Updates about the U.S. Department of Education, Impact on Alabama

Updates about the U.S. Department of Education, Impact on Alabama

As we know, there is a lot happening at the federal level regarding the U.S. Department of Education. There has been extensive media coverage of the Trump Administration and recent decisions regarding education in our country. Changes are happening quickly, and there continues to be a lot of uncertainty about what these decisions regarding the U.S. Department of Education will look like long term, and how any shifts will impact Alabama’s schools, families, and students. A+ Education Partnership wanted to provide resources to track the ongoing updates and newest developments during this process. We have developed the following resources to keep track of changes at the federal level and their impacts on Alabama.

Acronyms –

For a comprehensive list of acronyms and their definitions click here.

May 11-17, 2025

On May 16, the USED created a grant program and invited schools to apply to the Charter Schools Program (CSP) Model Development and Dissemination (MDD) grant program. The USED published a press release on the changes.

• This program offers competitive grants to eligible organizations to develop and broadly disseminate information about high-quality charter school models. The overall CSP is funded at $500 million.
• Six grant programs are available for organizations to apply to. A webinar for the program will be held through the USED on June 4.

This week in Congress, there was an emphasis on the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) of 2025. This bill, currently in the US House of Representatives, would create a federal voucher program through the federal tax code for nonpublic schools.

• The bill would create a tax credit for those who make charitable contributions to scholarship-granting organizations, which would be used to fund scholarships for students to attend private, public, or charter schools. To be eligible, a family’s income must be lower than 300% of the median gross income in their region, meaning that eligibility would vary based on where a student lives and their family’s income relative to other families in the area.
• The House Ways and Means Committee voted to include the bill in the broader reconciliation bill. This bill, paired with the budget proposal, would allow the federal government to spend $5 billion per year on nonpublic schools.

Federal and National News

• New America, May 12: “Federal Early Education Update: May 2025”
• USED, May 12: “US Department of Education Calls for Nominations to Serve on Negotiated Rulemaking Committee”
• Hechinger, May 12: “Three-fourths of NSF funding cuts hit education“
• NPR, May 14: “What to know about a federal proposal to help families pay for private school.”
• Hechinger, May 14: “Trump’s cuts to teacher training leave rural school districts, aspiring educators in the lurch”
• Stateline, May 15: “Some states reexamine school discipline as Trump order paves go-ahead”

May 4-10, 2025

On May 9, a fourth round of budget cuts hit the National Science Foundation (NSF).

• 73 additional grants were cut, bringing the total eliminated projects over 1,400. Many of these projects focused on education research. A full list of projects can be found here.
• The NSF’s Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM team was eliminated. 70 full time employees and 300 temporary employees were terminated.

On May 7, the USED shared guidance for states on the Unsafe School Choice Option.

• The Unsafe School Choice Option is a provision in federal law that requires states to have a policy that gives students in persistently dangerous schools an opportunity to attend a safe public elementary or secondary school, including a public charter school.
• In Alabama, this is called a Transfer Option School (TOS), defined by a 1% (or 5 student) expulsion rate for violent crimes on school property for three consecutive years. Students who are victims to violent crimes on school property are also eligible, regardless of school status as a TOS. Eligible students can transfer to a “safe school” within the same LEA.

On May 6, the USED launched an investigation into New York’s Saratoga Springs City school district for Title IX violations.

• Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) filed a report with the USED in April, sharing that Saratoga Springs’ policy titled “Affirming Our Support for Every Student” violates Title IX by allowing students to use the facilities “consistent with their gender identity.”
• The investigation letter from the USED to Saratoga Springs asks for more information about the policy and district definitions.
• There are no new updates on the investigations in Maine, Washington, and Illinois (Chicago and Evanston-Skokie).

Alabama News

• Alabama Reflector, May 10: “As Trump slashes AmeriCorps, states lose a federal partner in community service”

Federal and National News

• USED, May 9: “US Department of Education Celebrates President Trump’s Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education”
• USA Today, May 9: “National Science Foundation eliminates equity division, cancels dozens more grants”
• AEI, May 7: “What’s Next for Federal Education Policy? A Conversation with Chairman Tim Walberg”
• NEA, May 7: “Four Ways Trump’s Budget Proposal Slashes Public School Funding”
• Brookings, May 6: “Trump administration weighs future of special education oversight and funding”
• Bellwether, May 6: Video – “Will the Supreme Court Allow Religious Charter Schools?”
• Ed Source, May 6: “Trump’s budget would abolish funding for English learners, adult ed, teacher recruitment”
• ABC News, May 6: “On Teacher Appreciation Day, Trump cuts affecting profession in ‘huge way’”
• K-12 Dive, May 5: “$1B to support student mental health is gone. Schools fear what’s next.”
• Hechinger Report, May 5: “Education researchers sue Trump administration, testing executive power.”
• Inside Higher Ed, May 5: “NSF Halts New Funding and Caps Indirect Rate Costs”
• Ed Surge, May 5: “Hundreds of STEM Grants Have Been Terminated. K-12 Math Educators Will Lose Out.”

