On April 4, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) rescinded the liquidation of hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency pandemic funds that were previously approved for extensions for the spending. The unexpected decision notified state education leaders in a letter that said they are responsible for laying out…
On April 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) announced it was canceling a fiscal year 2025 grant application for a technical assistance center that supported postsecondary transition services for students with disabilities saying that the decision was part of a comprehensive review to ensure “competitions align with the…
Despite an overall increase in school shootings in recent years, a school shooting database funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is the latest target of President Donald Trump’s attempts to downsize the government. The research was part of the now-cancelled Terrorism and Targeted Violence Database, which tracked domestic…
In a March 31 letter to chief state school officers, the USDE, as per the Trump administration policies, encourages states and districts to expand school choice options by using already existing avenues under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), including Title I funds earmarked for low-income school populations. The…
On March 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) released a statement regarding a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) sent on the same day by Education Secretary Linda McMahon to education leaders claiming that states and school districts are violating privacy laws by “hiding critical information, such as a child’s…
On March 21, 2025. Democrats on the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee introduced a resolution calling for transparency and information from the Trump administration and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on their move to close the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). The resolution requests unredacted copies of all…
On March 21, 2025, President Trump announced that federal special education operations, currently spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), will move to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He also said he would move federal student loan and school nutrition program oversight from the USDE…
A new report, How Medicaid Cuts Will Harm Students & Schools, presents the findings of a nationwide survey of over 1,400 school district leaders, including superintendents, school business officials and school health coordinators, on the impact Medicaid cuts would have on school health services, student resources and district funding. The executive…
Cuts by the Trump administration has all but eliminated the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) statistical research arm, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which has conducted statistical research by collecting, analyzing, and reporting U.S. education data for over 150 years. The loss of almost all of the staff…
Leading Democrats on the congressional appropriations committees sent a 10-page letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon demanding information about the mass layoffs in the Department of Education (USDE). The March 11 layoffs cut the USDE's workforce nearly in half and many want to know what the impact will…
