News Archive: April 2025
4/7/25 - Maine is suing the Trump administration over USDA funding freeze related to Title IX disputes
The USDA has frozen funds for MDOE's child nutrition program because of the HHS and ED Title IX disputes. The lawsuit is asking for a temporary restraining order while the case proceeds.
4/7/25 - Tennessee SB836/HB793 recommended for pass by House Government Operations Committee
This bill allows public schools to require families prove citizenship or legal residence and for undocumented students to pay tuition to attend. One Republican member voted against this bill, Faison, but it still passed 8-7.
4/7/25 - Northwestern University legal clinics targeted by congressional committee probe
The US House Committee on Education and the Workforce has requested all policies, budgets and payments by the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic to outside groups since 2020. This is related to the law clinic's support for pro-Palestine protesters in Chicago.
The lawsuit alleges the cuts have made it impossible for IES to operate and for organizations which rely on IES data to perform their jobs.
The AGs are asking the court to stop the closure of these agencies stating that the Administration's action to dismantle them is illegal and will "inflict immediate and irreparable harms on the Plaintiff States, their residents and the public".
This is part of Mahmoud Khalil's case, and the lawsuit also wanted to stop the government's $400 million funding "pause" for Columbia. It alleged that student privacy laws and First Amendment rights were threatened by sharing student records, but the judge ruled that Columbia had already shared records with identifying info removed and that the lawsuit did not address everything it needed to for its complaint. The judge did say that Columbia must give students 30 days notice before sharing any more of their records.
This is shifting responsibility from ED to DOJ through a "joint" special investigations team, and is intended to speed up the process and get through a backlog of complaints. Secretary McMahon has made it clear this is primarily to enforce the administration's anti-trans interpretation of Title IX, and is a new way of handling these complaints. It is also likely this is a result of the layoffs at ED which cut OCR in half.
4/4/25 - States are appealing the last-minute cancellation of COVID relief funds
States had received extensions into 2026 for these funds and even McMahon's ED had previously assured state education agencies these would be honored.
This grant was for a program within the Rehabilitative Services Administration in ED which helped support post secondary youth and young adults transition to higher education or careers successfully. It is possible this program was eliminated because of the word "transition" as the Trump administration is eliminating any support for transgender people.
These grants were part of the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development programs. The court ruled 5-4.
This is part of the federal grant review announced by the "Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism" and the letter did not specify a deadline
A judge ruled that Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico can hire back the 70 they employees laid off or who resigned. The colleges have reported that some have already turned down job offers.
K-12 State Education Agency Commissioners must sign a letter certifying they are in compliance with Title VI, which this administration interprets as making any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts illegal. The department will withhold ALL federal funds to states which do not sign the certification.
4/2/25 - Mahmoud Khalil's case will remain in New Jersey
The federal government had asked to move Khalil to Louisiana, but a federal judge ruled NJ has jurisdiction over his case. The government is also trying to move another university student detained by ICE for her pro-Palestine activism to Louisiana.
The letter was led by Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del) and asks McMahon to respond to a series of questions by April 11, detailing the cuts to ED and how it plans to ensure disabled students receive an appropriate education.
4/2/25 - Senate Democrats investigating whether DOGE is planning to replace ED call center workers with AI
NYTimes reported that DOGE is considering replacing call center workers who answer financial aid questions with AI bots, and Senate Democrats are investigating the risks of misinformation, data privacy and conflicts of interest
Staff was put on administrative leave until June without warning. The National Head Start Association has warned this may lead to delays or loss of services for children and families enrolled in Head Start. Head Start supports child care, education, health, nutrition and other early childhood needs.
This hearing seemed to have been a way to discuss the pros of AI and use it as further justification for ending federal oversight of education, claiming states will be able to create better and faster regulations than the federal government. The summary describes Democrats as "hijacking" the meeting when arguing the opposite point.
4/1/25 - SB836 passed the Tennessee Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee
SB836 would allow public schools to require students show proof of legal immigration status or citizenship and charge undocumented students tuition to attend. The bill specifies that it would only apply to students who have "exhausted all appeals" and are under a final order of removal, and claim this would not violate Plyler v Doe.
This is not related to the "Joint Task Force" activities and is instead part of an OCR investigation into 60 higher ed institutions for alleged violations "relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination"