According to a September 29th ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) can move forward with plans to cut half of its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) staff as litigation against the reductions proceeds. The decision overturns a lower court’s order requiring the USDE to restore the civil rights enforcement office to the “status quo,” and it comes as the agency had already begun returning staffers to the office in waves.

As reported by K-12 Dive, at this stage, the three-judge panel said it could not “conclude that this case differs enough” from a separate but similar case challenging the broader USDE layoffs, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July in an emergency decision in New York v. McMahon in to allow the USDE’s reduction in force to take effect. It would have also applied to the OCR layoffs, had Judge Myong Joun of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts not ordered that the OCR be restored to the “status quo” in a separate case, Victim Rights Law Center v. U.S. Department of Education.

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According to notices to be published in the Federal Register on September 30, 3035, after having canceled grants that had congressionally approved funding for the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program and the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program for not aligning with Trump administration priorities, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) will begin accepting grant applications for $270 million across those programs aimed at boosting student mental health.

Despite the restoration of the grants, there is concern that the grants will focus only on school psychologists and will not include school counselors and social workers who also provide student mental health supports, w hen all such positions are critical in helping students in need.

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On September 30, 2025, at a meeting open to the public, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on whether to revoke recent expansions to the E-rate program. The three commissioners will decide if school bus Wi-Fi services and internet hotspots should no longer be eligible for funding under the federal E-rate program. The vote has been called for by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. With a Republican majority among the three commissioners, it is highly possible the E-rate expansion could be reversed.

Carr’s proposal comes at a time of high demand among school districts to expand students’ internet access through school bus Wi-Fi and hotspots. For more from K-12 Dive, click here

On September 30, 2025 the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) rolled out the 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to all students. The release came about a week before the congressionally mandated deadline of October 1st and followed two consecutive years of delays.

The USDE claims that the new form comes with several updates, including a redesigned process for inviting parents or other contributors to add information to the application and faster account verification for students and parents. 

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