Category: News

Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks OMB Funding Freeze (January 29, 2025)

On January 28, 2025, a U.S. District judge paused the U.S. Government’s temporary freeze on federal funding just minutes before it was set to take effect at 5 p.m. that day. The Washington, D.C. judge blocked the Trump administration’s directive for one week.

The legal challenge came from a coalition of organizations that filed a motion for a temporary restraining order. A federal memo issued on Monday, January 27th,  directed agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education, to temporarily pause financial assistance by 5 p.m. the next day.

The memo from the Office of Management and Budget also called for federal agencies to conduct a comprehensive analysis of their federal financial assistance programs to see how they may be impacted by President Donald Trump’s executive orders regarding diversity, equity and inclusion, nongovernment organizations, “woke gender ideology” and other activities.

The agencies have until Feb. 10 to share their analysis of any affected programs with OMB.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

CADRE: Special Ed. Formal Disputes on the Rise  (January 28, 2025)

According to a newly released analysis by the Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE), the number of special education due process complaints filed nationally rose by 16.4% from SY 2021-22 to the 2022-23 school year. However, the 65.6% of the special education legal actions in 2022-23 came from one state, New York.

In addition, between those two school years, written state complaints increased by a third, 32.4%, according to CADRE. 

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Gov. Shapiro Touts Education-related Accomplishments (January 28, 2025)

As Governor Shapiro marks two years in office, he has begun to tout the accomplishments his administration has made in the are of education. As per a recent Governor’s Office press release, the governor has visited communities across the Commonwealth hundreds of times, has listened to the priorities of everyday Pennsylvanians, and will continue his work towards funding our public schools, investing in our students, and supporting our teachers.

Click to learn more about how the Shapiro Administration says it is Helping Students Chart Their Course.

OMB: Medicaid Not Affected by Federal Funding Pause

A January 27, 2025 memo issued by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) serves as a Q&A document to shed light on the impacts regarding the pause in federal funding. While this is a developing situation, the clicking on this attachment will help provide clarification that Medicaid is not affected by the January 27th directive to pause funding. In addition, at least two lawsuits have been filed regarding OMB’s directive. As a result, a federal judge has temporarily blocked OMB’s pause in funding.

USDE Eliminates DEI (January 25, 2025)

On January 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) announced that it is eliminating its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, a move tied to President Donald Trump’s directives to purge DEI from the federal government. The USDE said it has “removed or archived” hundreds of outward-facing documents, including guidance, reports and training materials that mention DEI. That also includes links to resources encouraging educators to incorporate DEI in their classrooms.

The USDE also put agency employees tasked with leading DEI initiatives on paid leave. 

Source, K-12 Dive