Updates

On November 18, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced six new interagency agreements (IAAs) with four agencies to “break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, activities, and move closer to fulfilling the President’s promise to return education to the states.”

The Trump administration under Secretary McMahon has indicated a willingness to entertain expanded waivers of certain requirements under ESEA. A handful of states have already begun testing the limits of that potential flexibility, authorized under Section 8401.

November 12 marked the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The House reconvened for the first time since mid-September to consider the funding bill the Senate passed on Monday night. The President and House Republican leaders support the measure, while most Democrats and some Republicans oppose it for different reasons.

The FCC voted 2 to 1 on orders that would make both Wi-Fi on school buses and Wi-Fi hotspots ineligible for E-Rate support.

Despite the federal government remaining closed for more than a month now, multiple new bills related to AI and students have been introduced in the past several weeks.

This blog post comes from the National Head Start Association.

The U.S. Department of Education released revised priorities for both the School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) Grant Program and the Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) Demonstration Grant Program.

On the afternoon of October 10, the Department of Education (ED) laid off about 450 of its staff as part of a second Reduction in Force (RIF). Most notably for district leaders, the majority of staff in both the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and the Office of Special Education (OSEP) have been let go.

This week, the Trump Administration announced changes to the H-1B visa program, which allows employers to temporarily hire foreign workers for specialty occupation positions. Many school districts use this program to fill critical vacancies, especially in rural areas where staff shortages are more acute.