On November 6, 2025, six U.S. Senators introduced the Securing Assurance for Federal Employees (SAFE) Act, legislation to explicitly prohibit the federal government from carrying out reductions in force (RIFs) during a lapse in appropriations. The bill would also reverse RIF actions taken during the current government shutdown. The SAFE…
In canceling funding for mental health grants, the Trump administration effectively ended programming for schools that were approved for such funding. At least $1 billion was lost in the cancellation of U.S. Department of Education mental health and professional demonstration grants across schools, districts, consortia and universities nationwide. Click here…
From CBS News On November 7, 2025, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) introduced a bill to restore funding for Head Start programs during the ongoing government shutdown. "My bill would give families certainty that Head Start and the care it provides will continue," Baldwin said in a statement provided exclusively to CBS…
As reported by K-12 Dive, special education and disability rights advocates are strongly defending the federal role in the education of students with disabilities as their concerns grow over a potential shift in how our country conducts special education oversight and support. Although there is still no official plan from…
On October 31, 2025 NAPSA joined organizations representing a wide range of health professions, education programs, and professional associations, by signing on to a letter that provides recommendations to the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee as it continues its work in Session 2…
On October 27, 2025, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to reinstate, for now, canceled federal grants for student mental health services due to “numerous irreparable harms flowing from the discontinuation decisions." In June 2025, 16 states sued the USDE in after the Trump administration in…
On October 23, 2025, NAPSA signed on to a letter sent to U.S. Senators Cassidy and Sanders claiming that through Reduction in Force (RIF) actions and incentives to exit the federal workforce, U.S. Secretary of Education McMahon has broken "longstanding precedent around the Department’s statutorily required duties to provide fiscal…
Abe Saffer, Federal Affairs 10/24/2025 Recent policy discussions from the administration and other policymakers have proposed transferring the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) from the Department of Education (ED) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Here are eight reasons the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) believes…
The U.S. Department of Education will host a five-day in-person negotiated rulemaking session from November 3-7, 2025. The committee will convene to cover the topic of Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE), addressing: 1. Phase-out of graduate and professional PLUS Loans.2. Establishment of new annual loan limits for graduate and…
As rumors swirled that special education programs could soon be leaving their longtime home at the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), a spokesperson has confirmed the USDE is “exploring additional partnerships” with other federal agencies to support this programming. Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications, in an email to…
