Policy & Politics

Education news, analysis, and opinion about the legislation, guidance, policies and people involved in federal and state government
Federal Opinion Public Educators Are Skeptical of the New Federal Tax Credits. They Needn't Be
Unlike vouchers, the new scholarships can benefit students choosing to attend public schools.
Deborah A. Gist & Thomas Arnett
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5 min read
Education Funding Trump, Bucking Congress Yet Again, Cancels $100 Million for Education
A "pocket rescission" hits programs for migratory farmworkers and college-level language instruction.
Mark Lieberman
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7 min read
Law & Courts Federal Court Ruling Paves Way for Jewish Charter School in Oklahoma
A federal judge cleared the way for a Florida-based Jewish charter school network to open in the state.
Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton, Tulsa World, Okla.
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4 min read
School Choice & Charters New Rules for Federal School Choice: What You Need to Know
Proposed rules from the IRS offer some details on how the first nationwide school choice program will work.
Arianna Prothero, Mark Lieberman & Matthew Stone
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14 min read
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, January 22, 2026: Students move through the halls at Washburn High School in Minneapolis, MN.
The Trump administration has released proposed regulations outlining how the first nationwide school choice program will operate when it launches next year. The regulations leave some major questions unaddressed but clarify other aspects for the tax-credit scholarship program.
Caroline Yang for Education Week
School Choice & Charters Federal Education Tax Credit Rules Are Finally Here. What We Know So Far
The Treasury Department unveiled regulations governing a massive infusion of education funding nationwide.
Arianna Prothero & Mark Lieberman
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5 min read
The tax credit program would allow individuals who donate up to $1,700 to a scholarship granting organization to receive a dollar-for-dollar federal income tax credit in exchange. Pictured are students at Northeast Elementary located at 1024 Fleming Ave. in Jackson on Aug. 20, 2025.
Students at Northeast Elementary School in Jackson, Mich., on Aug. 20, 2025. A tax-credit scholarship program launching in January will allow individuals who donate up to $1,700 to a scholarship granting organization to receive a dollar-for-dollar federal income tax credit. Those SGOs can give out awards to cover private school tuition as well as some expenses for public school students.
Abra Richardson/mlive.com via TNS
Education Funding Ed. Dept. Meets Research Spending Deadline—But Bigger Funding Challenges Loom
The Institute of Education Sciences finished spending more than $170 million set to expire Sept. 30.
Mark Lieberman
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3 min read
Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought walks down a staircase on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 16, 2026.
Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, walks down a staircase on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 16, 2026. The OMB withheld millions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Education's research arm for months, raising the possibility it wouldn't spend the money on education research and data collection in time for its Sept. 30, 2026, expiration.
Allison Robbert/AP
Education Funding Trump's Ed. Dept. Is Still Disrupting Grants—Just More Quietly Than Before
The agency is deploying subtler procedures that result in fewer new grants and less stability for recipients.
Mark Lieberman
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11 min read
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, confers with Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, talk following a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, (right, speaking with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer) secured a commitment from Education Secretary Linda McMahon to supply additional funding for Native Hawaiian Education Program grantees when the U.S. Department of Education hadn't launched a competition for new grants. The Trump administration practice of abruptly canceling existing competitive education grants has slowed, but the Education Department is using procedures that result in fewer new grants and less stability for funding recipients.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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More Policy & Politics

  • NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 13: Local elementary schools participate in the annual Brooklyn Gay Pride Parade, celebrating its 30th year, June 13, 2026 in the Park Slope neighborhood of the borough of Brooklyn, New York City.
    Local elementary schools participate in the annual Brooklyn Gay Pride Parade, celebrating its 30th year on June 13, 2026, in the Park Slope neighborhood of the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. The Trump administration has officially rescinded a Biden-era regulation that extended Title IX's prohibition on sex discrimination to cover discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
    Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
    Federal Ed. Dept. Officially Kills Biden Rule That Added LGBTQ+ Protections to Title IX
    The Education Department reinstates 2020 Title IX regulations effectively in place since early 2025.
    Mark Walsh, September 28, 2026
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    4 min read
    FILE - The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone in front of an image generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
    Federal OpenAI's Models Probed Websites of Department of Education, Other Agencies
    The department's office for civil rights was probed in an attempted hack, according to a report.
    The Associated Press, September 26, 2026
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    3 min read
    Jovonia Lewis poses for a portrait outside of the Durham Board of Education building on Sept. 21, 2026, in Durham, N.C.
    Jovonia Lewis poses for a portrait outside the Durham Board of Education building on Sept. 21, 2026, in Durham, N.C. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Education reached an agreement with the Durham district after finding it disproportionately suspended Black students. The second Trump administration has limited the remedies schools can use to address systemic racial injustice.
    Matt Ramey/AP
    Federal Trump Administration Moves to Limit Fixes for Systemic Racism in Schools
    The Trump administration has limited remedies schools can use to address systemic racial injustice.
    The Associated Press, September 25, 2026
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    7 min read
    Education Week opinion letters submissions
    Gwen Keraval for Education Week
    Education Funding Letter to the Editor Expired Funds, Unreliability Harm Rural Schools
    Responsible planning requires predictable funding, says a school district superintendent.
    September 25, 2026
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    1 min read
    Row of three school desks. Each has a different color seat. One is red, one is white, and the third desk has a blue seat. Each desk has a voting booth on top with the familiar voting "American flag" and the word "VOTE".
    Illustration by Taylor Callery for Education Week
    States EdWeek's Guide to the 2026 Elections: Where Education Is on the Ballot
    Education Week reviewed what's on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
    Matthew Stone, Emily Wright & Jennifer Vilcarino, September 24, 2026
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    2 min read
    Students navigate the hallway at a Chicago Public Schools high school in 2024.
    Students walk in the hallway at a Chicago high school in 2024. Congress' investigative arm finds in a new report that the U.S. Department of Education isn't keeping a close eye on how states are tracking chronic absenteeism, in part due to its suspension this year of its comprehensive examinations of how states are implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act, the nation's main K-12 law.
    E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
    Every Student Succeeds Act Ed. Dept. Isn't Ensuring States Get Reliable Chronic Absence Data, Watchdog Says
    The Ed. Dept. suspended some of its state oversight earlier this year, according to the GAO.
    Alyson Klein, September 23, 2026
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    4 min read

