The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is determining final regulations over the expansion of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and stricter school nutrition standards and expects to release final rules in April 2024 on two important school meal proposals, one to expand free meals served to all students at high-poverty schools and the other to heighten nutrition guidance.

The first change, initially proposed in March 2023, would expand access to the CEP, which allows schools with high concentrations of low-income families to serve free breakfast and lunch without requiring an application for the benefit. The USDA’s proposal aims to lower the minimum threshold for a school or district’s CEP eligibility from 40% of enrolled students to 25%.

The 45-day comment period on the CEP expansion closed in May 2023.

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On Friday, May 26, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) pushed back its planned May release of both the final Title IX athletics and the broader Title IX rules until October 2023. The five-month delay change comes on the heels of the USDE having received more than 390, 000 comments during the one-month comment period, which ended on May 15th.

In fact, more than 240,000 public comments were received on the broader proposed Title IX rule, which would for the first time protect LGBTQ+ students under the federal anti-sex discrimination law. That number of comments are nearly twice as many as the USDE received during its last rulemaking on Title IX.

In addition, the USDE’s athletics regulation proposal received over 150,000 comments during the one-month comment period. Although that proposal would prohibit blanket bans of transgender students in athletics, it would allow schools to exclude transgender students from playing on sports teams aligning with their gender identities under some circumstances.

The new release date changes timelines for districts that were anticipating a potential fall implementation date for either or both of the new rules.

Both sets of rules are expected to be heavily litigated, regardless of their final form.

To read the official USDE blog, click here.

Other source, K-12 Dive.

In the wake of rising antisemitism in schools, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) reminded districts in a Dear Colleague letter (DCL) issued May 25, 2023 that they must address harassment and discrimination based on race, color or national origin. The USDE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) may investigate complaints of anti-Semitic harassment or discrimination under Title VI if districts fail to do so, according to the letter. 

“Schools must take immediate and appropriate action to respond to harassment that creates a hostile environment,” said Catherine Lhamon, assistant secretary at the Office for Civil Rights, in the letter. “Title VI protects all students, including students who are or are perceived to be Jewish, from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin.”

Lhamon defined a hostile environment in the letter as “harassing conduct that is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to interfere with or limit the ability of an individual to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school.”

Click here to access the DCL.