On January 18, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the release of a report on its critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the review shortly after the tragedy…
On January 17, 2024, the White House announced a Fact Sheet titled Improving Student Achievement Agenda for 2024, which is focused on proven strategies that will accelerate academic performance for every child in school. The Fact Sheet lays out an agenda for academic achievement for every school in the country,…
On January 18, 2024, Congress approved a stopgap measure to keep the federal government funded through March 8th, successfully avoiding a partial shutdown that would have otherwise taken effect on January 20th. The Continuing Resolution (CR) delays deciding the FY24 budget for federal agencies that include the U.S. Department of…
On January 18, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the release of a report on its critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the review shortly after the tragedy on May 24,…
On January 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) declined to consider a case on involving an Indiana school district’s policies banning transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities. It was hoped that SCOTUS would settle the ongoing controversy over the use of student restrooms by…
State education departments in Alabama, Arizona, California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and the Northern Mariana Islands received grants that combined totaled more than $32 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Supporting America’s School Infrastructure grant program, the Treasury Department announced Jan. 4th. Most grants were between $4.5 million…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide food access for students during the 2024 summer break. The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer-EBT) program was created by the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 to provide school aged children who are income eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) with an additional…
On January 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined hear a challenge to corporal punishment in schools as brought forth in the case of an 11-year-old Louisiana girl with nonverbal autism whose parents alleged that she was slapped on her hands three different times by school staff. Lower courts threw…
The federal process for approving state waiver requests to exceed a 1% cap on the number of students with significant cognitive disabilities who take alternate assessments is "generally appropriate" according to an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), however, has room…
States and school districts are taking steps to ensure that “informal removals,” in which school days are shortened to address behavior issues for students with disabilities, do not violate civil and educational rights. In 2022, the U.S. Education Department (USDE) released guidance regarding "shortened days" that avers they are subject…
