Federal Policy

News, analysis, and opinion about federal education laws, regulations, and proposals—and their impact
Letters on the Department of Education building are missing after removal of America 250 banners, which included those of Booker T. Washington, Catharine Beecher and Charlie Kirk, on March 18, 2026, in Washington.
Letters on the Department of Education building in Washington are missing in this March 18, 2026 photo. The Trump administration continues to push for the agency's closure while also touting its help for states.
Allison Robbert/AP
Federal Trump Admin. Touts Ed. Dept.'s Help for States as It Tries to Shut It Down
The Trump administration pushes the Education Department's closure, while touting its help for states.
Mark Lieberman, September 9, 2026
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6 min read
The U.S. flag hangs on One World Trade Center during the 10th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony attended by President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, at Ground Zero in New York, Sunday, Sept., 11, 2011 in New York.
The U.S. flag hangs on One World Trade Center during the a ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Sept. 11, 2011, in New York. Now 25 years on, the event has shaped school safety, debates over patriotism, and even federal education policy in ways that continue to reverberate.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
School & District Management How 9/11 Still Shapes Schools
Schools feel the ripple effects of 9/11 in how they handle safety, student trauma, and promoting patriotism.
Evie Blad, September 4, 2026
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11 min read
A sign for the Internal Revenue Service building is pictured in Washington, May 4, 2021.
A sign for the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington on May 4, 2021. The agency has proposed new regulations that would threaten the tax-exempt status of any private school that give racial minorities preference in admissions, scholarships, and programming.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Equity & Diversity Trump Extends Anti-DEI Push to Private Schools, Eyeing Their Tax-Exempt Status
Schools that give racial minorities preferences would lose tax-exempt status under newly proposed rules.
Alyson Klein, September 3, 2026
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5 min read
Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) testifies on the OMB budget during a House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 4, 2025.
Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, testifies during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 4, 2025. OMB has been slow to release congressionally appropriated funding to the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education's research arm. IES now has just weeks to spend $180 million before it expires.
SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images
Education Funding Ed. Dept. Risks Letting $180 Million for Research Expire as Deadline Looms
Spending by the agency's research arm has lagged most significantly compared with previous years.
Mark Lieberman, September 2, 2026
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6 min read
Acting Deputy Executive Associate Director at Homeland Security Investigations Matthew Millhollin holds a Department of Justice folder during a news conference to announce charges being brought against Chinese nationals involved in a marriage fraud scheme at the Department of Justice on Aug. 12, 2026 in Washington, D.C. The group have been accused of running a scheme where foreign nationals paid money to American citizens for fraudulent marriages in order to receive green cards then immediately filed for divorce once permanent residency in the U.S. had been established. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA)
An official holds a Department of Justice folder during a news conference on Aug. 12, 2026 in Washington. The DOJ sued the Kansas City, Kan., public schools over guidelines addressing how school staff address students who request to go by pronouns that differ from their sex at birth.
Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP
Law & Courts Trump Admin. Says School District Facilitates 'Gender Transitions,' Files Suit
The lawsuit comes after several months of back and forth with the Kansas City, Kan., public schools.
Sofi Zeman, The Kansas City Star, September 1, 2026
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2 min read
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., arrives for a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers as he prepares for a vote on a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government fully funded through early December, avoiding the possibility of a shutdown before the midterm elections, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., arrives for a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 1, 2026, as he prepares for a vote on a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government fully funded through early December, avoiding the possibility of a shutdown before the midterm elections. The continuing resolution carries over the current year's funding levels for education programs into the first two months of the federal fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Education Funding Averting a Shutdown, Congress Punts Federal Spending Decisions to December
Federal funding talks will continue into December as Congress agrees to avoid a shutdown.
Mark Lieberman, September 1, 2026
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2 min read
Lois Curtis, left, addresses a group at the state Capitol in Hartford, Conn., to observe the 10th anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that qualified patients have the right to receive community-based care rather than to be institutionalized. Curtis was one of the to plaintiffs in the suit, Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W.
Lois Curtis, left, addresses a group at the Connecticut state Capitol in 2009 to mark the 10th anniversary of <i>Olmstead</i> v. <i>L.C.</i>, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling stemming from a lawsuit in which she was a lead plaintiff that established qualified patients' right to community-based care over institutionalization. In June, the U.S. Department of Justice stated it “will not rely upon the <i>Olmstead</i> Guidance in its enforcement” of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a move that advocates fear could upend transition planning for K-12 students who have disabilities.
