Western Illinois University laid off all its librarians last year and is now being forced to rehire them. An arbitrator has ruled that the university’s 2024 decision to lay off all nine of its academic librarian faculty, along with two other bargaining-unit professionals, was illegal, a decision the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI) Local 4100 […]
Cheryl Adams
Cheryl is a veteran educator turned journalist turned editor. I love long walks and debating on social media about the human side of arguments.
Posted inDepartment of Education
House Panel Advanced Bill Cutting Education Department Funding by 10% for FY 2027
A spending bill approved in June by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee would cut funding for the U.S. Department of Education by 10% in fiscal year 2027, reducing support for low-income schools while modestly increasing special education spending. The measure, which now heads to the full House, recommends $71 billion for the Education Department, down […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Department of Education moves special education and civil rights enforcement to other agencies
The U.S. Department of Education said Monday it has signed four new interagency agreements with the Departments of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department, shifting day-to-day support for special education and civil rights enforcement to those agencies as part of the Trump administration’s broader drive to shrink the federal role in education. The […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
United Kingdom to ban social media for kids under 16
Children under the age of 16 will be barred from using a range of popular social media platforms under plans announced Monday by the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who paired the headline ban with a second tier of restrictions that will strip high-risk features from the accounts of older teenagers as well. Under […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
29 states sign on to new federal private-school tax credit as final rules near
Half the country has now lined up behind the first nationwide federal effort to subsidize private-school tuition, a program championed by President Trump that won’t send out a dollar until 2027, but is already redrawing the political battle lines over school choice. As of June 8, twenty-nine states have signed on to the first federal […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Bipartisan READ Act Aims to Make Evidence-Based Reading Instruction the National Standard
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), joined by Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) and Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO), introduced the Reading Excellence and Achievement for Development Act on Monday. The bipartisan measure, known as the READ Act, would modernize the federal government’s largest […]
Posted inHigh School
Uxbridge investigates possible environmental causes after breast cancer cases among high school teachers
Uxbridge Public Schools has launched an environmental investigation at Uxbridge High School after several female teachers were diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions over the past few years, district leaders announced this week. In a June 1 letter to families and staff, Superintendent David Ljungberg and Uxbridge High School Principal Michael Rubin said the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Civil Rights groups, NEA sue Department of Education to restore English-Learner grants
A coalition of civil rights organizations and the nation’s largest teachers union has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education, arguing that the agency unlawfully canceled millions of dollars in grants used to train teachers who serve English-learner students. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, and the National Education […]