The information covered below is from December 5, 2025, through December 18, 2025.

Highlights:

• On December 9, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a final rule rescinding sections of DOJ’s Title VI regulations prohibiting disparate impact discrimination.
• During the week of December 8, the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, known as the Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-driven Workforce Pell (AHEAD) Committee, met to consider the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Workforce Pell and other Pell grant provisions.
• On December 11, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled, “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence.”

Administration

Department of Justice rescinds its Title VI disparate impact regulations: On December 9, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a final rule (without any opportunity for notice and comment) rescinding sections of DOJ’s Title VI regulations prohibiting disparate impact discrimination, which have been in force for over 50 years. In contrast to situations where there is explicit evidence of intentional discrimination, the disparate impact standard has been used to identify facially neutral policies or practices that have an unlawful discriminatory effect under federal civil rights laws. President Trump called for this regulatory action in an April Executive Order (EO), “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” which sought to eliminate any use of the disparate impact standard by the federal government. The DOJ’s rule rescinding its existing disparate impact regulations may be challenged in court on procedural and/or substantive grounds. For further analysis on this announcement, please read our December 16 Alert.

White House

Executive Order targets state Artificial Intelligence (AI) laws: On December 11, President Trump issued an EO titled, “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence.” The White House asserted that the EO aims to “thwart” the creation of a “patchwork of 50 different [AI] regulatory regimes,” which the EO claims would restrict innovation for developers. The EO cannot on its own ban state AI regulation, but it requires the federal government to take the following actions, among others, that would stymie state action to regulate AI:

• The Attorney General will establish within 30 days an AI Litigation Task Force to bring legal challenges against states’ AI laws that the Administration determines are “inconsistent” with the EO including on the grounds that such laws “unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing Federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful.”
• The Secretary of Commerce will publish within 90 days an evaluation of state AI laws. The evaluation must, “at a minimum, identify laws that require AI models to alter their truthful outputs, or that may compel AI developers or deployers to disclose or report information in a manner that would violate the First Amendment or any other provision of the Constitution.”
• The Secretary of Commerce will issue within 90 days a Policy Notice describing state policies eligible for federal funding under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program and identifying which state policies are “onerous” such that those states will be considered ineligible for these broadband funds “to the maximum extent allowed by federal law.”
• All federal agencies must determine whether they can condition competitive grants on states “not enacting an AI law that conflicts” with the EO or, for states that already enacted such laws, if agencies can demand those states enter “into a binding agreement…not to enforce any such laws” during the grant’s period of funding.
• The Administration will draft recommended legislation for Congress to enact a “uniform Federal policy framework for AI that preempts State AI laws that conflict with the policy set forth in this order.”

Notably, the recommendation will not seek to preempt state laws relating to “child safety protections.” This leaves an opening for states to regulate AI in one area closely related to education while seeking to close all other areas to state-by-state regulation.

President Trump signs reauthorization of Secure Rural Schools Act: On December 18, President Trump signed S. 356, the “Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025,” which reauthorizes the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 through fiscal year 2026 (FY2026). Upon its passage, Senator Jim Risch (R-ID) stated that the funding provided through the law “remains vital for Idaho counties to support schools, road maintenance, and other essential services.” The bipartisan legislation was led by Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), and in addition to providing funding through FY2026, the law allows for the initiation of projects through Fiscal Year 2028.

White House announces new Tech Force to modernize government technology: On December 15, the White House announced the U.S. Tech Force, “an elite group of ~1,000 technology specialists hired by agencies to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) implementation and solve the federal government's most critical technological challenges.” The website notes that the engineers hired will be “primarily early-career technologists from traditional recruiting channels [with] expertise in software engineering, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data analytics, or technical project management.” The Office for Personnel Management (OPM) connects the Tech Force to President Trump’s AI Action Plan and states that technologists will support “mission-critical projects” across over a dozen federal agencies. Tech Force recruits will be expected to make a two-year employment commitment, with opportunities for extension based on agency needs and participant interest.

