Most-clicked story of the week:
Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ board recently approved a plan to close or consolidate nine schools beginning in the 2026-27 school year in a unanimous vote. The decision comes after the district reported a 4% drop in enrollment between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. In the same meeting, the board approved the elimination of 168 positions, also due to enrollment struggles.
The number of states and territories that did not meet federal requirements for implementing special education services for students with disabilities between the ages of 3-21 under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The findings were released June 18 by the U.S. Department of Education in its summary of state determinations. On the flip side, 20 states and the Republic of Marshall Islands received a “meets requirement” rating for IDEA Part B.
Education Department faces questions in Congress, roadblocks in court
- On June 25, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., filed three articles of impeachment against U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Bonamici accused McMahon of illegally dismantling the U.S. Department of Education and lying to Congress while citing the department’s transferral of duties to other federal agencies without congressional approval. Although 16 other House Democrats co-sponsored the bill, a House majority is needed to approve the articles of impeachment, and the Republican-controlled Senate would then need a two-thirds majority to remove her from office.
- Days before Bonamici’s articles of impeachment, on June 22, the Education Department’s Office of Inspector General, an internal watchdog, released a report examining the impacts of the agency’s staff being cut by 40% between Jan. 20, 2025 and March 31, 2025. Those cuts under the Trump administration, OIG said, “appear” to have impacted some of the department’s ability to perform its legal obligations.
- A federal court on June 24 temporarily blocked the Education Department from implementing new rules that would cap the amount of federal student loans that graduate students can take out at $100,000 for those not pursuing what the department considers a “professional” degree. Degree programs with the “professional” designation, however, would have a $200,000 loan limit. Graduate education programs were notably omitted from that designation, a move that advocates said could negatively affect educator pipelines moving forward.
Screen time, digital safety concerns fuel policy moves
- The Federal Communications Commission took a step toward considering significant changes for the $3 billion E-rate program, which provides discounted rates on internet and other telecommunications services to schools and libraries nationwide. In a June 25 meeting, the FCC approved a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on whether the E-rate program should continue, with questions raised including those around academic impacts, children’s online safety and screen time in schools.
- The Los Angeles Unified School District’s board unanimously approved a policy on June 23 to ban students in early education, kindergarten and 1st grade from using screens in school. The policy, which came out of an April board resolution, will set daily and weekly limits on student use of school-issued devices — including for homework — in the nation’s second largest school system. The school technology limits vary for students in older grade levels.
