Instructional coach Kristi Tucker posts notes to the board during a team meeting at Ford Elementary School in Laurens, S.C., on March 10, 2025. The grant funding this training work was among three teacher-preparation grant programs largely terminated by the Trump administration in its first weeks. Eight states filed a lawsuit challenging terminations in two of those programs, and a judge on Thursday said she couldn't restore the discontinued grants but could rule on whether the Trump administration acted legally.
Miniature American flags flutter in wind gusts across the National Mall near the Capitol in Washington on Nov. 10, 2025. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a bill reopening the federal government after a 43-day shutdown.
Pennsylvania state Sen. Lindsey Williams, a Democrat, is pictured during an education committee hearing on Aug. 12, 2025. Williams is preparing legislation that would create a state-level office of civil rights to investigate potential civil rights violations in schools. Williams is introducing the measure in response to the U.S. Department of Education's slashing of its own office for civil rights.
Democrat Jay Jones speaks on stage after he was declared the winner of the Virginia attorney general's race Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Richmond, Va. As attorney general, Jones could join multistate coalitions of Democratic state attorneys general suing the Trump administration over its education policies.
Gehring Academy of Science and Technology students attend an assembly on Nov. 22, 2024, to honor the Las Vegas school's designation as a 2024 Blue Ribbon School. The Trump administration in August ended the U.S. Department of Education school recognition program that began in 1982 and has recognized public and private schools for academic achievement each year.
The exterior of the U.S. Department of Education building is pictured on Oct. 11, 2025, in Washington. The agency on Tuesday told more than 250 office for civil rights employees they've been laid off, just days after starting another round of layoffs during the federal government shutdown.
Teacher April Wilson, who works with visually impaired students, works with a student at Bond County Early Childhood Center in Greenville, Ill., on Sept. 29, 2025. The latest round of layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education will leave the federal office of special education programs with few staffers.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought speaks to reporters after Democratic and Republican congressional leaders met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025. Vought announced Friday that federal layoffs during the shutdown have begun, and those layoffs will hit the U.S. Department of Education.
Penelope Koutoulas holds signs supporting school choice in a House committee meeting on education during a special session of the state legislature on Jan. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. The federal government has made its biggest push yet for school choice under the Trump administration.
North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler speaks at a press conference on May 8, 2015, at the state capitol in Bismarck, N.D. Baesler will serve as assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education after her Tuesday confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
People stop to take photos of the U.S. Capitol building on Oct. 2, 2025, in Washington. Out-of-office email messages from U.S. Department of Education employees during the government shutdown blame Democrats for the lapse in funding. Employees said the messages were set without their permission.
A commuter walks past the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington on March 12, 2025. A federal court sided with the Trump administration this week, allowing it to proceeds with laying off half of the department's office for civil rights.
Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk speaks during a campaign rally, Oct. 24, 2024, in Las Vegas. Following Kirk's assassination, Republican leaders are propelling Turning Point USA into K-12 schools.
The Shenandoah County, Va. school board voted in May 2024 to rename Mountain View High School as Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary as Ashby Lee Elementary four years after the names had been removed. Now, a judge has found the decision to rename the high school violated students' free speech rights.
<a href="https://virginiamercury.com/2025/09/10/federal-judge-says-restoring-stonewall-jackson-name-at-shenandoah-school-violates-students-rights/" target="_blank" link-data="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000173-0561-d1f0-a17f-adef4bee0000","_type":"ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20"},"cms.content.publishDate":1757538383770,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000173-e988-d25a-a7ff-f9cb2a4c0000","_type":"6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc"},"cms.content.updateDate":1757538383770,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000173-e988-d25a-a7ff-f9cb2a4c0000","_type":"6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc"},"link":{"disableUtmTracking":false,"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://virginiamercury.com/2025/09/10/federal-judge-says-restoring-stonewall-jackson-name-at-shenandoah-school-violates-students-rights/","_id":"00000199-3573-d4d3-a7db-f77343390000","_type":"ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a"},"linkText":"Courtesy of Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury","theme.brightspot-theme-default.:core:enhancement:Enhancement.hbs.enhancementAlignment":null,"theme.brightspot-theme-default.:core:link:Link.hbs._template":null,"theme.brightspot-theme-default.:core:link:Link.hbs.type":null,"theme.brightspot-theme-default.:core:link:Link.hbs._preset":null,"theme.brightspot-theme-default.:core:enhancement:Enhancement.hbs._preset":null,"_id":"00000199-3573-d4d3-a7db-f77342e50001","_type":"809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288"}">Courtesy of Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury</a>
A teacher at Audrey H. Lawson Middle School in Houston marks a grade on a worksheet on Sept. 6, 2023. Texas lawmakers have passed a bill that would drop the state's once-a-year STAAR test in favor of a model in which students are tested three times a year.
