Policy & Politics

Education news, analysis, and opinion about the legislation, guidance, policies and people involved in federal and state government
School Choice & Charters Federal Program Will Bring Private School Choice to At Least 4 New States
More state decisions on opting into the first federal private school choice program are rolling in.
Matthew Stone
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6 min read
Law & Courts The Stark Divide in the States Recouping K-12 Grants Cut by Trump's Ed. Dept.
A fifth of lawsuits challenging Trump admin. education policies have come from multistate coalitions.
Matthew Stone
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8 min read
Federal Trump Admin. Drops Legal Appeal Over Anti-DEI Funding Threat to Schools and Colleges
It leaves in place a federal judge’s decision finding that the anti-DEI effort violated the First Amendment and federal procedural rules.
The Associated Press
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1 min read
Education Funding Trump Slashed Billions for Education in 2025. See Our List of Affected Grants
We've tabulated the grant programs that have had awards terminated over the past year. See our list.
Mark Lieberman
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8 min read
Photo collage of 3 photos. Clockwise from left: Scarlett Rasmussen, 8, tosses a ball with other classmates underneath a play structure during recess at Parkside Elementary School on May 17, 2023, in Grants Pass, Ore. Chelsea Rasmussen has fought for more than a year for her daughter, Scarlett, to attend full days at Parkside. A proposed ban on transgender athletes playing female school sports in Utah would affect transgender girls like this 12-year-old swimmer seen at a pool in Utah on Feb. 22, 2021. A Morris-Union Jointure Commission student is seen playing a racing game in the e-sports lab at Morris-Union Jointure Commission in Warren, N.J., on Jan. 15, 2025.
Federal education grant terminations and disruptions during the Trump administration's first year touched programs training teachers, expanding social services in schools, bolstering school mental health services, and more. Affected grants were spread across more than a dozen federal agencies.
Clockwise from left: Lindsey Wasson; Michelle Gustafson for Education Week
Federal Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Polarized Do You Think Educators Are?
The EdWeek Research Center examined the degree to which K-12 educators are split along partisan lines. Quiz yourself and see the results.
Elle Butler
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1 min read
Law & Courts TikTok Settles as Social Media Giants Face Landmark Trial Over Youth Addiction Claims
Trial centers on criticisms that the platforms deliberately addict and harm children.
The Associated Press
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5 min read
Social Media Kids Ohio 24005836447288
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Federal Could Another Federal Shutdown Affect Education? What We Know
After federal agents shot a Minneapolis man on Saturday, Democrats are now pulling support for a spending bill due by Friday.
Mark Lieberman
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5 min read
The US Capitol is seen on Jan. 22, 2026, in Washington. Another federal shutdown that could impact education looms and could begin as soon as this weekend.
The U.S. Capitol is seen on Jan. 22, 2026, in Washington. Another federal shutdown that could affect education looms if senators don't pass a funding bill by this weekend.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP

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Artificial Intelligence Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: AI Could Be Your Thought Partner
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More Policy & Politics

