According to a May 20, 2026 announcement from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), Louisiana became the second state to receive a federal waiver from certain K-12 funding requirements, allowing the state to consolidate funding streams. Louisiana’s waiver is similar to the one approved in January 2026 for Iowa. The…
Recently, the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced it was rescinding parts of a handful of Title IX resolution agreements issued under the Biden and Obama administrations. The move creates uncertainty for school districts that look to resolution agreements and OCR case resolutions as examples…
On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) closed the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), over a year after gutting its staff to just one. The office reportedly had around 15 employees. In doing so, the agency is compromising school districts’ ability to provide instruction to English…
According to a May 13, 2026 announcement by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), states and school districts will receive an additional $144 million this year for services to infants, toddlers, children and young adults with disabilities,. In the same announcement, the USDE released guidance on how states can use…
On May 6, 2026, a federal judge denied two Minnesota school districts’ request to temporarily stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity on school grounds in a lawsuit that ultimately seeks to overturn a Trump administration policy allowing such enforcement. The case was filed by Duluth Public Schools and Fridley…
Stress over Anti-LGBTQ+ laws, policies and debates have caused nine out of 10 LGBTQ+ youth stress or anxiety, according to 2025 data released by The Trevor Project in its annual report tracking LGBTQ+ mental health. In addition, over a third of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide, while 1…
On April 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched investigations into 36 Illinois school districts in one of the agency’s largest efforts to investigate school districts under the Trump administration. The investigations are meant to determine if school districts ”included sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content in…
On April 30, 2026 a bill that would ban artificial intelligence companions from interacting with children and teens received unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee and now awaits Senate floor action. The Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act (GUARD Act), would also require age verification for all…
The U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reached resolution agreements with schools and colleges in only 1% of pending cases in 2025, the lowest percentage from any OCR in over the last decade, according to a recent report from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. The report…
According to a recent blog post by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), strategies that help students feel connected and supported can enhance school safety. In fact, the blog also reports that research shows that investing in evidence-based approaches that build students’ psychological sense of safety — such as developing trusting…
