On July 14, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with laying off nearly half of the staff at the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). The decision in New York v. McMahon enables the USDE’s reduction in force (RIF) initiated in March as the original question…
As reported by K-12 Dive, on June 27, 2025, in a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court (Court) ruled that schools must allow parents to opt their children out of curriculum based on religious objections in some scenarios. The decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor signifies a win for parents in…
In a June 27, 2025 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) preserved E-rate’s funding mechanism in a 6-3 opinion. The decision preserved the multibillion-dollar federal internet discount program for schools and libraries and means schools can continue to apply for the program’s funding. The ruling in FCC v. Consumers’ Research…
A DHS spokesperson recently clarified to K-12 Dive that immigration enforcement activity in schools should be “extremely rare” and would first require “secondary supervisor approval.” The DHS comment was in response to a lawsuit dismissed this month and filed originally in February by Denver Public Schools over DHS’ policy memo…
On June 18, 2025, a U.S. District Judge ordered the U.S Department of Education (USDE) to reinstate all laid-off Office for Civil Rights employees for now, saying the layoffs and shuttering of seven regional offices had rendered the remaining staff “incapable of addressing the vast majority of OCR complaints.” The…
In a June 12, 2025 opinion in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School Dist. No. 279, the U.S. Supreme Court (Court) undid a decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that required students with disabilities to meet a higher legal standard compared to disability cases outside of…
According to K-12 Dive, on June 6, 2025 the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) for an immediate pause on a court order that the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) reinstate nearly 1,400 employees fired during a mass workforce reduction in March. The DOJ’s appeal…
On June 4, 2025. the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s motion for a stay in a lawsuit challenging the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), effectively halting efforts to reduce the agency’s workforce and transfer some education responsibilities to other federal departments until the…
As per a May 22, 2025 ruling by a federal judge, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is temporarily barred from carrying out an executive order to shut down the agency and must reinstate employees who were fired as part of a mass reduction in force in March. A preliminary…
According to a May 6, 2025 order issued by a New York federal judge the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) must allow the temporary extension of federal COVID-19 emergency funds to flow to 16 states and the District of Columbia (DC). The preliminary injunction states that USDE is prohibited from…
