Most-clicked story of the week:
The U.S. Department of Education is continuing to push for artificial intelligence use in classrooms through newly finalized priorities and definitions for districts and colleges applying for any of the agency’s discretionary grant programs. A final rule issued April 13 said the agency will prioritize applications for projects that aim to expand the understanding of AI or its appropriate and ethical use in education.
Within those parameters, more weight will be given to proposals that call for integrating AI literacy skills into teaching and learning practices that improve student outcomes, according to the rule.
The amount the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal would increase special education funding over FY 2026. Despite the administration's touted "historic investment," special education administrative organizations and disability rights advocacy groups say the federal spending plan zero-funds and consolidates several programs for FY 2027, similar to the administration’s FY 26 proposal.
Federal and state policies and priorities shift
- Over a year after the Trump administration gutted the U.S. Department of Education to nearly half its staff, the agency has restructured many key programs and announced new priorities for some — shedding light on how remaining resources will be allocated. In the last week, the agency has released at least three priorities that span career and workforce readiness, educator training and retention, literacy and artificial intelligence.
- In some states, policymakers are working to infuse the Bible in social studies, civics or English public school coursework, setting up what may become the next wave of Republican-backed curriculum policies sweeping through the nation. Nik Nartowicz, lead policy counsel for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which advocates against teaching religion in public schools, called the trend a "soft wave."
- The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on April 13 resumed parts of a sweeping anti-LGBTQ+ Iowa education law that had been temporarily paused by a federal district court. The appeals ruling in two separate but related cases means that the Iowa statute limiting LGBTQ+ materials ”applies only to mandatory parts of the educational curriculum.”
Tips for education leadership
- How can administrators ensure new ed tech tools and processes are ultimately successful? Two district technology leaders in Michigan and Virginia shared several considerations for keeping people first in conversations, managing the expectations of district leadership, and guiding faculty and staff through deployment and implementation. The discussion was held at the Consortium for School Networking’s annual conference in Chicago last week.
- Schools have a 77% chance of reducing chronic absenteeism when using effective approaches, such as implementing early warning systems to analyze attendance and sharing attendance data with parents, according to a report released April 13 by the HEDCO Institute for Evidence-Based Educational Practice at the University of Oregon. The report highlighted five promising practices to address attendance concerns.
- One Ohio district leader advises that when it comes to protecting data, “don’t do anything behind closed doors.” At CoSN’s annual conference last week, two officials from Ohio’s Westlake City Schools and another from a regional educational agency shared tips for how to build data privacy into district culture.
