent survey results from the National School Public Relations Association and Sogolytics show many school districts will not be ready to comply. In fact, only 14% of respondents say their…
As reports of ICE on school grounds began to surface last spring, K-12 Dive asked DHS through a public records request to provide all instances of apprehensions on K-12 school grounds since the administration in January 2025 changed DHS policy to allow such enforcement. Before the policy change, schools, along…
According to a February 2, 2026 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) spent nearly $1 million per week on salaries for Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforcement staff it had put on administrative leave beginning in March 2025, paying up to $38 million in total…
On February 2, 2026 the FY26 education funding bill was finally signed into law. As a result, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is now funded for fiscal year 2026. The compromise measure won final approval from the U.S. House by a 217-214 vote. The budget funds the USDE at…
Assistive technology (AT) in schools can run the gamut of low-tech tools like pencil grips and swivel chairs to high-tech ones like large mobile touch screens and voice recognition software. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires a student’s individualized education program (IEP) team to consider AT use, at…
The measles outbreak in South Carolina has been steadily increasing. As of January, 30, 2026, the state has confirmed 847 cases since the first case was reported in October 2025, making the outbreak bigger than the one in Texas, which started just over a year ago. Dr. Linda Bell, South…
