On January 29, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at finding ways to cut federal funding to schools that teach certain topics related to race, sex, gender or politics. The order calls for the incoming secretary of Education to “provide a strategy to the President” to end what he calls “indoctrination” in K-12 education within 90 days of the order being signed. The order also directs the attorney general to work with state and local authorities to pursue actions against school officials and teachers who “sexually exploit minors” or allow social transitioning, No details are provided as what those actions would be taken.

Another January 29th order seeks to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to expand school choice through Education Savings Accounts (ESA). It requires the secretaries of Education and Defense to evaluate how discretionary grant programs can be used to advance his “education freedom” mandate.

Source: ABC News

The U.S. Supreme Court (Court) has agreed to hear a case that questions whether students filing disability discrimination claims must prove that public school officials acted with discriminatory intent through “bad faith or gross misjudgment.”

In A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, a Minnesota student, Ava, and her parents are challenging an 8th Circuit ruling from March 2024 that children with disabilities who claim disability discrimination in educational settings under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 must meet a high standard to potentially receive monetary damages.

In their filing, the petitioners are asking the Court to “resolve deep divisions in the lower courts and enforce the plain terms of key statutes protecting vulnerable children from discrimination by their schools.” 

As of yet, no date has been set for oral arguments.

Click here for more details. Source: K-12 Dive

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.

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