Bob Child/AP
Special Education New Federal Guidance Could Roll Back Special Ed. Transition Services
New DOJ guidance threatens high school transition programs meant to help disabled students live independently.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, September 1, 2026
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3 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal Opinion What’s Behind the Trump Administration's Push to Reform Head Start?
Assistant Secretary Alex Adams explains the Trump administration’s approach to the early-ed program.
Rick Hess, September 1, 2026
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7 min read
Jeanette Vyhanek, a counselor at Wellstone Elementary, teaches a class of kindergarten students at the St. Paul school on Oct. 31, 2025 in Minnesota.
Jeanette Vyhanek, a counselor at Wellstone Elementary in St. Paul, Minn., teaches a class of kindergarten students on Oct. 31, 2025. Federal grants to expand the ranks of school counselors and other school mental health services were among hundreds terminated by the Trump administration in 2025. New rules from the U.S. Department of Education would give the federal agency greater latitude to end in-progress grants.
Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via TNS
Federal Ed. Dept. Would Have More Power to Cut Off Grants Under New Rules
The agency last year ended in-progress grants worth more than $2 billion, with courts often objecting.
Matthew Stone, August 26, 2026
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5 min read
A student raises her hand to ask a question in her third grade classroom at Highland Elementary School in Columbus, Kan., on Oct. 17, 2022. The arm of the government that oversees education data which tracks educational outcomes for students, faces major challenges ahead due to financial cuts.
A student raises her hand to ask a question in her 3rd grade classroom at Highland Elementary School in Columbus, Kan., on Oct. 17, 2022. Federal education data-gathering, like the Condition of Education report, includes baseline information on students and schools. But cuts to the Education Department's statistics wings and mounting criticism of how it operates raise questions about how it can best fulfill its mission.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Federal Q&A Education Data Collection Has Cratered Under Trump. Can It Be Rebuilt?
Ed. Dept.'s data-gathering agency is too unstable to adapt to changing needs, a new report claims.
Sarah D. Sparks, August 25, 2026
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6 min read
The office of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, one of Nebraska's few abortion clinics, is seen in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022.
The office of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, one of Nebraska's few abortion clinics, is seen in Omaha, Neb., on Oct. 19, 2022. The organization is part of a coalition of affected grantees affected by the Trump administration funding for teen pregnancy programs.
Josh Funk/AP
Law & Courts Court Blocks Trump Admin.'s Abstinence Emphasis in Teen Pregnancy Program
HHS revamped the grant with new requirements that align with conservative priorities.
Lauraine Langreo, August 24, 2026
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3 min read
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Kirsten Baesler speaks during the National Forum on Education Policy in Washington, DC on Wednesday July 8, 2026.
Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education Kirsten Baesler speaks during the National Forum on Education Policy in Washington on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Baesler urged educators to ensure ed tech is delivering results for students, rather than focus single-mindedly on the amount of time students are spending on screens in class.
Demetrius Freeman for Education Week
Classroom Technology It's About Quality Tech Use, Not Screen Time, Trump's Top K-12 Official Argues
Trump administration's top K-12 official urges educators to focus on whether ed tech is effective.
Alyson Klein, August 20, 2026
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5 min read
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights for the Department of Education nominee Kimberly Richey testifies before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee about her nomination in Washington, D.C., on June 5, 2025.
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberley Richey testifies before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee at her nomination hearing in Washington on June 5, 2025. A new letter to educators from Richey instructs schools not to consider race at all in school discipline policies, following the Trump administration's rescission of longtime anti-discrimination rules.
Jason Andrew for Education Week
Federal Education Department Tells Schools Race Can’t Factor Into Student Discipline
A letter to educators follows up on last month's rescission of longstanding discrimination rules.
Mark Walsh, August 18, 2026
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5 min read
A student participates in a reading and writing lesson at the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
A student participates in a reading and writing lesson at the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization gets about a third of its funding from the federal government in Miami on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. As it seeks to scale back regulations governing Head Start, the Trump administration has stalled competitions for programs awaiting renewed funding.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo
Early Childhood Head Start Providers Struggle as Trump Admin. Holds Up Funding Competitions
At least 85 Head Start providers serving more than 39,000 children across 38 states are in limbo.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens & Mark Lieberman, August 18, 2026
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9 min read