In an effort to promote better treatment and protection of students with disabilities, a new Florida law will require public K-12 schools to develop curriculum on disability history and awareness. As per the law, during the first two weeks of October students will learn about disability history and different types…
According to annual accountability ratings released by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) on June 20, 2025, a total of 37 states or territories need assistance for meeting special education targets for students ages 3-21. Only 19 states and the Republic of the Marshall Islands meet requirements, and two educational…
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…
Maryland is providing $1 million in grants to 11 colleges and universities within the state to create or expand online programs that will allow federal employees laid off by the Trump administration to earn a teaching license. The move is part of the state’s efforts to address teacher shortages. The…
The leading cause of death in children is firearm injuries and, according to a policy brief from 2021, a child or teen is killed in the U.S. every 2 hours and 48 minutes. Now, a Journal of American Medical Association study has shown that states with permissive gun laws experienced…
On June 9, 2025, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2025 edition of the KIDS COUNT® Data Book, an annually published resource that tracks child well-being across the country. Every year, the Data Book presents national and state data from 16 indicators in four domains — economic well-being, education,…
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…
At a June 5, 2025 congressional hearing it was reported that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has seen caseloads for those still employed at the agency ballooning from an average of 42 cases per caseworker to 115 per caseworker due to the March 2025 layoffs…
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…
