On January 18, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the release of a report on its critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the review shortly after the tragedy on May 24,…
On January 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) declined to consider a case on involving an Indiana school district’s policies banning transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities. It was hoped that SCOTUS would settle the ongoing controversy over the use of student restrooms by…
State education departments in Alabama, Arizona, California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and the Northern Mariana Islands received grants that combined totaled more than $32 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Supporting America’s School Infrastructure grant program, the Treasury Department announced Jan. 4th. Most grants were between $4.5 million…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide food access for students during the 2024 summer break. The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer-EBT) program was created by the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 to provide school aged children who are income eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) with an additional…
According to an article from K12 Dive, national trends in special education dispute resolution for the 2021-22 school year show a return to pre-pandemic activity as per data reported by the Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE), which is a federal technical assistance center that supports state…
On January 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined hear a challenge to corporal punishment in schools as brought forth in the case of an 11-year-old Louisiana girl with nonverbal autism whose parents alleged that she was slapped on her hands three different times by school staff. Lower courts threw…
The federal process for approving state waiver requests to exceed a 1% cap on the number of students with significant cognitive disabilities who take alternate assessments is "generally appropriate" according to an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), however, has room…
As the winter break has ended and students and staff have returned to school, a number of schools went on heightened alert as respiratory illnesses increased in their communities. According to K-12 Dive, while some communities are currently experiencing a rise in respiratory illnesses, the trend doesn’t seem to compare…
States and school districts are taking steps to ensure that “informal removals,” in which school days are shortened to address behavior issues for students with disabilities, do not violate civil and educational rights. In 2022, the U.S. Education Department (USDE) released guidance regarding "shortened days" that avers they are subject…
According to an Education Week article, educators should expect debates over school choice, teacher pay measures, artificial intelligence, and standardized testing in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill in 2024. Politicians and lawmakers used 2023 to set the course for 2024, a presidential election year when voters will most likely…
