In a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia April 24, 2025 ruling, supported the plaintiffs’ claim that the anti-DEI policy outlined in a Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter is “unconstitutionally vague.” In particular, the policy would make enforcement difficult because it did not explain the difference between “a lawful DEI practice and an unlawful one.”

The lawsuit was brought by the NAACP. For more details, click here.

According to a joint status report submitted by plaintiffs and defendants, a lawsuit that was seen as a constitutional challenge against Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act will no longer be pursued. The states involved as plaintiffs in the case filed in September 2024 were: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia

Disability rights advocates and families with children who receive Section 504 accommodations in schools raised concerns about the states’ lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). That lawsuit challenged an HHS rule that includes gender dysphoria in the definition of a disability under Section 504 and originally argued that Section 504 was unconstitutional.

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On April 24, 2025, a federal judge paused the Trump administration’s threats to withhold funding from school systems that have diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, saying the actions ”raise the specter of a public ‘witch hunt’ that will sow fear and doubt among teachers.”

The preliminary injunction came in a lawsuit brought against the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) in March 2025 by the National Education Association (NEA), its New Hampshire affiliate, and the Center for Black Educator Development (CBED). In their complaint, the organizations alleged an Education Department Dear Colleague letter (DCL) issued February 14, 2025 violates the Fifth and First Amendments, as well as the Administrative Procedure Act.

The April 24th ruling applies only to school systems receiving federal funding that employ or contract with the lawsuit’s plaintiffs or plaintiffs’ members. However, that covers NEA’s three million members along with the other plaintiff’s members.

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According to NPR, on April 16, 2025 U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that autism is a rapidly growing “epidemic” in the U.S. and vowed to identify the “environmental toxin” he says is to blame, calling it “a preventable disease.” In addition, he said that within two to three weeks HHS will announce a series of new studies “to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing” autism, adding “we’re going to get back to it with an answer to the American people very, very quickly.” HHS also announced it expects to begin to have answers by this September.

However, some experts and advocates have cautioned that such a short time span is inadequate to design and conduct a study that could produce a reliable answer.

Kennedy also made remarks that were stigmatizing, inaccurate, and dehumanizing with regard to autistic people.

Further, although Kennedy was adamant that environmental causes are driving the increase in autism diagnoses, an April 17, 2025 CDC report has indicated that better screening may play a large role. The report also notes that differences in the prevalence across communities “might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.”

To make matters worse are proposed cuts to Medicaid, which some autistic people depend on, and the dismantling of the Administration for Community Living, a sub-agency of HHS.

Source: NPR.

A draft preliminary 2026 federal budget by the Trump administration that is expected to be sent to Congress would eliminate Head Start. In fact, according to K-12 Dive, Head Start is among other initiatives targeted for termination that support low-income families and children — including the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) — under the preliminary budget document for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Project 2025 — a blueprint for the current Republican administration issued during the presidential campaign by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank — recommended zeroing out the program. While some conservatives have called Head Start ineffective, supporters point to academic, social, and economic benefits.

Head Start which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in May, serves nearly 800,000 infants, toddlers and preschool children from families with low incomes. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study has shown that “although the differential benefits of Head Start for high-risk children are limited, nonetheless children enrolled should continue to receive services as, on average, the program boosts pre-academic skills and reduces problem behavior.”

Once it receives the proposed budget, Congress will debate the recommended allocations before sending appropriations bills to the president for signature. The federal fiscal year starts October 1, 2025.

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