COPAA opposes the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Doing so poses a serious threat to public education. As advocates, we know that these unprecedented actions will result in devastating and irreversible harm to our...
Federal
ED RIFs Half Its Workforce, Lawsuits Filed, Democratic Appropriators Demand Answers
On March 11th, U.S. Department of Education (ED) Secretary Linda McMahon announced a reduction of force (RIF) that affects half of the Department’s workforce, moving from 4,133 workers to 2,183. Those impacted will be placed on administrative leave beginning on March...
President Trump Signs Federal Funding Bill, Details for IDEA Programs Left Blank
After an agonizing week in Congress, on Friday, President Trump signed a Fiscal Year 2025 (FY 2025) continuing resolution (CR) into law that funds the government at essentially FY 2024 levels through September 30, 2025. Missing from the CR –and what kept most House...
House Committee Holds School Choice Hearing
On Tuesday, March 12, the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education convened a hearing titled "Education Without Limits: Exploring the Benefits of School Choice." Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley (R-CA)...
Parents sue Ed. Dept. over Civil Rights Office layoffs and delays
Education Week Parents whose discrimination complaints have gone unresolved and have been further delayed are suing the U.S. Department of Education over its mass layoffs, which cut deeply into the agency’s civil rights investigation arm. The lawsuit—filed in federal...
Will U.S. Education Department staff cuts limit options for kids with disabilities?
The Dallas Morning News For parents of kids with disabilities, advocating for their child can be complicated, time-consuming — and expensive. Changes at the U.S. Education Department are likely to make the process even more difficult, advocates for kids with...
States sue over 504 plan law protecting disabled students: What to know
USA Today In a recent joint status report, the Republican state attorneys general, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. clarified they don't want to see the law entirely overturned or declared unconstitutional "on its...
Students with disabilities struggle to get an education that meets their needs
NPR Students with disabilities have a legal right to a public education that meets their needs. It's an issue so important to families that U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon vowed at her confirmation hearings to preserve that right and the funding that comes with...
Department of Education cuts expected to have ‘huge impacts’ on teachers
KNEB-AM 960 AM Following the Department of Education’s gutting of nearly 50% of its workforce Tuesday evening, educators have expressed deep concern — not only for students’ futures but for their own as well. Tara Kini, chief of policy and programs at the Learning...