As reported by K-12 Dive, on August 19, 2026 a federal judge partially blocked the Trump administration's effort to overhaul the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, saying its new emphasis on abstinence instead of contraception for pregnancy prevention and termination of grants that don’t align with that approach was implemented without…
On August 18, 2026, The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Dear Colleague letter (DCL), providing school discipline guidance for district leaders, rebuffing previous attempts to reduce discipline disparities for Black and other historically marginalized students and calling for schools to “stop racial balancing.”…
CDC data released August 17, 2026 shows that in 2025-26, vaccination coverage among kindergartners decreased for all reported vaccines compared to the previous year. In fact, the rate of kindergartners entering school exempt from one or more vaccines continued its upward trend during the 2025-26 school year, with 4.2% of…
E-rate, which provides discounted internet services to build connectivity for schools, gave $10.5 billion to districts between 2021 and 2025. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has begun to accept public comment on a proposed rule weighing changes to, including the discontinuance, of the federal E-rate program. The E-rate program, which…
As schools face the challenges of cyber vulnerability and limited resources, on August 12, 2026 the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a free collection of K-12 cybersecurity resources to help school and district leaders mitigate and respond to their unique cyber risks. The CISA resources include two…
School districts and states under federal investigation from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) may soon see their cases narrowed or dropped as a result of the USDE’s recent announcement that it was formally walking back some systemic race-based discrimination investigations. The types of cases most likely to be affected…
Students, particularly those adolescents in military families face, unique issues, such as frequent moves and parental deployments, that can present barriers to learning. In fact, a survey released on August 10, 2026 by the National Military Family Association (NMFA) shows 22% of teens in military families reported low mental well-being,…
According to survey data collected by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDE), during the 2024-25 school year there were 7,907 written state complaints and that number rose to 11,523 in the 2025-26 school year. The 46% jump in the…
As cases climb higher than they’ve been in decades, health experts including several national, state, and local organizations and health departments are providing are providing guidance regarding best practices and recommendations for schools. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a checklist for how K-12 schools…
On August 5, 2026, the U.S. Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee advanced four key children’s online safety bills. Those bills now head to the Senate floor for a vote. One of the bills, the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), addresses how to best protect youth online, particularly pertaining…
