Policy & Politics

Education news, analysis, and opinion about the legislation, guidance, policies and people involved in federal and state government
Federal Trump Signs a Law Returning Whole Milk to School Lunches
The law overturns Obama-era limits on higher-fat milk options.
The Associated Press
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3 min read
Law & Courts Parents Ask Supreme Court to Restore Ruling on Gender Disclosure
Parents asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene over school gender-identity policies in California.
Mark Walsh
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4 min read
Law & Courts Supreme Court Signals Support for State Bans on Trans Girls in Sports
The U.S. Supreme Court weighed Idaho and West Virginia laws that bar transgender girls from sports.
Mark Walsh
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7 min read
Education Funding Rebuking Trump, Congress Moves to Maintain Most Federal Education Funding
Funding for key programs like Title I and IDEA are on track to remain level year over year.
Mark Lieberman
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8 min read
Photo collage of U.S. Capitol building and currency.
iStock
Federal Ed. Dept. Opens Fewer Sexual Violence Investigations as Trump Dismantles It
Sexual assault investigations fell after office for civil rights layoffs last year.
The Associated Press
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6 min read
The U.S. Department of Education building is pictured on Oct. 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Department of Education building is pictured on Oct. 24, 2025, in Washington. The federal agency is opening fewer sexual violence investigations into schools and colleges following layoffs at its office for civil rights last year.
Maansi Srivastava for Education Week
Education Funding In Trump's First Year, at Least $12 Billion in School Funding Disruptions
The administration's cuts to schools came through the Education Department and other agencies.
Mark Lieberman
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9 min read
swingspaces pgk 31
School Choice & Charters As School Choice Goes Universal, What New Research Is Showing
New analyses shed light on the students using state funds for private school and the schools they attend.
Matthew Stone & Caitlynn Peetz Stephens
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9 min read
Image of students working at desks, wearing black and white school uniforms.
iStock/Getty

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More Policy & Politics

  • President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington.
    President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington. States are considering whether to incorporate the tax changes into their own tax codes, which will results in lower state revenue collections that could strain school budgets.
    Evan Vucci/AP
    Education Funding Schools Brace for Mid-Year Cuts as 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Changes Begin
    State decisions on incorporating federal tax cuts into their own tax codes could strain school budgets.
    Mark Lieberman, January 13, 2026
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    7 min read
    School bus outside Patterson High School in St. Mary Parish, in Louisiana.
    School bus outside Patterson High School in St. Mary Parish, in Louisiana.
    Brad Kemp/The Advocate
    Law & Courts After 60 Years, a Louisiana District Fights to Exit Federal Desegregation Order
    St. Mary Parish is on the frontlines of a legal battle to end ongoing school desegregation cases dating back to the civil rights era.
    Patrick Wall, The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La., January 12, 2026
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    6 min read
    Fifteen year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson tosses a discus at home in West Virginia.
    Fifteen-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson tosses a discus at home in West Virginia. Her challenge to the state’s ban on transgender girls in school sports is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
    Scout Tufankjian/ACLU
    Law & Courts School Sports Case Reaches the Supreme Court at a Fraught Time for Trans Rights
    The justices will consider state laws that bar transgender girls from participating in female sports.
    Mark Walsh, January 9, 2026
    •
    8 min read
    Students ride tricycles during aftercare at a Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
    Students ride tricycles during aftercare at a Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
    Rebecca Blackwell/AP
    Law & Courts Judge Bars Trump Admin. From Purging DEI Terms From Head Start Funding Requests
    The federal judge also prohibited further layoffs of staff from the federal Office of Head Start.
    The Associated Press, January 9, 2026
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    2 min read
    Students in Chad Wright’s construction program work on measurements at the Regional Occupational Center on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in Bakersfield, Calif.
    Students in Chad Wright’s construction program work on measurements at the Regional Occupational Center on Jan. 11, 2023, in Bakersfield, Calif. A newly released policy agenda from a coalition of center-left Democrats focuses heavily on career training.
    Morgan Lieberman for Education Week
    Federal A Major Democratic Group Thinks This Education Policy Is a Winning Issue
    An agenda from center-left Democrats could foreshadow how they discuss education on the campaign trail.
    Alyson Klein, January 9, 2026
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    4 min read
    The end of a bar chart made of pencils with a line graph drawn over it.
    DigitalVision Vectors/Getty + Education Week
    Federal Opinion The Federal Government Hasn’t Been Meeting Our Need for Unbiased Ed. Research
    Trump’s attacks on data collection are misguided—but that doesn’t mean it was working before.
    Rick Hess, January 8, 2026
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    5 min read
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Resources

