Category: News in the Field

USDE Doubles Down on Anti-DEI Efforts (February 9, 2026)

The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) will continue to target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools under Title VI despite a court block on its controversial February 14, 2025 anti-DEI Dear Colleague letter. That letter announced the USDE’s policy interpreting Title VI, which protects students from discrimination based on race, ethnicity and national origin, to prohibit DEI programs. It said some schools’ race-based equity programs discriminate against White and Asian students and could result in federal funding loss for school districts.

The USDE had appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in October 2025 in an attempt to continue implementing the policy after it was blocked in the lower courts. However, the USDE withdrew its appeal last month and is now exploring other means to implement its anti-DEI efforts. Thus, many suspect that the USDE will take a case-by-case approach to target DEI efforts rather than using the court-blocked policy letter to enact an across-the-board restriction on the programs.

For more form K-12 Dive, click here.

Leading U.S. Health Official Surprisingly Urges Vaccinations in the Wake of Measles Outbreaks (February 8, 2026)

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.

Governor Shapiro Releases 2026-27 Executive Budget Proposal (February 8, 2026)

On February 3, 2026, Governor Josh Shapiro released his proposed 2026-27 executive Budget, which he said will build upon two years of bipartisan efforts to adequately fund all of Pennsylvania’s public schools, putting necessary resources directly into classrooms and ensuring the safety and security of students and staff. The proposed budget also seeks to continue investing in the governor’s school facilities program. It also continues to fund universal free breakfast, and the mental health and physical safety programs schools can use to provide safe learning environments while proposing reforms to the way public schools pay for cyber charter schools.

Here are some highlights regarding K-12 Education:
Adequately Funding PA Schools
-Directs an additional $565 million to promote students’ success, in line with the findings of the Basic Education Funding Commission. This funding is used to establish, maintain, or expand after-school tutoring assistance, full-day pre-kindergarten or kindergarten programs, social and health services, continuing professional development, evidence-based reading instruction, science and applied-knowledge skills, school libraries, and other programs that support students’ academic performance targets. The tax equity supplement funds are used by schools to supplement homestead exemptions, property tax and rent rebates, mitigate tax increases, and relieve debt.
-Increases Basic Education Funding by $50 million, proposing $8.31 billion in total to support PA’s public schools. The increase will be distributed through the student-weighted funding formula that directs money to school districts based on factors including the number of students enrolled and the poverty level of those students. The formula also considers factors that reflect student and community differences such as population density, household income of families in the district, number of students attending charter schools, and the district’s ability to raise money through local taxes.
-Increases Special Education Funding by $50 million, proposing $1.58 billion in total funding to provide special education services to students with disabilities and special needs.
Continuing Cyber Reform
Changes to update the cyber charter funding formula by removing costs that arbitrarily inflated tuition rates and expenses. For example, those changes led to the deduction of costs associated with maintaining physical classroom buildings and facilities — costs cyber charter schools do not have because they provide education to students online. It also clarifies the preexisting law to ensure cyber charter schools visibly see and communicate with students at least once per week to ensure students are safe and healthy, and providing penalties for noncompliance. The budget proposes to save school districts an estimated $75 million annually, bringing total savings from these reforms up to $250 million a year.
Creating a Safe and Healthy Learning Environment
The budget continues to fully fund universal free breakfast and continues funding to provide menstrual hygiene products at no cost to students in schools so that no student has to miss school because they are unable to afford pads or tampons. It also continues funding for mental health supports within schools. by continuing an investment of $111 million for school safety and mental health supports. It also calls closes an insurance loophole that allows insurers to deny reimbursement for services provided within a school. The 2026-27 Budget also provides $125 million in support to continue addressing structural and environmental concerns with school buildings, with $25 million of that funding dedicated to the Solar for Schools program. To date, the Shapiro Administration has secured $400 million for 208 school facilities and solar projects that fund repairs and upgrades, with additional projects expected to be awarded near the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year. This budget also continues to invest in safe school facilities.

To view the Governor’s proposed budget in full, click here.

Survey Shows Districts Doubtful to Be Ready to Comply with Title II Rule to Protect Disabled Students and Staff (February 7, 2026)

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.

GAO Report: USDE Paid Furloughed OCR Staff $38M While Dismissing Most Complaints (February 3, 2026)

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.