A monthslong NBC News data investigation finds that much of the U.S. doesn't have the protection needed to stop the spread of deadly diseases. For more than a half-century, vaccines have had remarkable success eradicating the most lethal and devastating childhood infectious diseases, saving millions of lives and ushering in…
The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is shrinking its role by partnering with other federal agencies on grant management, technical assistance and other tasks. Areas affected by interagency agreements include the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Higher Education Act, and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.…
A according to federal data analyzed by The Advocacy Institute, a nonprofit that works to improve the lives of people with disabilities, the number of students with disabilities ages 3-21 who qualify for special education services in the U.S. rose 3.8% — or by 301,991 students — in 2024 when…
Although the recently passed fiscal year 2026 (FY26) budget for the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) did not ban the outsourcing of certain education programs to other federal agencies, it strongly condemned and discouraged the transfer of key programs out of the USDE. The bicameral and bipartisan statement said that…
In the United States, 132,270 counselors served about 49.3 million students last school year. According to figures released by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the national student-to-school counselor ratio improved by 1% to 372-to-1 in the 2024-25 school year, an improvement over 2023-24 when it was 376-to-1. That ratio…
According to a February 18, 2026 update from minority members on the House Committee on Education and Workforce and other Democrats, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has yet to respond to House Democrats’ 2025 inquiry into how the agency is supporting states and school districts with students who have…
On February 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division announced the dismissal of a 60-year-old desegregation case in Tennessee’s Dyersburg City Schools, continuing the Trump administration’s efforts to end school desegregation orders. A DOJ press release said that the school district “no longer operates as a…
The U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) did not enter into any resolution agreements for sexual harassment and assault cases in K-12 programs in 2025 after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, according to a K-12 Dive analysis of the USDE’s resolution agreement database. Sexual harassment…
Narrowing federal and state policies are fueling uncertainty about life after graduation for “unauthorized” immigrant students in high school, according to a new analysis from the Migration Policy Institute. For instance, most of today’s high-schoolers cannot qualify for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which delays the deportation…
The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) will continue to target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools under Title VI despite a court block on its controversial February 14, 2025 anti-DEI Dear Colleague letter. That letter announced the USDE’s policy interpreting Title VI, which protects students from discrimination based…