Additionally, Tech Force will partner with private sector companies, including  Adobe, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Anduril, Apple, Box, C3.ai, Coinbase, Databricks, Dell Technologies, Docusign, Google Public Sector, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Oracle, Palantir, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, Snowflake, Robinhood, Uber, Workday, xAI, and Zoom, to provide technical training resources, mentorship programs, nominate employees to do stints of government service, and commit to consider Tech Force alumni for employment after their government service

White House hosts third AI Education Task Force meeting: On December 11, the White House hosted its third meeting of the White House AI Education Task Force which focused on AI’s impact in the classroom. The Task Force includes the Director of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Secretaries of Education and Labor, and the Director of the National Science Foundation, among other Administration officials. During the meeting, the Task Force heard from Chris Woolard with the Ohio Department of Education, Adeel Khan, the founder and CEO of Magic School, and Tina Descovish, Co-Founder of Moms for Liberty. OSTP Director Michael Kratsios remarked that the goal of the Administration’s education-related AI efforts is to “demystify these amazing technologies,” and to support families, young people, and educators in understanding “how AI works…what the technology is good at, and good for, and what it’s bad at, and bad for, and why.”

U.S. Department of Education (USED)

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee recommends Short-Term Pell regulations and will consider accountability regulations in January: During the week of December 8, the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, known as the Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-driven Workforce Pell (AHEAD) Committee, met to consider the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA) Workforce Pell and other Pell grant provisions. The committee was able to reach consensus on those provisions, and as a result, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) is expected to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the coming months that mirrors the regulatory text agreed upon by negotiators. For a more detailed breakdown on the substance of the changes that USED made in the course of negotiations, see the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators’ summary of each day of rulemaking. Additionally, as an example of the more than a dozen changes to proposal regulatory text made by the committee before reaching consensus, USED noted in a press release that, “the committee amended the initial proposal to allow for bilateral agreements among states to help replicate high-quality, short-term programs. The committee also adopted several proposals to better align the new program with programs run by the Department and [the U.S. Department of Labor] (DOL)] under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.”

Beginning on January 5, 2026, the AHEAD Committee will reconvene to discuss the OBBBA earnings accountability provisions and Gainful Employment regulations. It is expected that USED will release a separate NPRM on the accountability provisions, the speed of which will depend on whether the proposed regulations achieve consensus in January or require additional rulemaking sessions to finalize.

USED initiates revision of the Accreditation Handbook: On December 11, USED issued a request for information (RFI) indicating its intent to considerably revise the current Accreditation Handbook. Revising the Handbook is part of the Administration’s efforts to “significantly reform the accreditation system through reduction of unduly burdensome and bureaucratic requirements and increasing transparency and efficiency.” The RFI asks a number of specific questions about, among other things, policies that would encourage innovation, methods to better assist accreditation agencies in their evaluations, and updating accreditation standards to “incentivize intellectual diversity on campus.”

This RFI is one of several steps the Administration has already taken regarding accreditation, including an April EO, “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education,” that focuses on holding accountable those accrediting bodies that advance what the administration views as “unlawful DEI.” Given the wide scope of the RFI and USED’s stated intention to regulate on accreditation in 2026, the agency appears open to considering any recommendation to reduce or eliminate accreditation requirements not explicitly laid out in statute. Comments are due on January 25, 2026.

National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) holds meeting to elect new chair and approve accrediting agencies: On December 16, the 18-member NACIQI met to elect a committee chairperson and to conduct a review of compliance reports submitted by five accrediting agencies. Following a first-round tie vote, the Committee elected Jay Greene as Chair, a former researcher at the Heritage Foundation and one of the Trump Administration’s six new appointees to NACIQI. The Committee also voted unanimously to approve the recognition of three accrediting agencies, among others considered: Middle States Commission on Higher Education, New England Commission of Higher Education, and Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent attended the meeting, and multiple reports highlighted his remarks as he told the Committee to “buckle up” because the Trump Administration intends to “break the mold” on accreditation. The remarks echo the Administration’s prior statements (including the EO on reforming accreditation) that it intends to expand opportunities for the creation of new accrediting agencies. Under Secretary Kent also continued the Administration’s push against DEI saying, “The decades-long shift from objective outcomes-based standards to subjective input-heavy, increasingly ideological criteria have fueled discriminatory practices, mandatory DEI requirements, racial preferences in hiring, compulsory sensitivity training, and political litmus tests that undermine merit.”

