Education

Politico reports: A federal judge has barred the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management — the government’s massive HR department — from sharing sensitive information with Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” saying the decision to grant DOGE access appears to breach federal privacy laws. “The continuing, unauthorized disclosure of plaintiffs’ sensitive personal information to DOGE affiliates is …

The Daily Beast reports: Dolly Parton has called on Indiana’s governor to reverse course on plans to do away with her popular “Imagination Library” program. The country singer, who started the book gifting program to encourage early literacy, urged Gov. Mike Braun to reconsider the state’s proposed budget, which does not include the usual 50 percent matching funds provided to …

The Indiana Digest reports: Governor Mike Braun’s “Freedom and Opportunity” budget proposal is throwing the future of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library around the state into flux. Under the previous budget, the state matched donations from local partners making the program budget 50% donations and 50% funds from the state. The proposed budget removes that funding altogether. The program came to the Allen …

Reuters reports: A U.S. judge has rejected a bid to bar the government downsizing team created by President Donald Trump and spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk from accessing internal systems in the U.S. Department of Education that house federal student financial aid information concerning millions of Americans. Washington-based U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss declined to issue a temporary restraining order …

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports: Late Friday night, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) put colleges on notice: stamp out all race-conscious policies and programming immediately or risk losing federal funding. In a Dear Colleague letter, Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote that “institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and …

The Washington Post reports: Linda McMahon, testifying before a Senate committee considering her nomination to be secretary of education, said she did not know whether a school would be legally permitted to offer a Black history class or allow clubs centered on racial or ethnic identity. She said she would “want to know what the clubs are doing.” “That’s pretty …

The New York Times reports: Linda McMahon and her husband, from whom she is separated, were the sixth-largest donors to Mr. Trump during his 2024 campaign, funneling more than $20 million into Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign and to associated PACs, according to data compiled by Open Secrets. She personally gave over $360,000 to help support Mr. Trump’s previous presidential campaign …

Fort Worth’s NBC affiliate reports: Fort Worth Independent School District said it’s investigating a social media post allegedly made by a substitute teacher that encouraged Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, to come to North Side High School. The alleged post by the substitute stated: “Y’all should come to Fort Worth, TX to Northside High School. I have many students who …

USA Today reports: Multiple efforts that supported giving parents public funds to spend on private or alternative schools fared poorly in the 2024 election. Voters rejected separate proposals in Colorado and Kentucky aiming to add language supporting school choice, an issue that has divided parents and school staffers across the nation for years, to their states’ constitutions. And voters in …

The Texas Tribune reports: Shortly after leaving his position as Housing and Urban Development Secretary with the Trump administration, Ben Carson began working on a supplemental curriculum for elementary school students he called Little Patriots. When the program launched publicly in 2021, he said it was meant to compensate for a lack of emphasis on “the good things of our …

Via press release from Americans United: More than 30 Oklahomans – including parents and children, public school teachers and faith leaders – today filed a lawsuit urging the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ mandate that all public schools incorporate the Bible into their curricula. The lawsuit, Rev. Lori Walke v. Ryan Walters, also …

Politico reports: Florida’s public universities are purging the list of general education courses they will offer next year to fall in line with a state law pushed for by Gov. Ron DeSantis targeting “woke ideologies” in higher education. The state’s involvement in a curriculum process — which has historically been left to universities — is riling academics and students who …

Colorado Politics reports: A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from a Denver Public Schools parent who sought to force the district to honor his request to display “straight pride” flags in his children’s classrooms. Nathan Feldman brought suit on behalf of himself and his two children, alleging discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment stemming from DPS …

The Oklahoman reports: The Tishomingo Public Schools superintendent issued an apology Thursday and canceled Friday’s homecoming activities and football game after a photo of six high school students displaying a racial slur went viral on social media. The image depicts six Tishomingo High School boys wearing Scrabble tiles spelling out a racial slur, an action that the school district’s superintendent, …

The Associated Press reports: A school district in northeast Florida must put back in libraries three dozen books as part of a settlement reached Thursday with students and parents who sued over what they said was an unlawful decision to limit access to dozens of titles containing LGBTQ+ content. Under the agreement the School Board of Nassau County must restore …

Oklahoma City’s NPR affiliate reports: Dozens of school district superintendents across the state say they will not change their instructional practices to accommodate State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ classroom Bible directive. June 27, Walters announced at a State Board of Education meeting that “every teacher, every classroom in the state will have a Bible in the classroom and will be teaching …

Florida Politics reports: Jimmy Buffett’s lyrics and themes are literally being taught and analyzed in the classroom in a University of Florida (UF) course that began Aug. 30, nearly one year to the day Buffett passed away on Sept. 1, 2023. “Uncommon Arts: Son of a Sailor” is the title of the academic course, which counts for one credit hour …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: After defending his office’s vast spending as University of Florida president, Ben Sasse stands to receive more than $1 million per year through at least 2028, according to a severance agreement released Monday. The former U.S. senator from Nebraska had more than tripled his office’s expenditures, which went from $5.6 million to $17.3 million, according …

The Associated Press reports: Oklahoma’s Bixby school district has lots to show off for a fast-growing Tulsa suburb: a state-of-the-art new high school set to open by 2025, a new ninth grade gymnasium and plans for a $12 million upgrade to a football complex that already rivals that of many small colleges. But, what the district does not have as …

The Florida Alligator reports: Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis has called on the Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System, to launch an investigation into former UF President Ben Sasse’s “exorbitant spending” of university funds. The Alligator first reported Monday that Sasse, a former Nebraska Republican senator, more than tripled spending under the president’s office compared to …