In a May 19, 2025 settlement, the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District will include religious private schools as potential placements for students with disabilities. The plaintiffs in Loffman v. California Department of Education had challenged a California code that excluded religious private schools from…
According to a May 6, 2025 order issued by a New York federal judge the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) must allow the temporary extension of federal COVID-19 emergency funds to flow to 16 states and the District of Columbia (DC). The preliminary injunction states that USDE is prohibited from…
On April 4, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) rescinded the liquidation of hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency pandemic funds that were previously approved for extensions for the spending. The unexpected decision notified state education leaders in a letter that said they are responsible for laying out…
According to the Advocacy Institute, a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of people with disabilities, the U.S. is on pace to see the number of students with disabilities, ages 3-21, jump by about 1 million students between 2021 and 2025. Pre-K-12 grade schools gained 539,617 students eligible for Individuals…
On March 3, 2025, three teacher preparation groups filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland seeking to overturn funding cuts to teacher training programs that were made by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). The plaintiffs (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, National Center…
Measles infections in several states have school and health officials concerned as fears grow of possible widespread outbreaks. The potentially fatal disease had been declared eradicated in the U.S. in 2000. Sadly, vaccine skeptics, fed by misinformation by conspiracy theorists, have caused vaccination rates to decline, causing complacency and raising…
A new Ohio law, the Protect All Students Act, will mandate that K-12 and college students in the state can only use multiperson facilities aligned with their sex assigned at birth. As a result, transgender students in Ohio will be barred from using multiperson bathrooms aligning with their gender identities.…
The New York State Department of Education (NYSDE) plans to replace its graduation exam requirement with a new framework by the 2027-28 school year. The exam will be replaced by a “portrait of a graduate,” a more holistic approach to assess graduation and workforce readiness. The shift will include broadening…
In an effort to help destigmatize mental health challenges among students, a recently signed California law allows the term ”emotional disability″ to replace “emotional disturbance” for special education services. The measure, which takes effect January 1, 2024, does not change the definition of the term and does not alter school-based…
As reported by K-12 Dive, in order to improve compliance with federal guidelines, a new Minnesota state law limits how long special education teachers from alternative pathways can instruct by enacting stricter requirements to become a special education teacher in the state, including limits on those who pursue alternative pathways.…