USED announces proposed settlement with the State of Missouri to end the SAVE Plan: On December 9, USED announced a proposed joint settlement agreement with the State of Missouri that will dismiss litigation in exchange for the Department ending the Biden Administration’s ‘Saving on a Valuable Education’ (SAVE) Plan. Introduced in 2023 by the Biden Administration, the SAVE plan aimed to reduce student loan payments from 10% to 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income and included shorter timeframes for forgiveness for certain borrowers, among other provisions. Missouri’s then-Attorney General Andrew Bailey led a seven-state coalition in filing a lawsuit in 2024 to challenge the legality of the SAVE plan. In the proposed joint settlement agreement, the Department will not enroll any new borrowers in the SAVE Plan, deny any pending applications, and move all SAVE borrowers into legal repayment plans. In the announcement about the proposed settlement, the Department stated if the parties’ joint proposal is approved by the court, borrowers currently enrolled in the SAVE Plan will have a limited time to select a new repayment plan and begin repaying their student loans.

USED adds earnings indicator feature to FAFSA: On December 8, USED announced a new “earnings indicator” that will appear within the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process. Specifically, FAFSA will present students with key financial data for each college they select, with a “lower earnings” notice appearing if the selected institution’s average earnings are below the average high school graduate’s earnings. See this blog post from the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) for more information including screenshots of the earnings indicators that FAFSA users will see.

Eighteen Democratic Attorneys General submit comments to proposed higher education data collection: On December 15, eighteen Democratic Attorneys General, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, submitted comments to the updates proposed in USED’s data collection under Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Under the published proposal, NCES would create a new survey component for IPEDS titled, Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS), which is “designed to provide adequate transparency in admissions.” In their comments, the AGs urge USED to withdraw the new data collection entirely, stating that it “is not necessary to the proper functions of the Department because it will not assist in addressing purported racial discrimination or ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” The letter notes that the new ACTS component “is an unnecessary, burdensome data-fishing expedition that is unlikely to result in useful data, poses risks to student privacy, and appears designed to discourage institutions of higher education (IHEs) from pursuing lawful efforts to educate all students.” The AGs also raise concerns about the timeline, as the current deadline for the new data collection is March 18, 2026, which the AGs state is “unrealistic,” adding, “the submission procedure is new and untested, and IPEDS staffing has been reduced.”

USED provides updates on Interagency Agreements implementation: On December 5, USED provided an update about its implementation of the first interagency agreement (IAA), which focuses on shifting management and funding of career and technical education and adult education from USED to the Department of Labor (DOL). The new update focuses on the status of opening the DOL’s state plan portal for USED’s adult education grants funded by Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). 

USED awards $256 million in Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grants focused on improving literacy: On December 15, USED announced $256 million in new grant awards for fiscal year (FY2025) under the EIR grant program, which supports both promising ideas and the large-scale expansion of evidence-backed interventions. As noted in the press release, “[t]hese grants are the first awards made using three of Secretary McMahon’s grantmaking priorities: strengthening evidence-based literacy instruction, expanding education choice, and returning education to the states.” Of the awards, 18 of the 24 grantees are first-time EIR award recipients, and ten of the 24 are state education agencies.

USED awards over $208 million in new grants to support mental health: On December 11, USED announced over $208 million in new grant awards to 65 grantees for the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration and School-Based Mental Health programs, both authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. These new awards come after USED discontinued about $1 billion in funding to almost all of the existing grants for these programs in April. In a lawsuit challenging those discontinuations, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in October, restoring funding for 49 grantees located in the 16 plaintiff states and preventing USED from awarding those grantees’ funds to any new applicants.

USED launches challenge to strengthen connections between education and workforce: On December 15, USED announced the launch of the Connecting Talent to Opportunity Challenge, a call to action designed to strengthen the connections between learners and earners by accelerating the development of integrated, state-wide Talent Marketplaces. The Challenge stems from the Trump Administration’s workforce development initiative, “America’s Talent Strategy: Building the Workforce for the Golden Age.” Beginning in January 2026, the Department invites state leaders and workforce partners to build or scale Talent Marketplaces that include a Credential Registry, Learning and Employment Records (LERs), and Skills-Based Job Description Generators to better match talent to opportunity, and thus expand access to high-quality career pathways. The announcement follows a House Education and Workforce Subcommittee hearing to highlight LERs and Talent Marketplaces on December 10 (see more below).

