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
•
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
•
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
•
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
•
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
•
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

  • Itinerant teacher April Wilson works with Zion Stewart at Bond County Early Childhood Center in Greenville, Ill., on Sept. 29, 2025.
    Teacher April Wilson, who works with visually impaired students, works with a student at Bond County Early Childhood Center in Greenville, Ill., on Sept. 29, 2025. The latest round of layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education will leave the federal office of special education programs with few staffers.
    Michael B. Thomas for Education Week
    Federal Ed. Dept. Offices Will Be Virtually Wiped Out in Latest Layoffs
    The U.S. Department of Education is losing about a fifth of its already diminished workforce.
    Mark Lieberman & Brooke Schultz, October 13, 2025
    •
    9 min read
    Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought speaks to reporters after Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
    Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought speaks to reporters after Democratic and Republican congressional leaders met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025. Vought announced Friday that federal layoffs during the shutdown have begun, and those layoffs will hit the U.S. Department of Education.
    Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP
    Federal A New Wave of Federal Layoffs Will Hit the Education Department
    Multiple divisions will lose staff members, according to the union representing agency staffers.
    Brooke Schultz, October 10, 2025
    •
    3 min read
    Penelope Koutoulas holds signs supporting school choice in a House committee meeting on education during a special session of the state legislature Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.
    Penelope Koutoulas holds signs supporting school choice in a House committee meeting on education during a special session of the state legislature on Jan. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. The federal government has made its biggest push yet for school choice under the Trump administration.
    George Walker IV/AP
    School Choice & Charters Private School Choice Gets Supercharged in Trump's 2nd Term
    At the same time, his administration is pledging to dial back the federal role in education.
    Brooke Schultz, October 9, 2025
    •
    6 min read
    North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler announces the gathering of a task force to look into future options the state has for the assessment of students during a press conference May 8, 2015, at the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D.
    North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler speaks at a press conference on May 8, 2015, at the state capitol in Bismarck, N.D. Baesler will serve as assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education after her Tuesday confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
    Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP
    Federal Senate Confirms Longtime North Dakota Schools Chief for Top Ed. Dept. Role
    Senators approved a batch of Trump nominees that also included others to top Education Department posts.
    Brooke Schultz, October 7, 2025
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    3 min read
    Jackson County High School in Kentucky posts the Ten Commandments in the front hall of the school, shown here in 2000, and in every classroom, on June 25, 2025. A group of North Texas reverends filed a federal lawsuit this week to challenge a new state law that would require posting the Ten Commandments in each public school classroom.
    The Ten Commandments were seen on display at Jackson County High School in Kentucky in 2000. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, will review a Louisiana law that requires the display of the commandments in public school classrooms.
    <a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image?artistexact=Lexington%20Herald-Leader">Lexington Herald-Leader</a>/Getty Images
    Law & Courts Louisiana's Ten Commandments Law Gets Full Federal Appeals Court Review
    The full 5th Circuit threw out a panel decision that blocked a Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments displays in schools.
    Mark Walsh, October 7, 2025
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    2 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
    School Choice & Charters Opinion What Could the New Federal Tuition Tax Credit Mean for School Choice?
    Just what this new program will mean for your state is still uncertain.
    Rick Hess, October 7, 2025
    •
    7 min read
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    iStock/Getty
    Law & Courts Supreme Court Weighs IQ Tests and Other School Records in Key Death Penalty Case
    The court weighs the proper role of IQ tests for defendants claiming an intellectual disability.
    Mark Walsh, December 11, 2025
    •
    8 min read
    Attendees listen to a eulogy during a memorial for Charlie Kirk hosted by the University of Texas at Dallas chapter of Turning Point USA, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Richardson, Texas.
    Attendees listen to a eulogy during a memorial for Charlie Kirk hosted by the University of Texas at Dallas chapter of Turning Point USA, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Richardson, Texas.
    Elías Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News via TNS
    States Texas Gov. Abbott Wants 'Disciplinary Action' for Schools That Resist Turning Point USA
    He endorsed growing the footprint of the late Charlie Kirk's organization in the state's high schools.
    Philip Jankowski, The Dallas Morning News, December 9, 2025
    •
    1 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 Standing Up to Education Groupthink
    Why is it so hard to push back on popular ideas in education, even when it’s sorely needed?
    Rick Hess, December 9, 2025
    •
    7 min read
    A U.S. Supreme Court police officer walks in front of the Supreme Court amid renovations as the justices hear oral arguments on President Donald Trump's push to expand control over independent federal agencies in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8, 2025.
    A U.S. Supreme Court police officer walks in front of the court amid renovations in Washington, on Dec. 8, 2025. The court took several actions in education cases, including ordering a lower court to take a fresh look at a lawsuit challenging a New York state law that ended religious exemptions to school vaccinations.
    J. Scott Applewhite/AP
    Law & Courts Supreme Court Orders New Review of Religious Exemptions to School Vaccines
    The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a new look in a school vaccination case and declined to review library book removals.
    Mark Walsh, December 8, 2025
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    6 min read
    A student visits a sensory room at a Topeka, KS elementary school, on Nov. 3, 2021.
    A student visits a sensory room at an elementary school in Topeka, Kan., on Nov. 3, 2021. Schools have expanded their student mental health services in recent years, many with support from hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants that the Trump administration pulled earlier this year and have since been caught up in legal proceedings.
    Charlie Riedel/AP
    Education Funding A Guide to Where School Mental Health Grants Stand After a New Legal Twist
    Temporary relief for one set of projects raises questions for other initiatives vying for federal money.
    Matthew Stone, December 8, 2025
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    5 min read
    First-grade student Brennen Marquardt, 6, looks out the bus window at Friess Lake Middle School on Sept. 4, 2018, the first year of operations for the newly consolidated Holy Hill district in Richfield, Wis. The district was the most recent to consolidate in Wisconsin, which is among the states where lawmakers are exploring ways to force or incentivize district mergers.
    First-grade student Brennen Marquardt, 6, looks out the bus window at Friess Lake Middle School on Sept. 4, 2018, the first year of operations for the newly consolidated Holy Hill district in Richfield, Wis. The district was the most recent to consolidate in Wisconsin, which is among the states where lawmakers are exploring ways to force or incentivize district mergers.
    John Ehlke/West Bend Daily News via AP
    States States Consider District Consolidations as Student Enrollment Drops
    Rural educators say the decision to combine school districts is a matter of local control.
    Evie Blad, December 5, 2025
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    8 min read
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