April 27- May 3, 2025

On May 2, the Trump Administration released their 2026 discretionary budget, which is for programs that are funded annually and not required by law (like Medicare or Social Security). This is a proposal for Congress to consider, it is not a law or regulation by itself. A memo with the budget was sent to Congress, and Secretary McMahon published a statement on the recommendations.

• The Administration published memos, including “Revitalizing Federalism” and “Cuts to Woke Programs”, in addition to the budget. Highlights related to education include:
  • Preschool Development Grants: Decreased by $315 million, eliminating the program
  • Teacher Quality Partnerships: Decreased by $70 million, eliminating the program
  • General Research and Education at the National Science Foundation: Decreased by $3.5 billion
• The budget request cuts the USED’s overall budget by 15.3% as compared to last year’s budget. Highlights for the USED’s budget include the following:
  • Charter schools: Increase of $60 million, for $500 million total
  • Title I funding: No change from last year
  • Special Education funding: No change from last year; seven funding streams within IDEA will be consolidated to give states flexibility
  • K-12 Grant Programs: Decrease of $4.5 billion, 18 programs rolled into one flexible $2 billion fund
  • English language learner grants: Decrease of $890 million, eliminating the program
  • TRIO and Gear Up: Decrease of $1.6 billion, eliminating TRIO and reducing Gear Up which are programs that connect low income students to higher education opportunities
  • Migrant Education and Special Education for Migrant Students: Decrease of $428 million, eliminating the programs
  • Administrative budget: Decrease of $127 million, or 30%
  • Office for Civil Rights (OCR): Decrease of $49 million, or 35%

On April 30, the US Supreme Court heard the case St. Isidore v. Drummond, which is a case from Oklahoma that will determine whether states can exclude religious charter schools from public funding based on their religious status. It challenges the current interpretation of the First Amendment, and asks whether state funds can be used for religious schools.

• Charter schools are public schools, and are subject to the same kinds of requirements as traditional public schools. They are free, open to all, and have to comply with proficiency standards or states can shut them down.
• In 2023, Oklahoma’s charter school board approved an application to establish St. Isidore, a virtual Catholic charter school. The Oklahoma Supreme Court determined that the public charter school would violate students’ First Amendment rights by requiring them to practice Catholicism.
• St. Isidore appealed to the US Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court is hearing and debating the case. Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself, meaning she will not hear debate or vote, so there are eight justices voting. If the votes are tied, the case will defer to the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling. The vote will likely be in July, 2025.

On April 30, the media shared that the Trump Administration is moving to cancel $1 billion in school mental health grants.

• Grant recipients were notified that funding will not continue after this year.
• The grant programs were put in place to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors, and other mental health workers.

This week’s news on USED investigations included a settlement in Maine, and new investigations into Washington’s Office of the Superintendent and Illinois’ Chicago Public Schools for Title IX and Civil Rights violations.

• The Maine investigation over Title IX resulted in frozen funds from the USDA for the school nutrition program. This case has been settled, and Maine will continue to receive funding from the USDA. The USED investigation is ongoing.
• The Washington investigation is looking into reports that local school districts are required to allow males to participate in female sports and use female intimate facilities, as well as requiring districts to not notify parents of changes in their children’s gender identity.
• The Illinois investigation is looking into a report filed by Defending Education against the Chicago Public Schools for their academic achievement initiative, the “Black Students Success Plan,” for racial discrimination.

Federal and National News

• Axios, May 2: “Five ways Trump’s budget request could affect the average American.”
• Axios, May 2: “Where K-12 schools get the most federal revenue”
• American Enterprise Institute video panel, April 30: “Grading Trump’s First 100 Days on Education”
• SCOTUS blog, April 30: “Supreme Court divided over approving first religious charter school”
• USA Today, April 30: “Recap: Supreme Court has heated exchange in blockbuster religious charter school case”
• NBC News, April 30: “Supreme Court’s conservatives lean towards allowing country’s first religious public charter school”
• POLITICO, April 30: “Education Department cuts about $1B in federal school mental health grants”
• APNews, April 30: “Trump administration cuts $1 billion in school mental health grants, citing conflict of priorities”
• Edunomics webinar and slides, April 29: “30-Min Webinar: Federal and other financial risks for K12 in the months ahead”
• Education Next, April 29: “What Would Religious Charter Schools Mean for Education Choice?”
• Wall Street Journal, April 29: “Supreme Court Could Crush Charter Schools”
• ABC7, April 29: “US Department of Education investigating Chicago Public Schools for ‘Black Students Success Plan’”
• K-12 Dive, April 28: “19 states sue Education Department over anti-DEI efforts”
• The Center Square, April 28: “Education Department: Trump has handed education back to states as promised”
• Bellwether LinkedIn Video, April 28: “Advancing AI Education – Navigating Trump’s Executive Order”

April 20-26, 2025

Last week, President Trump signed multiple executive orders relating to education.

On April 24, a federal judge paused the USED’s ability to enforce their statement to withhold funding from school systems that have diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

• Multiple entities, including the National Education Association (NEA), the NEA of New Hampshire, the ACLU, and the Center for Black Educator Development filed lawsuits against the USED to challenge the USED’s Dear Colleague Letter from Feb 14. The letter stated that federal funds would be cut for education institutions that engage in DEI efforts.
• The lawsuits state that the USED has overstepped its legal authority by imposing restrictions that violate the First Amendment, limit academic freedom, and dictate what educators can teach and what students can learn.

