Policy & Politics

Education news, analysis, and opinion about the legislation, guidance, policies and people involved in federal and state government
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
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1 min read
States States Are Banning Book Bans. Will It Work?
Approved legislation aims to stop school libraries from removing books for partisan reasons.
Sarah Schwartz
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5 min read
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
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6 min read
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
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8 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 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
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2 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
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
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4 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 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
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5 min read
The end of a bar chart made of pencils with a line graph drawn over it.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty + Education Week

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More Policy & Politics

  • 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 How Education Research Became a Partisan Issue
    Values shape the research that is conducted, published, and viewed as “acceptable.”
    Rick Hess, July 15, 2025
    •
    8 min read
    Supporters hold signs and cheer Education Department employees as they leave after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025.
    Supporters hold signs and cheer Education Department employees as they leave after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025. The Supreme Court on July 14, 2025, allowed the Trump administration to proceed with department layoffs that a lower-court judge had put on hold.
    Jose Luis Magana/AP
    Federal Hope Shattered for Laid-Off Ed. Dept. Staff After Supreme Court Order
    The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to proceed with 1,400 Education Department layoffs.
    Brooke Schultz, July 14, 2025
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    6 min read
    Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon outside of the West Wing following a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 11, 2025 in Washington.
    U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon outside of the West Wing following a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 11, 2025, in Washington. McMahon is carrying out a Trump administration plan to lay off roughly 1,400 Education Department employees, a move critics say is aimed at dismantling the agency.
    Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto via AP
    Law & Courts Trump Admin. Can Proceed With Ed. Dept. Layoffs, Supreme Court Rules
    The Trump administration asked the justices to set aside an injunction blocking its layoffs of 1,400 Education Department employees.
    Mark Walsh, July 14, 2025
    •
    6 min read
    President Donald Trump speaks at an event to promote his domestic policy and budget agenda in the East Room of the White House on June 26, 2025, in Washington.
    President Donald Trump speaks at an event to promote his domestic policy and budget agenda in the East Room of the White House on June 26, 2025, in Washington. Two dozen states have sued the president and others in his administration over its withholding of $6.8 billion in education funds that were supposed to go out to states on July 1.
    Jose Luis Magana/AP
    Education Funding Two Dozen States Sue Trump Over $6.8 Billion School Funding Freeze
    The Trump administration violated the U.S. Constitution when it withheld billions from schools in early July, the lawsuit alleges.
    Mark Lieberman, July 14, 2025
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    7 min read
    Concept of the remedy for melancholy and happiness, with a painter who transforms a brick wall into a sunny sky.
    iStock/Getty
    Education Funding Opinion Trump's Cuts to Schools Will Hit Hard. But Leaders Need More Than Just Money
    The federal funding chaos highlights a perennial dynamic in public schools.
    Joshua P. Starr, July 11, 2025
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    5 min read
    Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
    Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami. The Trump administration said Thursday that undocumented children are ineligible for Head Start and a number of other federally funded programs that the administration is classifying as similar to welfare benefits.
    Rebecca Blackwell/AP
    Federal Trump Admin. Says Undocumented Students Can't Attend Head Start, Early College
    The administration issued notices saying undocumented immigrants don't qualify for Head Start and some Education Department programs.
    Brooke Schultz, July 10, 2025
    •
    7 min read
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Resources

