Department officials also said that laying off half of ED's civil rights staff wouldn't impact civil rights enforcement & we now know that wasn't true. In 2025, ED's OCR resolved 90% of complaints it received by simply dismissing them & resolved only 112 pending civil rights cases (a record low).

An outstanding, comprehensive rebuke of AI mania in K-12 by @winterjessica.bsky.social that rounds out by highlighting the growing coalition of parents, educators, and other concerned humans that is working fast and hard to tamp it down.

Reflecting on #AEFP2026: @dbassok.bsky.social, Michal & I talk about the amazing work the @aefpweb.bsky.social community is doing 💗 Many thanks to the @brookings.edu team, especially Jon Valant, @rachelmarisa.bsky.social & Mike Hansen for helpful feedback. www.brookings.edu/articles/reb...

"How convenient, then, that the things that make us feel better are all conservative staples! Brooks, Inc., may have changed its advertising, but it has not quite abandoned its old politics." BINGO www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

These pieces add to our "Why we have and need a Department of Education" project, where we've been examining the role of ED in a time of heightened scrutiny and politicization of the department and federal role in education: www.brookings.edu/collection/w...

I took a look at how higher ed has been shaped by funding cuts and uncertainty - "A coordinated retreat from college access: What TRIO and GEAR UP cuts reveal" www.brookings.edu/articles/a-c...

Checking in on the Department of Education - a year(ish) into the second Trump administration and ahead of SOTU tomorrow, we looked back at what has happened to ED and what you might expect in the year ahead www.brookings.edu/articles/faq...

In a new Brookings piece, I wrote about how the US Department of Education has turned civil rights enforcement into a tool to promote segregation and discrimination. www.brookings.edu/articles/how...

FAQs: Checking in on the Department of Education via @brookings.edu www.brookings.edu/articles/faq...

the idea that early grade suspensions are an effective way to "control" the behavior of 5- 7 year olds is absurd. children's brains are not wired to consider the potential threat of suspension before deciding whether to misbehave, undermining the idea of suspensions as an effective deterrent

I wrote about Yglesias “defending liberalism” by joining a right wing moral panic over critical race theory. His vision of liberalism has room for bigots, but no room for scholars concerned about structural racism.

this overview by @kedseconomist.com of the Larry Summers of it all is very good. I knew most of this but this tidbit floored me... Ken Arrows, as is in the Ken Arrows who developed what is arguably one of the most racist concepts in economics (statistical discrimination), is Summers' uncle?!!

New at Can We Still Govern: The IRS is a key agency and its decline is emblematic of Trump-era mismanagement. @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social & Eliis Chen lay out the questions that Democrats should be asking its new leader. Incredibly informative piece. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/five-quest...

New evidence on how ICE is affecting student learning https://drive.google.com/file/d/1erU5Oe0vJYdVjuqQi4sfhUGxS0BGjWl8/view?usp=drivesdk

We are doing a pilot survey about how prospective PhD students in PSYCHOLOGY make decisions about applying to grad programs. If you are thinking of applying to a program in the future, and have 2-5 minutes to spare, could you take this survey? 🫶 northwestern.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

[GIFT LINK] Lots of folks are sharing this incisive commentary from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social on the Nazi tattoo candidate and the Democrats' insistence that we have to tolerate a smidge of racism to appeal to the working class. She, of course takes, that apart. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...

For context, 87% of school-aged kids are enrolled in public schools in the US.* (* a statistic we only know because of work the US Dept of ED used to do to collect vital data on our nation's schools)

Those influencing Trump education policy aren't shy about wanting to eradicate public schools. Asked what % of kids she imagines should be in public schools, Tiffany Justice -- Moms for Liberty cofounder, now with Heritage Foundation -- told @propublica.org “I hope zero. I hope to get to zero.”

Becky Pepper-Jackson is the only transgender girl in school sports in the entire state of West Virginia. Soon, she'll be at the Supreme Court defending the freedom of all trans kids to be themselves on and off the playing field.