USED restores nearly 250 civil rights employees from administrative leave: On December 5, USED directed 247 employees within the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to return to work after more than eight months on administrative leave to address a growing backlog of complaints. These employees are likely to remain “at work” at least until the current Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the government expires on January 30, 2026, at which point the Administration may be able to once again execute a reduction-in-force (RIF). This group of OCR staffers—representing nearly half of the office’s workforce as of January 2025—was included in the March RIF but was not let go due to a preliminary injunction in an OCR-specific lawsuit brought by the Victim Rights Law Center on the grounds that a “hollowed out” OCR could not perform its statutorily mandated functions to enforce the civil rights of students across the country. Recalled staff will resume their work on either December 15 or December 29, though their assignments and the duration of their return remain unclear. USED described the return as “temporary” while litigation surrounding the RIF proceeds.

Congress

Senate and House reintroduce bipartisan legislation aimed at reducing seclusion and restraint practices in K-12 schools: On December 12, the Keeping All Students Safe Act was reintroduced in both the Senate and House, led by Senator Chris Murphy (D-VT) and Representative Don Beyer (D-VA). A fact sheet on the legislation describes how the bill would establish minimum safety standards in schools by preventing certain restraint and seclusion practices, and support sates by providing better training to ensure student and staff safety. The House bill is bipartisan, cosponsored by Rep. Abraham Hamadeh (R-AZ), while the Senate bill remains partisan. A section-by-section summary of the bill can be found here.

Senate

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Democrats request hearing with USED Secretary McMahon regarding dismantling of USED: On December 10, Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led all of the Committee Democrats in a letter to Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) calling for an oversight hearing with USED Secretary Linda McMahon. The letter calls the transfer of dozens of education programs to other agencies “alarming and illegal… and a direct attack on students, parents, educators, colleges and public schools across the country.” Citing Secretary McMahon’s commitment to “presenting a plan [to dismantle the Department] that Senators could get on board with,” the Senators write that the Secretary “has not upheld that commitment” and requests the hearing “immediately.”

Senator Hirono hosts forum with other Democratic Senators to highlight concerns with USED’s transfer of programs to other agencies: On December 15, Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) held a spotlight forum titled, “Dismantling Education: What the Trump Administration’s Illegal Attacks on Federal Programs Mean for Students, Families, and Educators.” During the forum, a panel of witnesses comprised of K-12 education leaders and civil rights experts spoke about how abolishing USED and moving these programs to other federal agencies would harm students across the country, especially those who come from low-income, rural, Native, migrant, and federally-impacted communities. The forum featured testimony from Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers; Rachel Gittleman, President, American Federation of Government Employees Local 252; Denise Forte, President and CEO of The Education Trust; Dr. Amy Loyd, CEO of All4Ed; Chad Rummel, Executive Director of Council for Exceptional Children; and Angelica Infante-Green, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. At the forum, Senator Hirono was joined by a number of her colleagues, including Senators Peter Welch (D-VT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Dick Durbin (D-IL). In reference to the Trump Administration’s actions to conduct mass reductions in force at USED, transfer agency functions, and withhold and rescind federal funds, Senator Hirono stated that “he has jeopardized our children’s futures.”

House

Representatives Bonamici and Fitzpatrick reintroduce bipartisan NEED Act to establish new center for education research and innovation: On December 9, Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) reintroduced H.R. 6419, the “New Essential Education Discoveries (NEED) Act,” a version of which was first introduced in 2022 and reintroduced in 2024. The NEED Act would create a fifth center at the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) – the National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE) – which would develop and disseminate innovative, cutting-edge practices and tools, using a model similar to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Representative Bonamici noted that the legislation would, “empower researchers to develop new educational strategies and technologies that are based in science,” and Representative Fitzpatrick added the bill, “builds a smarter bridge between research and the classroom—accelerating evidence-based breakthroughs [and] strengthening data transparency.” The bill has the endorsement of organizations across the education research ecosystem. Specifically, Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, president and CEO of the Data Quality Campaign expressed her support to the NEED Act’s provisions that “reimagine statewide longitudinal data systems as tools for providing better support, transparency, and high-quality data to individuals navigating their journeys through education and the workforce.”