Professional Development Spotlight Spotlight on Effective Professional Development: Teacher Voice, Collaboration, and Sustainable Change
This Spotlight examines how successful PD is increasingly driven by teacher leadership, collaboration, and intentional district design.
Reading & Literacy Quiz Quiz Yourself: Is Your District Truly Science of Reading Aligned?
Answer questions on the science of reading alignment in your district, including classroom materials, achievement data, and regulations.
Social Studies Spotlight Spotlight on Teaching Social Studies to Build Literacy and Critical Thinking
This Spotlight explores social studies literacy, evaluating source bias, introducing complex narratives, and key U.S. history topics.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
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Student Well-Being & Movement Whitepaper The Chronic Absenteeism Today Guide
Address the root causes of chronic absenteeism, boost student success, and build belonging across campus with the Chronic Absenteeism Tod...
Content provided by Wayfinder
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  • The Instagram logo is seen on a cell phone, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston.
    The Instagram logo is seen on a cell phone. New York is the third state, after California and Minnesota, to pass a law requiring social media warning labels.
    Michael Dwyer/AP
    States Scroll With Caution: Another State Requires Social Media Warning Labels
    Backers of New York's law, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, have likened tech's addictiveness to tobacco.
    Jennifer Vilcarino, January 8, 2026
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    4 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
    Policy & Politics Opinion Who Tops Their Field in the 2026 RHSU Edu-Scholar Rankings?
    A scholar's rank within a discipline may be more telling than their place in the overall rankings.
    Rick Hess, January 8, 2026
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    1 min read
    Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents in Salt Lake City on Dec. 16, 2021. The wave of attempted book banning and restrictions continues to intensify, the American Library Association reported Friday. Numbers for 2022 already approach last year's totals, which were the highest in decades.
    Eight states have passed legislation restricting school officials from pulling books out of school libraries for partisan or ideological reasons. In the past five years, many such challenges have focused on books about race or LGBTQ+ people. Amanda Darrow, the director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents in Salt Lake City on Dec. 16, 2021. (Utah is not one of the eight states.)
    Rick Bowmer/AP
    States States Are Banning Book Bans. Will It Work?
    Approved legislation aims to stop school libraries from removing books for partisan reasons.
    Sarah Schwartz, January 7, 2026
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    5 min read
    U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is interviewed by Indiana’s Secretary of Education Katie Jenner during the 2025 Reagan Institute Summit on Education in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18, 2025.
    U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, pictured here in Washington on Sept. 18, 2025, has granted Iowa a partial waiver from provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act, saying the move is a step toward the Trump administration's goal of "returning education to the states." The waiver allows Iowa some additional flexibility in how it spends the limited portion of federal education funds used by the state department of education.
    Leah Millis for Education Week
    States McMahon Touts Funding Flexibility for Iowa That Falls Short of Trump Admin. Goal
    The Ed. Dept. is allowing the state education agency to consolidate small sets of funds from four grants.
    Mark Lieberman, January 7, 2026
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    6 min read
    Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks during a press conference on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. Murrill teamed up with the Trump administration to ask a judge to end a decades-old desegregation order under which the state's DeSoto Parish Schools were under federal oversight.
    Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks during a press conference on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. Murrill teamed up with the Trump administration to ask a judge to end a decades-old desegregation order under which the state's DeSoto Parish Schools were under federal oversight.
    Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP
    Law & Courts Judge Ends School Desegregation Order at Trump Administration's Request
    The decision ends decades of federal oversight to ensure schools' compliance with the order to desegregate.
    Patrick Wall, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, January 7, 2026
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    4 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
    Policy & Politics Opinion Who Are the Nation's Top Education Scholars?
    The RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings recognize researchers who shape practice and policy.
    Rick Hess, January 7, 2026
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    2 min read
    Load More ▼

EdWeek Market Brief

Regulation & Policy Market Analysis Texas’ Revamped Adoption System Raises Stakes for Publishers, With First Curriculum Bans Looming
The latest twist for publishers navigating Texas’ still-evolving curriculum adoption process comes via a new state law that bans curriculum placed on the state’s rejected list.
David Saleh Rauf
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7 min read
Strategy & Operations Industry Insight As States Push More Purchasing Decisions to Parents, Here's What Companies Need to Know
Fintech company Odyssey was selected to help Texas build a new program that will allow parents to apply to receive public education funds for their children to support a range of education expenses.
Scott Elliott
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12 min read
Meeting District Needs Market Analysis Six Superintendents of the Year Tell K-12 Vendors What They Need
They Were Named Superintendents of the Year. Here’s What They Want From Vendors
David Saleh Rauf
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13 min read
Strategy & Operations K-12 Market News American Student Assistance Rebrands as Britebound
The new name is part of Britebound's efforts to better reflect its shift from being a student loan guarantor to a post-secondary pathways nonprofit.
Michelle Caffrey
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2 min read
Read More