On February 9, 2026. leading U.S. health official Dr. Mehmet Oz urged people to get inoculated against the measles as outbreaks across several states mount and the U.S. is at risk of losing its measles elimination status. Despite misinformation creating suspicion about the safety and importance of vaccines from his own agency, Oz cited vaccines as “a solution for our problem.”

He also said Medicare and Medicaid will continue to cover the measles vaccine as part of the insurance programs.

An outbreak in South Carolina in the hundreds has surpassed the recorded case count in Texas’ 2025 outbreak, and there is also one on the Utah-Arizona border. Multiple other states have had confirmed cases this year. The outbreaks have mostly impacted children and have come as infectious disease experts warn that rising public distrust of vaccines generally may be contributing to the spread of a disease once declared eradicated by public health officials.

For more from ABC News, click here.

New federal accessibility rules for web content and mobile apps will start being enforced as early as this April, but recent survey results from the National School Public Relations Association and Sogolytics show many school districts will not be ready to comply. In fact, only 14% of respondents say their school districts have completed or nearly completed updates to ensure digital platforms and their content are accessible as mandated under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Although nearly half of respondents (46%) called digital accessibility a high priority in their school district, almost all cited a lack of staff awareness (97%) and staff expertise and training (95%) as barriers to better digital accessibility.

ADA Title II Regulations Part 35 require nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in state and local government services.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

According to a February 2, 2026 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) spent nearly $1 million per week on salaries for Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforcement staff it had put on administrative leave beginning in March 2025, paying up to $38 million in total through December 2025. In fact, between March and September 2025, while the majority of OCR staff were on leave due to the agency’s reductions in force, the office received more than 9,000 complaints and resolved a total of 7,072 complaints. It did so by dismissing 90% of them.

OCR was among the offices hit hardest by the USDE’s March reduction in force (RIFs), with more than half of its staff put on administrative leave and seven of of its 12 regional offices closed. Other offices heavily impacted by the agency’s RIFs include the English Language Acquisition office, which was entirely shuttered, as well as the Federal Student Aid office and the Institute of Education Sciences.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

On February 2, 2026 the FY26 education funding bill was finally signed into law. As a result, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is now funded for fiscal year 2026. The compromise measure won final approval from the U.S. House by a 217-214 vote. The budget funds the USDE at $79 billion through September 30, 2026, which is approximately $217 million above FY 2025 levels. The bill requires on-time formula grant funding available to states and school districts at levels dictated by Congress in the funding bill. It also adds a new requirement to maintain the USDE staff at levels necessary to fulfill its statutory responsibilities, including carrying out programs and activities funded in the bill.

However, the funding plan does not put a halt to USDE efforts to transfer statutorily required program responsibilities to other federal agencies, but it directs the agencies involved to provide Congress with biweekly reports on the implementation of any interagency agreements.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.