House Education and Workforce Committee advances bills to make college costs and financial aid transparent: On December 11, the House Education and Workforce Committee held a markup and advanced four bills to support homeschoolers, lower tuition barriers for U.S. territories, and make college costs and aid more transparent. The following bills were approved by the Committee:

• H.R. 6392, the “Home School Graduation Recognition Act,” advanced by a vote of 33-0, clarifies that homeschooled students who graduate in accordance with state law are high school graduates.
• H.R. 6472, the “Territorial Student Access to Higher Education Act,” advanced by a vote of 32-1, provides in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities for residents of U.S. territories.
• H.R. 6498, the “Student Financial Clarity Act,” advanced by a vote of 27-6, seeks to improve the College Scorecard to provide prospective students with more information about college costs and graduate outcomes. The bill also creates a universal net price calculator so students can better estimate what they will actually pay for their degree program.
• H.R. 6502, the “College Financial Aid Clarity Act,” advanced by a vote of 23-10, aims to ensure colleges cannot mislead borrowers about financial aid offers by separating required costs from variable expenses and clearly distinguishing grants from loans. The bill also provides borrowers information to be able to estimate the price tag of their entire degree program upfront.

In his statement during the markup Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) noted that the Committee’s efforts “have been at the forefront of restoring trust” in investing in postsecondary education. Chair Walberg later added, “Some accuse Republicans of limiting 'access' to higher education. That is not true. We want all students to have access to the postsecondary path that’s best for them and their families.” Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) expressed his support for the intentions behind each of the bills, while stating in his opening remarks that Democrats intended to offer amendments that he said would “improve the proposal[s]” and if adopted, he would vote in favor of the bills. While several Democratic amendments were rejected on party-line votes, all of the bills advanced with bipartisan support, including with the Ranking Member Scott’s support.

U.S. Courts

DOJ sues Minneapolis Public Schools under Title VII: On December 10, DOJ announced it has filed a lawsuit against Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) claiming that several provisions in the school district’s collective bargaining agreement with its teachers’ union violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Primarily, DOJ asserts that the MPS has adopted discriminatory hiring, transfer, and reassignment procedures by providing preferential treatment to teachers based on their membership in racial or ethnic groups that MPS considers “underrepresented” compared to the relevant labor market.

Head Start Litigation updates: There have been two recent developments in the Head Start lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of four state associations and two parent organizations. The suit alleges that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is dismantling the Head Start program by firing staff, issuing vague and unlawful guidance on DEI, and requiring immigration verification. First, on December 6, the ACLU filed a motion to supplement the record on its motion for a preliminary injunction, which, if granted, would pause HHS’s implementation of its guidance on DEI released in March 2025. While the government has argued in prior hearings that HHS has not taken enforcement action or harmed grantees in implementing DEI guidance, the ACLU’s most recent motion supplements the record with documentation of harm to programs from HHS’s implementation of the DEI guidance.

Second, the Trump Administration has indicated that it does not plan to challenge the preliminary injunction blocking HHS from enforcing its reinterpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) that requires Head Start programs to verify immigration status during enrollment. As a result, the injunction will remain in effect in all states until the district court issues a final ruling on whether HHS acted unlawfully in reinterpreting the law. (See our Deep Dive, Who Benefits?, for more information on this topic.)

Due to the preliminary injunction, Head Start programs can continue to enroll children without requesting documents to confirm immigration status. It is anticipated that plaintiffs will move forward quickly with a motion for summary judgment (i.e., a request for the court to decide the lawsuit without a full trial) given that the government has agreed not to appeal. Regardless of the outcome of the immigration verification component of the litigation, pursuant to provisions in the Head Start Act, these children—once enrolled—remain eligible for Head Start for the current program year and the next program year.

Upcoming Events (Outside Organizations):

• On January 13, 2026, at 3:00 p.m., the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (CGLR) will hold an event titled, “Beyond Disruption: What Comes Next for US Education Policy.” Education experts will discuss their perspectives on education policy movements that will take place during 2026, including the new federal education tax credit taking effect, evolving interagency agreements, and the unresolved questions surrounding the future of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The conversation will be moderated John Gomperts, Executive Fellow at CGLR, and speakers include: Jean-Claude Brizard, President and CRO of Digital Promise; Denise Forte, President of EdTrust; Robin Lake, Director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education; and Michael J. Petrilli, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. More information and registration is here.

