Your weekly education news summary

Monday, March 31, 2025

Welcome to your weekly Department of Education Tracker newsletter! Apologies for getting it out a day late; usually I finish it up after my kid’s bedtime, but I ended up falling asleep too thanks to the soothing words of “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”. I woke up in a daze knowing no newsletter writing would be happening.

Anyway, this week I’ve got two new sections for you: “Late Additions”, news/events I missed from earlier in the year and have just now added to the spreadsheet and “Things I’ve Enjoyed”, a round up of the articles/books/podcasts/art I’ve liked the past week.

Thank you for subscribing! If you have any comments, suggestions or questions please contact me here or send me a message on Bluesky. I am always open to tips especially if it’s a topic I’ve missed!

What Happened Last Week?

March 24 - 30, 2025

The Story Everyone’s Talking About:

ICE harassment, arrests and deportations of international students:

Academic groups sue Trump Administration over ICE harassment and deportations of international students (3/25)
Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk, a PhD student from Turkey, was detained by ICE and visa revoked for participation in Gaza protests (3/26)
University of Alabama student Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian PhD student, was detained by ICE for unknown reasons (3/26)
University of Minnesota international business student detailed by ICE (3/27)
A federal judge ruled she will not block the US government from continuing the deportation process against Cornell student Momodou Taal, and rejected the request in his lawsuit to stop enforcement of two EOs (3/27)

The News You May Have Missed:

Friday, March 28

ED sent a "Dear Colleague Letter" stating schools cannot keep a child's gender identity from parents, and must inform them if a student is using a different name or pronouns at school
HHS OCR has referred Maine's Title IX noncompliance to DOJ for enforcement

Thursday, March 27

University of Michigan closes Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, and ends DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan and all related programming, training and funding
Democratic senators wrote a letter to the ED Acting Inspector General Rene Rocque asking her to investigate the administration's efforts to shut down the department.
Maine School Administrative District 51 said it will not comply with the Trump administration's request to sign a letter and comply with their interpretation of Title IX, and will continue to follow state law in allowing transgender athletes to compete

Wednesday, March 26:

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow cuts to teacher training programs after they were temporarily blocked by a federal judge
ED has restored access to applications for Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plan loan programs

Monday, March 24:

Advocacy organizations Advocacy organizations file lawsuit against the Trump administration for dismantling ED.

ED OCR is requiring Maine to sign an agreement definining "males" and "females" by their reproductive systems or they will withhold federal funding

What to Look for This Week

March 31 - April 6, 2025

Tuesday, April 1

SB0268 in Tennessee is on the Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for today after being deferred last week. This bill would require the legal guardians of undocumented children to pay tuition for public schools.

Saturday, April 5

Large “Hands Off!” rallies are planned in all states, organized by a number of progressive organizations. Pay attention to turn-out and the administration’s response.

Expected this Week:

A judge may rule on Mahmoud Khalil’s case deciding whether it will be heard in New Jersey or transferred to Louisiana as the Trump administration wants

Action Items

Watch the progress of state bills in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas, New Jersey and Indiana affecting public education for undocumented students (many violating the Plyler v Doe 1982 Supreme Court ruling). If you are in any of these states, contact your local representatives and ask them to oppose these bills.

Call your representatives to ask them to protect the Department of Education and oppose both the EO and any bills introduced to dismantle the agency (right now that’s HR 899 but Senator Mike Rounds says he will re-introduce this one soon).
Consider attending one of the April 5th protest actions planned! If it’s your first time attending a protest, here is a guide with some suggestions on how to stay safe (and ways to support from home).

Late Additions

3/11/25: Columbia PhD student Ranjani Srinivasan, from India, leaves US for Canada after her student visa is revoked and ICE came to her door
3/12/25: Ohio state senator George Lang makes comments about the cost of educating kids with disabilities and implies that disabled kids don't have "loving moms and dads" during a Lakota Local Schools BoE meeting on the state school voucher system.
3/18/25: Michigan’s Senate passed a resolution encouraging schools and other organizations targeted by the Trump administration to uphold diversity, equity and inclusion. It passed 19 to 18 along party lines.
3/22/25: Classroom teacher told to remove "Everyone is Welcome Here" signs because they violated Idaho's "Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education Act" and school policy requiring classroom signs be neutral and positive. The district did not explain how, and the community has supported the teacher and her message with chalk protests at district administrative offices.

Things I’ve Enjoyed

A Historical View of Trump’s Anti-DEI Crusade (article) an excellent analysis of the history of racism within public educational systems and the anti-education/anti-history agenda of the Trump administration

“We Are Becoming an Apartheid State” (podcast) Gaslit Nation interviews Dr. Lisa Corrigan and they discuss race, autocracy, the political history of the US, the need for archivists among other relevant topics
Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (visual art) an exhibit at the Whitney Museum featuring work spanning sound artist Christine Sun Kim’s career. She is Deaf and many of her pieces address ableism within education and other institutional spaces.