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Science Spotlight From Coding to AI Literacy: Rethinking Computer Science Across K-12
Explore how districts can build more inclusive computer science pathways while supporting the teachers who make them possible.
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  • Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, center, arrives for a news conference about President Donald Trump s Education Freedom Tax Credit on March 27, 2026 at Hamtramck Academy in Hamtramck, Mich.
    Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, center, arrives for a news conference about President Donald Trump's tax-credit scholarship program on March 27, 2026 at Hamtramck Academy in Hamtramck, Mich., where she urged Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to opt her state in. The Trump administration, through the Department of the Treasury, is expected to release regulations for the program in the coming days. Several governors have said they're awaiting those regulations before deciding whether their states participate.
    Katy Kildee/The Detroit News via TNS
    Education Funding Federal Tax Credits for K-12 Scholarships: What We Know (and Don't)
    The Trump administration is preparing to issue rules for its new, ambitious school choice program.
    Mark Lieberman & Arianna Prothero, September 23, 2026
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    11 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 Do Parents Look for in a School?
    Test scores aren’t the whole story. The CEO of GreatSchools talks about what parents want.
    Rick Hess, September 22, 2026
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    5 min read
    Collage of Trump signing an executive order, money, desks, torn paper, legal pad.
    Collage by Laura Baker/Education Week with Getty + Evan Vucci/AP
    Education Funding Trump's Education Funding Maneuvers Were Illegal, Judges Rule
    Judges ruled in suits about teacher-training grant cancellations and withheld education research money.
    Mark Lieberman, September 18, 2026
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    4 min read
    WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 17: The U.S. Department of Justice Building on August 17, 2026 in Washington, DC.
    The U.S. Department of Justice Building on Aug. 17, 2026 in Washington. The Justice Department has teamed up with the U.S. Department of Education to fight school and state policies concerning transgender students it deems objectionable.
    Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
    Law & Courts Trump Admin. Turns to Student Privacy Laws in Gender Identity Fights With Schools
    The feds are increasingly citing student privacy laws in gender-identity battles with school districts.
    Mark Walsh, September 17, 2026
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    8 min read
    MLP 5851 2
    Daisy Wisbey, 11, and Eleanor Mukiri, 10, work on an engineering challenge at Creative Minds in Wichita, Kan., on Sept. 15, 2026. The Wichita public schools runs Creative Minds as a microschool, in which students from multiple grades learn together in a project-based learning format. Wichita is among a handful of public school districts that have begun their own microschools.
    Melissa Lukenbaugh for Education Week
    School Choice & Charters Microschools Are Spreading. Some School Districts Have Opened Their Own
    Districts see the small learning communities as an alternative for families that may otherwise leave.
    Arianna Prothero, September 16, 2026
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    8 min read
    TahSoGhay Collah, right, teaches a third-grade English learners class at the 700-student intermediate school that serves grades 3 through 5, in Worthington, Minn., on Oct. 22, 2024.
    TahSoGhay Collah, right, teaches a 3rd grade English learners class in Worthington, Minn., on Oct. 22, 2024. Researchers seeking federal grant funding to train more teachers to work with English learners requested letters of support from state leaders to submit competitive applications this year.
    Jessie Wardarski/AP
    Education Funding What 'Returning Ed. to the States' Looks Like as the Ed. Dept. Awards Grants
    State leaders face requests for letters of endorsement from grant applicants under new priorities.
    Ileana Najarro & Maya Riser-Kositsky, September 11, 2026
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    7 min read

EdWeek Market Brief

Regulation & Policy Exclusive Data How Widely Influential Are State-Approved Materials Lists? K-12 Officials Weigh In.
Approved materials lists created by state education departments are playing a significant role in determining which curriculum products school districts choose, new EdWeek Market Brief data shows.
Emma Kate Fittes
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8 min read
Regulation & Policy Industry Insight Kentucky K-12 Is at an ‘Inflection Point.’ What Education Companies Should Know
More than three decades after Kentucky enacted sweeping reforms that reshaped its public schools, the state is embarking on another significant overhaul of its K-12 system.
David Saleh Rauf
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7 min read
Meeting District Needs Exclusive Data Security Vendors Are Flooding K-12. Which District Officials Have Influence on What Gets Bought?
Superintendents have the most influence over K-12 security purchases, new EdWeek Research Center data show, but finance, technology, operations, security personnel and school leaders all play significant roles in what gets bought.
David Saleh Rauf
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8 min read
Strategy & Operations K-12 Dealmaking McGraw Hill Acquires TeachFX; Brighteye Ventures Secures $72M
Voice-first AI tutoring platform Aristotle has also raised $5 million in seed funding.
Alexandria Ng
•
5 min read
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