Food insecurity among households with children slightly rose between 2023 and 2024, according to recently released data from an annual report on household food security released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). According to the report, in 2024 14.1 million children lived in households experiencing food insecurity. That is an increased over 2023, when 13.8 million children lived in households experiencing food insecurity. Both numbers are a sharp increase over 2019, when 10.7 million children lived in households experiencing food insecurity.

Food-insecure households are defined by the USDA as those that have experienced difficulty at some point during the year to provide “enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources.”

The annual USDA report will be the last unless Congress intervenes, since the agency announced in September that it will no longer produce future studies. In that announcement, the USDA said “these redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous studies do nothing more than fear monger.”

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The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has terminated several multimillion-dollar grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) following the association’s criticisms of the policies of the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

The funding cuts, which affect projects focused on issues including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and early identification of autism, were first reported by the Washington Post and made without prior notice to the AAP.

An HHS spokesperson, Andrew Nixon, told the Washington Post that the grants were terminated because they no longer aligned with departmental priorities. The Guardian has contacted HHS for comment.

HHS terminated the funding after noting that the AAP’s materials used what the department characterized as “identity-based language”, including references to racial disparities and the term “pregnant people”, according to administration officials cited by the Washington Post.

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On December 12, 2025, bicameral and bipartisan legislation was filed in the House and Senate prohibiting the seclusion of students in schools and certain restraint practices would be banned. The Keeping All Students Safe Act bill would also provide grants to states to train school personnel to on how to address school behaviors with evidence-based, proactive strategies. In addition, it calls for more transparency and oversight to prevent the abuse of students, and would require states to monitor the law’s implementation. Although there is currently no federal law dictating restraint and seclusion practices, Congress has attempted to pass similar legislation for over 15 years.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) Civil Rights Data Collection, approximately 105,700 public school students were physically restrained, mechanically restrained, or placed in seclusion at schools during the 2021-22 school year. However, Some legislators and researchers believe restraint and seclusion practices in schools are probably underreported.

The Act would make it illegal for any school receiving federal taxpayer money to seclude students or carry out restraint practices that restrict a student’s breathing, such as restraining students facedown or on their backs. Physical restraint would only be allowed when it is necessary to protect the safety of students and staff. 

For more details from K-12 Dive, click here.

As reported by K-12 Dive, on December 11, 2025 the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) announced new allocations for its mental health grants, which it revoked from over 200 original recipients earlier this year. The new funds come after the agency controversially revoked up to $1 billion under the same programs from recipients that incorporated diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. The amount of the new grants total more than $208 million, but are significantly less than the nearly $1 billion in funds pulled from school-based programs and providers earlier this year. 

The new awards will be divided up among 65 recipients that were selected under a new application process and are subject to new requirements that limit funding to hiring school psychologists rather than also funding school counselors and social workers. Recipients are also prohibited from “promoting or endorsing gender ideology, political activism, racial stereotyping, or hostile environments for students of particular races.”

In a pending legal case, California’s McKinleyville School District, which serves Native American students and wanted to hire mental health providers to reflect the make-up of its student body, had about $5.9 million in funding revoked, ending the district’s grant with the USDE saying school district’s plans reflected “the prior Administration’s priorities and policy preferences and conflict with those of the current Administration.” Using the money in this way “no longer effectuates the best interest of the Federal Government.” Consequently, the school district and other entities sued the Trump administration over the withdrawal of the grants, saying such a move could only be made in cases where recipients didn’t meet their proposed benchmarks. A court temporarily paused the USDE’s decision in a separate lawsuit brought by 16 states. Those lawsuits are ongoing.

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On December 10, 2025, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), along with all HELP Committee Democrats, called on Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to hold an immediate oversight hearing with Education Secretary Linda McMahon regarding the illegal transfer of dozens of federally authorized education programs totaling more than $30 billion out of the U.S. Department of Education (USDE).

Joining Sanders on the letter are Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.).

The demand follows McMahon’s November 18, 2025 announcement of six new Interagency Agreements (IAAs) transferring core elementary, secondary and postsecondary education programs out of the USDE without congressional authority. Sanders and HELP Democrats said these actions represent an alarming and illegal attempt by the Trump administration to dismantle the USDE, and are a direct attack on students, parents, educators, colleges and public schools across the country.

“Congress unambiguously vested responsibility for administering education programs with the USDE under numerous laws, and Congress explicitly appropriated funding to the USDE to carry them out” wrote Sanders and the senators. “This illegal action is part of the administration’s broader effort to dismantle the USDE.”

“At a time when U.S. students rank 34th in the world in math and academic outcomes have sharply declined since the early 2010s, it is outrageous that the Trump administration is trying to dismantle the only agency dedicated to improving outcomes for all students.” the senators continued. “Burying education programs in other federal agencies will not help students or support schools and colleges. Rather, it will jeopardize services for tens of millions of students, educators, and families across the country.”

More than 80 education, disability, and civil rights groups have vocally opposed the recent IAA’s and other departmental changes, urging the HELP Committee to examine the consequences for public schools, working families and communities throughout the country.

“As members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee we must hold an oversight hearing on this massive and unprecedented transfer of responsibility and federal funding to other agencies. Therefore, we are calling on you to immediately hold a bipartisan oversight hearing to bring Secretary McMahon to testify before the Committee about these interagency agreements,” the senators concluded.

Read the letter here.