Publications (Outside Organizations):

• On December 5, the Committee for A Responsible Federal Budget released an analysis titled, “Pell Grant Program Still Faces Large Shortfall, Despite One-Time Fix.” The analysis finds that the Pell Grants program could face a $61 billion shortfall between 2026 and 20235, that the one time $10.5 billion provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will delay reserve depletion by a couple years but not address the structural shortfall, that the program could experience a cumulative ten-year shortfall of up to $97 billion, and that Workforce Pell could add between $2 billion and $6 billion in program costs.
• On December 5, The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) released survey results of federal student loan borrowers titled, “On the Edge of a ‘Default Cliff’: New Survey Shows Student Loan Borrowers Are Struggling to Keep Up.” Some of the findings of the survey, which was conducted by Data for Progress, include that 42% of borrowers find that their loans have negatively impacted their ability to meet basic needs, only 38% of respondents trust the federal government “a great deal” or “somewhat” to deliver on student loan benefits, and that only 41% of borrowers report that their debt was “worth it.”
• On December 9, FWD.us published a report titled, “The Power of Plyler: The societal and economic gains of equal access to education for undocumented children and the future losses if it is taken away.” The report sought to measure the gains of the Supreme Court’s Plyler v. Doe case, which guaranteed equal access to K-12 education regardless of immigration status. It found that the decision to provide equal access generated over $633 billion in net state and local fiscal gains, increased beneficiaries’ income and U.S. GDP by $171 billion between the ruling and 2022, strengthened the U.S. labor force, prevented 730,000 U.S. citizen children from entering poverty, and improved nationwide public health outcomes. The report argues that if the ruling were reversed the U.S. would lose more than $1 trillion dollars and 450,000 future workers, as well as drive $24.2 billion in additional health costs which would mostly be at the expense of state and local governments.
• On December 18, UNICEF published guidance titled, “Guidance on AI and children: Version 3.0 | Recommendations for AI policies and systems that uphold child rights.” The guidance contains 10 requirements for child-centered AI, including regulatory frameworks, child safety, protection of child data and privacy, non-discrimination and fairness, as well as transparency, explainability, and accountability.

Legislation:

Introduced in the House of Representatives:

H.R. 6484
A bill to protect the safety of minors on the internet, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)

H.R. 6498
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase transparency in college tuition for consumers, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY)

H.R. 6502
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of Education to develop requirements for institutions of higher education on formatting financial aid offer forms, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI)

H.R. 6525
A bill to establish a national framework to prevent, detect, and respond to educator sexual misconduct, to create a National Educator Misconduct and Discipline Registry, and to create a Federal Task Force on Educator Sexual Misconduct, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX)

H.R. 6532
A bill to establish a grant program for innovative partnerships among teacher preparation programs, local educational agencies, and community-based organizations to expand access to high-quality tutoring in hard-to-staff schools and high-need schools, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV)

H.R. 6574
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that graduate and professional students have the same annual and aggregate limits for Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans.
Rep. Timothy Kennedy (D-NY)

H.R. 6591
A bill to authorize the Secretary of Education to carry out a program to increase access to prekindergarten through grade 12 computer science education.
Sponsor: Rep. Luz Rivas (D-CA)

H.R. 6606
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reauthorize the Federal work-study program, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR)

H.R. 6617
A bill to prohibit and prevent seclusion, mechanical restraint, chemical restraint, and dangerous restraints that restrict breathing, and to prevent and reduce the use of physical restraint in schools, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)

H.R. 6621
A bill to promote a 21st century workforce, to authorize grants to support emerging and advanced technology education, and to support training and quality employment for workers in industries most impacted by artificial intelligence.
Sponsor: Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)

H.R. 6634
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a refundable childhood education tax credit with monthly advance payments.
Sponsor: Rep. Cleo Fields (D-LA)

H.R. 6645
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow disaster-affected taxpayers to use preceding taxable year earned income to determine eligibility for the earned income credit and the refundable portion of the child tax credit.
Sponsor: Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA)

H.R. 6656
A bill to require the Government Accountability Office to carry out a study relating to barriers in accessing the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 due to inflation and State eligibility standards.
Sponsor: Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI)

H.R. 6663
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that public institutions of higher education eschew policies that improperly constrain the expressive rights of students, and to ensure that private institutions of higher education are transparent about, and responsible for, their chosen speech policies.
Sponsor: Rep. Gregory Murphy (R-NC)

H.R. 6677
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reverse the reductions in Federal loan availability for graduate and professional students enacted under Public Law 119-21.
Sponsor: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY)

H.R. 6683
A bill to establish a grant program to encourage schools to conduct independent facility security risk assessments and make hard security improvements, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX)

H.R. 6711
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide additional amounts of loan forgiveness to teachers of English learners and teachers of bilingual and dual language immersion students, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY)

H.R. 6718
A bill to amend the definition of professional degree in the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Sponsor: Rep. Michael Lawler (R-NY)