More evidence that the wealthiest communities accrue the most benefits from universal private school choice programs. www.brookings.edu/articles/uni...

the most important thing to remember when you see eugenicists who don’t believe that autistic people should exist rambling about “the autism epidemic” is not that they’re wrong about the “cause” (although they are absolutely wrong about it); it’s that they are eugenicists

Are you a recent IRS civil servant? I would like to interview you! Details below, including my contact info -- or reach out via Bsky!

i have said this before but when “getting rid of race in admissions” for the administration means “you can’t even try to reach out to underrepresented communities and encourage them to apply and if you do it is illegal discrimination against white people” then the actual goal here is segregation

This is a great resource! @rachelmarisa.bsky.social @brookings.edu

“awful people don’t deserve to be killed, but they don’t deserve to be praised, either” is apparently a thought too complex for the pundit mind

🚨Our new @brookings.edu data tool tracking ongoing litigation against the Trump admin's K-12 education agenda is now live! The tracker, to be updated monthly, provides up-to-date info on the status of lawsuits challenging Trump's K-12 related executive actions. www.brookings.edu/articles/tra...

This looks really interesting! Also check out the lawsuit tracker - Lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s K-12 education agenda www.brookings.edu/articles/tra...

please help us spread the word about this mentorship opportunity for writers of color & share it with anyone you think might be interested!

Join us for an online @brookings.edu event Mon 9/15 @ 4PM, ET to discuss the state of the Trump administration's K-12 education agenda with education & legal scholars & civil rights attorneys. Submit questions in advance via email or the registration form! www.brookings.edu/events/what-...

New, from me: America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism. This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...

Fascinating work by Deven Carlson, @t-h-a-d.bsky.social, James Carter, @rachelmarisa.bsky.social, Vitali Radsky, and Andrew McEachin on both the potential of school choice for the purpose of desegregation and the disappointing reality that most school choice systems tend to exacerbate segregation

I cannot stop shouting about how much I loved AUGUST LANE by Regina Black. One of my favorite romances I've read this year. (I've been reading a lot of romance novels this year...)

I bet that reading Andrea Long Chu on Thomas Chatteron Williams will brighten up my day. www.vulture.com/article/post...

Columbia and Brown, by settling, have encouraged this tactic. Authoritarians are emboldened by capitulation, and they won't stop until the cost outweighs the benefits.

"Higher education policy in the United States is now being developed through ad hoc deals, a mode of regulation that is not only inimical to the ideal of the university as a site of critical thinking but also corrosive to the democratic order and to law itself." balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/regu...

In this piece I specifically call out academics happy with the policy changes mandated by the administration Government coercion can be used in a number of ways - be careful for what you wish for!

I think it’s worth noting this piece generated the most unsubscribes I’ve seen in a while, and the newsletter version had the lowest open rate in many months. These horrors persist in part because too many people go to great pains to avoid them.

Important piece from @brookings.edu out this AM on what's at stake for the unhoused student population under the president's proposed FY2026 budget. www.brookings.edu/articles/bud...

Whose fault is it that race and ethnicity are inseparable from socioeconomic status, conservative group?

These are some of the most odious people alive.

So-called colorblind policy was used by conservatives (with lots of liberal support) to ensure that the racial make-up of America power barely changed following the Civil Rights Movement. Now, when colorblind policy is used to promote equality they drop the ruse in favor of open segregation.

"At a time when schools are in dire need of more resources and support, the Court has added only more challenges to their plate," says @rachelmarisa.bsky.social. Experts on education law and policy share their reactions to some of the Supreme Court’s decisions this term.

I think it's fair to say that Department of Education expenditures are off-track. #ED

It is wild to sign this dissent with "respectfully"

The president can't close down ED by fiat but Congress and SCOTUS sure can facilitate it

Breaking News: The Supreme Court agreed to allow the Trump administration to proceed with dismantling the Education Department by firing thousands of workers.

In an unsigned order (with no explanation at all), the Supreme Court majority in effect overturns the Department of Education Organization Act, a law passed in 1979. Justice Sotomayor writes a long dissent, but doesn't violate the taboo of never attacking the majority for partisanship or corruption.

Here we go again: Over an acerbic dissenting opinion by Justice Sotomayor (joined in full by Justices Kagan and Jackson), #SCOTUS, with no explanation, grants a stay in the Department of Education RIFs case—effectively clearing the way for the Trump administration to dismantle much of the agency:

My son's daycare tuition has risen so much every year that the cost has essentially been unchanged since he was an infant. I WAS TOLD IT WOULD GET CHEAPER. IT HAS NOT. I AM TIRED OF SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY ON CHILD CARE.

This week’s episode is Trump v. CASA, where the Court addressed Trump’s illegal birthright citizenship order by ignoring the issue entirely.