On April 23, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth.”

• The EO establishes an Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force and creates the Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge to highlight student and educator achievements in AI.
• The USED will promote AI literacy by encouraging the integration of AI into education for students and AI training for educators.

On April 23, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future.”

• The EO creates a Comprehensive Worker Investment and Development Strategy for the Trump Administration, tasking the Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Commerce, and Secretary of Education to review and report on federal workforce development programs.
• The EO emphasizes apprenticeships and asks Secretary McMahon to report on effective and ineffective federal workforce development and education programs.

On April 23, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.”

• This deals with disparate-impact liability, which is when an organization has a policy that has negative impacts on a specific group of people, regardless of intent. It is used to identify unlawful discriminatory practices and policies. To learn more, the Learning Policy Institute has research on this topic.
• The EO calls for repealing disparate-impact regulations in Title VI, the Civil Rights Act, deprioritizing new enforcement of disparate-impact cases, and identifying laws at the federal and state levels that are about disparate impact. This could impact how schools implement and consider civil rights protections. Disparate impact exploration looks at data that breaks down outcomes into different groups, and then explores why the groups have those different outcomes.

On April 23, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Reinstating Common Sense School Discipline.”

• Multiple entities, including the National Education Association (NEA), the NEA of New Hampshire, the ACLU, and the Center for Black Educator Development filed lawsuits against the USED to challenge the USED’s Dear Colleague Letter from Feb 14. The letter stated that federal funds would be cut for education institutions that engage in DEI efforts.
• The lawsuits state that the USED has overstepped its legal authority by imposing restrictions that violate the First Amendment, limit academic freedom, and dictate what educators can teach and what students can learn.

Federal and National News

• The Hill, April 26: “Trump is right about the Department of Education but wrong about Head Start”
• NPR, April 26: “Why judges blocked the Trump admin’s school DEI crackdown”
• New York Times, April 24: “Courts Block Trump from Withholding School Funds over DEI, for Now”
• Reuters, April 24: “US judge limits Trump’s ability to withhold school funds over DEI”
• USED, April 23: “Secretary of Education Statements on President Trump’s Education Executive Orders”
• NYSBA, April 22: “The History of the United States Department of Education Explained”
• NEA, April 22: “The Final Mission of the US Department of Education: Three Truths Every Educator Must Embrace”
• US News & World Report, April 22: “Trump to Resume Collection of Defaulted Student Loans: What to Know”
• Hechinger Report, April 21: “A treasure trove of education reports and studies is under threat”

April 13-19, 2025

On April 15, the Trump Administration announced appointees to the USED. The full list of appointees can be found here.

On April 12, the media shared that the Trump Administration’s FY26 budget proposal would completely defund Head Start.

• Head Start provides childcare and preschool education to low-income families. Since its creation in the 1960s, the program has helped about 40 million families.
• The White House declined to address this in the media, and the FY26 budget is not public. Multiple news sources have published information about the proposed budget: USA Today, NJ Spotlight, Axios
• The Administration’s budget is always only a suggestion. Only an act of Congress can allocate or defund federal programs.

Alabama News

• Axios, April 17: “White House plan would eliminate Head Start, make sweeping health cuts”
• Alabama Reflector, April 17: “Federal education cuts and Trump DEI demands leave states, teachers in limbo”
• American Enterprise Institute, April 16: “Federal Education Research Has Been ‘Shredded.’ What’s Driving This?”
• AL.com, April 14: “Feds pull $9 million for tornado-stricken Alabama school district, reading program: ‘Panic’”
• Al.com, April 14: “Alabama weighs Trump request to end ‘illegal’ DEI practices in K-12 schools”

Federal and National News

• USED, April 17: “US Department of Education Releases Statement on 2026 NAEP schedule”
• Fordham Institute, April 16: “Podcast #965: Understanding ESSA Waivers, with Anne Hyslop”
• Ed Trust, April 14: “The Next Threat to Education: Congress’ Budget Reconciliation”
• K-12 Dive, April 14: “Bills in Congress detail path to closing the Education Department”
• Fox News, April 14: “Randi Weingarten: Trump’s decision to gut the Education Department is not only illegal, it’s wrong”
• Washington Post, April 14: “College financial aid hit with glitches, delays due to federal staffing cuts”

April 6-12, 2025

On April 12, the USED initiated a federal funding termination process for Maine K-12 schools, including formula and discretionary grants that fund Title I and IDEA in Maine.

• The press release highlights Maine’s Title IX noncompliance, focusing on their violation of antidiscrimination law by “allowing males to compete in female sports and occupy women-only intimate spaces.”
• Maine’s Department of Education refused to comply with the USED’s proposed Resolution Agreement. In a letter to the USED, Maine stated that there is no Title IX regulation that blocks schools from “allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams.”
• K-12 funding is appropriated by Congress, and should require an act of Congress to freeze or take away. This situation will likely need to be settled by the federal court system.