H.R. 6725
A bill to amend the National Apprenticeship Act in order to increase and expand the national apprenticeship system to include the immediate recruitment, employment, and on-the-job earn as you learn training of young African Americans, and to promote the development of equitable hiring standards necessary to safeguard the diversity of apprentices, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. David Scott (D-GA)

H.R. 6739
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand the definition of professional degree.
Sponsor: Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI)

H.R. 6742
A bill to reauthorize the Next Generation Quantum Leaders Pilot Program of the National Science Foundation for the education and training of the next generation of students and teachers in the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)

H.R. 6776
A bill to amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 with respect to the use of cash-value benefits and coupons for purchases of fresh, nutritious, unprepared foods from community supported agricultural entities, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL)

H.R. 6795
A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to improve direct certification, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT)

H.R. 6806
A bill to direct the Attorney General to establish within the Department of Justice the Office of the National Coordinator to Counter Antisemitism, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)

H.R. 6809
A bill to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to reduce losses of life through better school safety standards and responses, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT)

H.R. 6819
A bill to reduce State administrative costs for administration of both the supplemental nutrition assistance program under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 and the summer electronic benefits transfer program for children under the Richard B. Russell School Lunch Act.
Sponsor: Rep. David Scott (D-GA)

H.R. 6857
A bill to require institutions of higher education participating in Federal student aid programs to share information about title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including a link to the webpage of the Office for Civil Rights where an individual can submit a complaint regarding discrimination in violation of such title, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL)

H.R. 6860
A bill to amend the General Education Provisions Act to provide a private right of action to parents and eligible students to protect certain education-related rights, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)

H.R. 6862
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to delay, until July 1, 2030, the termination of authority to award certain Federal Direct PLUS loans and the implementation of limits on certain loans for graduate and professional students enrolled at institutions with certain public health designations, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA)

H.R. 6865
A bill to amend section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to prohibit the provision of Federal financial assistance to States and public institutions of higher education that provide certain higher education benefits to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX)

H.R. 6886
A bill to amend the General Education Provisions Act to allow the release of education records to facilitate the award of a recognized postsecondary credential.
Sponsor: Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO)

H.Res. 847
A resolution expressing that compelled political litmus tests used by public institutions to require individuals to identify with specific ideological views are directly at odds with the principles of academic freedom and free speech and in violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Sponsor: Rep. Gregory Murphy (R-NC)

H.Res. 958
A resolution supporting the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the enactment of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and reaffirming the commitment of the House of Representatives to expanding access to higher education for all Americans.
Sponsor: Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL)

H.Res. 961
A resolution recognizing the schools selected as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2025 and celebrating the history of the Blue Ribbon Schools Program.
Sponsor: Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL)

H.Res. 969
A resolution expressing support for the designation of the week beginning on September 8, 2025, as "National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week".
Sponsor: Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX)

Introduced in the Senate:

S. 3401
A bill to establish, improve, or expand high-quality workforce development programs at community colleges, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS)

S. 3406
A bill to establish a grant program for innovative partnerships among teacher preparation programs, local educational agencies, and community-based organizations to expand access to high-quality tutoring in hard-to-staff schools and high-need schools, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)

S. 3433
A bill to eliminate certain higher education funding to certain minority-serving institutions, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN)

S. 3448
A bill to prohibit and prevent seclusion, mechanical restraint, chemical restraint, and dangerous restraints that restrict breathing, and to prevent and reduce the use of physical restraint in schools, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)

S. 3461
A bill to improve the identification and support of children and families who experience trauma.
Sponsor: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

S. 3487
A bill to ensure that borrowers who have performed qualifying public service are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Sponsor: Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ)

S. 3507
A bill to prevent any alien who is not lawfully admitted for permanent residence from obtaining in-State tuition rates at public institutions of higher education, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)

S. 3534
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for increasing wages paid to child care providers.
Sponsor: Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA)

S. 3538
A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to eliminate origination fees on Federal Direct loans.
Sponsor: Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN)

S.Res. 538
A resolution designating November 2025 as "National Homeless Children and Youth Awareness Month".
Sponsor: Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD)

S.Res. 563
A resolution affirming that the Federal Government should support school district investment in clean school buses.
Sponsor: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

S.Res. 568
A resolution recognizing the schools selected as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2025 and celebrating the history of the Blue Ribbon Schools Program.
Sponsor: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)