  • Students in Chad Wright’s construction program work on measurements at the Regional Occupational Center on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in Bakersfield, Calif.
    Students in Chad Wright’s construction program work on measurements at the Regional Occupational Center on Jan. 11, 2023, in Bakersfield, Calif. A newly released policy agenda from a coalition of center-left Democrats focuses heavily on career training.
    Morgan Lieberman for Education Week
    Federal A Major Democratic Group Thinks This Education Policy Is a Winning Issue
    An agenda from center-left Democrats could foreshadow how they discuss education on the campaign trail.
    Alyson Klein, January 9, 2026
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    4 min read
    The end of a bar chart made of pencils with a line graph drawn over it.
    DigitalVision Vectors/Getty + Education Week
    Federal Opinion The Federal Government Hasn’t Been Meeting Our Need for Unbiased Ed. Research
    Trump’s attacks on data collection are misguided—but that doesn’t mean it was working before.
    Rick Hess, January 8, 2026
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    5 min read
    The Instagram logo is seen on a cell phone, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston.
    The Instagram logo is seen on a cell phone. New York is the third state, after California and Minnesota, to pass a law requiring social media warning labels.
    Michael Dwyer/AP
    States Scroll With Caution: Another State Requires Social Media Warning Labels
    Backers of New York's law, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, have likened tech's addictiveness to tobacco.
    Jennifer Vilcarino, January 8, 2026
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    4 min read
    The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
    Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
    Policy & Politics Opinion Who Tops Their Field in the 2026 RHSU Edu-Scholar Rankings?
    A scholar's rank within a discipline may be more telling than their place in the overall rankings.
    Rick Hess, January 8, 2026
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    1 min read
    Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents in Salt Lake City on Dec. 16, 2021. The wave of attempted book banning and restrictions continues to intensify, the American Library Association reported Friday. Numbers for 2022 already approach last year's totals, which were the highest in decades.
    Eight states have passed legislation restricting school officials from pulling books out of school libraries for partisan or ideological reasons. In the past five years, many such challenges have focused on books about race or LGBTQ+ people. Amanda Darrow, the director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents in Salt Lake City on Dec. 16, 2021. (Utah is not one of the eight states.)
    Rick Bowmer/AP
    States States Are Banning Book Bans. Will It Work?
    Approved legislation aims to stop school libraries from removing books for partisan reasons.
    Sarah Schwartz, January 7, 2026
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    5 min read
    U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is interviewed by Indiana’s Secretary of Education Katie Jenner during the 2025 Reagan Institute Summit on Education in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18, 2025.
    U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, pictured here in Washington on Sept. 18, 2025, has granted Iowa a partial waiver from provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act, saying the move is a step toward the Trump administration's goal of "returning education to the states." The waiver allows Iowa some additional flexibility in how it spends the limited portion of federal education funds used by the state department of education.
    Leah Millis for Education Week
    States McMahon Touts Funding Flexibility for Iowa That Falls Short of Trump Admin. Goal
    The Ed. Dept. is allowing the state education agency to consolidate small sets of funds from four grants.
    Mark Lieberman, January 7, 2026
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    6 min read
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Resources

Mathematics Spotlight Spotlight on Creating a Positive Math Culture
This Spotlight explores instructional practices that help build students’ math skills, confidence, and willingness to tackle hard problems.
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IT Infrastructure & Management Whitepaper Best practice handbook: K-12 Technology Lifecycle Management
In this all-new handbook, we dive in deep to provide school IT best practices for managing your school's technology assets from acquisiti...
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Student Well-Being & Movement Spotlight Spotlight on The Science of Self-Regulation: The Missing Foundation of Academic Success
This Spotlight focuses on ways to build students’ self-management skills, a foundational predictor of academic success.
Reading & Literacy Quiz Quiz Yourself: Is Your Literacy Plan on Track?
Where does your literacy strategy and goals stand? Is it going well, or does it need a little retooling?
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EdWeek Market Brief

Regulation & Policy K-12 Insider How Michigan's Process for Building Approved Literacy Materials Lists Is Raising the Bar for Companies
The state of Michigan is sending a clear message to education companies providing literacy materials and assessments, and it boils down to this: Get your evidence in order.
Emma Kate Fittes
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9 min read
Product Development Industry Insight Education Companies Can Learn A Lot From Their End-Users — Students. Here's How
If K-12 students were involved in the development of the education technology products they use every day, would it contribute to better literacy rates?
Ruksana Hussain
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7 min read
Regulation & Policy Market Analysis Texas’ Revamped Adoption System Raises Stakes for Publishers, With First Curriculum Bans Looming
The latest twist for publishers navigating Texas’ still-evolving curriculum adoption process comes via a new state law that bans curriculum placed on the state’s rejected list.
David Saleh Rauf
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7 min read
Regulation & Policy K-12 Market News Report Shows Few Districts Are Ready For Looming Accessibility Compliance Deadline — And How Vendors Can Help
New data shows that many school districts will likely have to make changes to how they evaluate digital products to meet new federal rules by April.
Alexandria Ng
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2 min read
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