Student Achievement Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Connecting Schools & Communities?
Answer 7 questions about the whole child approach of connecting schools and communities.
Teaching Spotlight Spotlight on Problem-Based Learning
This Spotlight will help you learn how VR can be used for unique problem-solving, identify how to apply PBL in STEM classrooms, and more.
Assessment Spotlight Spotlight on Assessment
This Spotlight will help you evaluate effective ways to offer students feedback, learn how to improve assessments for ELs, and more.
Student Achievement Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Strategies for Personalized Intervention?
Answer 7 questions about personalized intervention.
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  • Books sit on shelves in an elementary school library in suburban Atlanta on Aug. 18, 2023.
    Books sit on shelves in an elementary school library in suburban Atlanta on Aug. 18, 2023. The Trump administration's efforts to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the largest source of federal support for libraries, is throwing a number of library programs—including efforts to grow the ranks of school librarians—into a state of uncertainty.
    Hakim Wright Sr./AP
    Federal Trump Admin. Funding Cuts Could Hit Efforts to Restore School Libraries
    The Institute of Museum and Library Services is one of seven small federal agencies targeted for closure in a recent executive order.
    Jennifer Vilcarino & Brooke Schultz, April 7, 2025
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    7 min read
    Erin Huff, a kindergarten teacher at Waverly Elementary School, works with, from left to right, Ava Turner, a 2nd grader, Benton Ryan, 1st grade, and 3rd grader Haven Green, on estimating measurements using mini marshmallows in Waverly, Ill., on Dec. 18, 2019. Huff, a 24-year-old teacher in her third year, says relatively low pay, stress and workload often discourage young people from pursuing teaching degrees, leading to a current shortage of classroom teachers in Illinois. A nonprofit teacher-training program is using a $750,000 addition to the state budget to speed up certification to address a rampant teacher shortage.
    Erin Huff, a 24-year-old kindergarten teacher at Waverly Elementary in Illinois, pictured here on Dec. 18, 2019, says low pay, high stress, and heavy workloads often discourage young people from entering teacher preparation programs. The U.S. Supreme Court on April 4, 2025, allowed the Trump administration to immediately terminate two federal teacher-preparation grant programs.
    John O'Connor/AP
    Law & Courts Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin. to End Teacher-Prep Grants
    The high court, over three justices' dissent, granted the administration's request to remove a lower court's block on ending the grants.
    Mark Walsh, April 4, 2025
    •
    5 min read
    Person thinking to enter money maze puzzle.
    iStock/Getty
    Education Funding States Urge McMahon to Restore Federal Funds She Canceled Without Notice
    New York's education department threatened legal action if the federal government doesn't restore pandemic relief funds.
    Mark Lieberman, April 4, 2025
    •
    10 min read
    Supporters gather outside the U.S. Department of Education in Washington to applaud Education Department employees as they depart their offices for the final time on Friday, March 28, 2025. The rally brought together education supporters, students, parents, and former employees to honor the departing staff as they arrived in 30-minute intervals to collect their belongings.
    Supporters gather outside the U.S. Department of Education in Washington to applaud Education Department employees as they depart their offices for the final time on Friday, March 28, 2025. Two organizations representing researchers are suing the department in an attempt to restore the agency's data and research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences.
    Moriah Ratner for Education Week
    Law & Courts Groups Sue Over Trump's Cuts to Education Department Research Arm
    This suit seeks the restoration of Institute of Education Sciences staff and contracts abruptly canceled by the Trump administration.
    Brooke Schultz, April 4, 2025
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    3 min read
    Vector illustration of a large hand holding a contract and a smaller man with a large pen signing the contract while a woman in the background is clutching a gold coin and watching as he signs.
    DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
    Federal Trump Admin. Tells Schools: No Federal Funds If You're Using DEI
    A letter sent out Thursday is another Trump administration to curb diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools—and use funding as leverage.
    Brooke Schultz, April 3, 2025
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    6 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
    States Opinion How One State Improved Its NAEP Scores
    Louisiana's state schools chief discusses the importance of reading and math instruction and "letting teachers teach."
    Rick Hess, April 3, 2025
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    6 min read
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EdWeek Market Brief

Education Market Market Analysis What's Next: 7 Key Trends to Watch in the Education Market in 2026
EdWeek Market Brief's editorial team offers its predictions on the forces that will shape company's work in schools over the coming year.
Emma Kate Fittes, Michelle Caffrey & Alexandria Ng
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12 min read
Meeting District Needs Exclusive Data District Device Purchasing Holds Steady, With a Shift Toward Maintenance
This is the fourth consecutive year EdWeek Market Brief has published survey results about the devices that districts plan to buy and their funding sources.
Alexandria Ng
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4 min read
Meeting District Needs K-12 Insider What Superintendents Want From AI: Build for Central Office Efficiency
While most AI tools target classrooms, one superintendent shares how he uses AI in leadership and what’s missing in product development for district leaders.
Alexandria Ng
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5 min read
Financing & Investment K-12 Market News Percentage of K-12 Companies Reporting Revenue Declines Doubles from 2023
The findings come from a new special report from EdWeek Market Brief, “State of the Industry: Breaking Through Economic Barriers.”
Michelle Caffrey
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4 min read
Read More