The number of school closures approved by the Adams 12 Five Star Schools Board of Education on Oct. 7. The Denver-area school system plans to close five elementary schools and one middle school in the 2027-28 school year due to shrinking enrollment. The district's enrollment dropped by 6,400 students over the past decade, including 1,365 between October 2024 and October 2025, which was triple the amount anticipated. 

Another school system — Kansas’ Olathe Public Schools — also recently approved the shuttering of six schools. 

Curriculum corner

• As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into educational practices, one researcher said there are several benefits educators are discovering when it comes to using AI for assessments. These approaches include using AI to generate questions, measure durable skills like critical thinking, and to assist with the quicker scoring of tests, said Temple Lovelace, executive director of the Assessment for Good program at the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund.
• There were 174 state-level sex education bills proposed in the first half of 2026, with 54% being restrictive, including anti-abortion and abstinence-only instruction legislation. That's according to an analysis conducted by Sex Ed for Social Change, an organization focused on social justice and advocating for accurate sex education in schools. 
  Four states enacted anti-abortion curriculum legislation between January and June: Louisiana, Alabama, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Alabama enacted abstinence-only legislation. 
• The 2025-26 school year saw the highest number of public school book bans, according to PEN America, which started tracking such bans in 2021. There were nearly 12,000 book bans tracked by the organization. Of those, more than 4,500 restricted titles were new to PEN America’s database. In total, 114 school districts banned books last school year.

Federal policy changes

• The U.S. departments of Education and Justice reiterated their stance on enforcement under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment through an Oct. 5 letter to state attorneys generals stating that schools first need to notify parents and obtain their written consent before issuing student mental health surveys, screenings or other outreach. The warning follows an August Dear Colleague letter to school districts advising them to adhere to the federal laws or risk the loss of federal funding. 
• A proposed rule to significantly revamp program and performance standards for the federal early childhood education Head Start program drew about 40,100 public comments by Oct. 6, the public comment deadline. Many commenters praised U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommendations that would remove duplicative or unnecessary requirements, though some questioned if the proposal goes too far in its deregulation approach. Critics warned the proposal would place more burdens on low-income students and families and destabilize the 61-year-old program. HHS will now review the comments and develop a final rule. 
• Reaction also was robust in response to proposed and temporary rules for the first federal school choice program available nationwide. Proponents said the Education Freedom Tax Credit program has the potential to bring billions of dollars in support to educational services for public and private school students. Opponents, on the other hand, said they worry public schools will suffer as they view the rules as tilted in favor of already established systems for donations to private schools.