ICYMI: Racial harassment of Black students ignored under Trump, by @jsmithrichards.bsky.social @megomatz.bsky.social @jodiscohen.bsky.social

Cases of Black students being called the N-word, taunted by classmates saying "white power" are being ignored by the Trump administration. @megomatz.bsky.social, @jodiscohen.bsky.social and I found the Ed Dept has not acted on any racial harassment cases since Jan. 21 to hold districts accountable.

This is a blow to the conservative effort to embed Christian teachings in state standards in Oklahoma. There have been a number of efforts to push education in the state to the right, which I detailed in this story. It has been a testing ground and remains an interesting state to watch.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the controversial state social studies standards -- but not because of the many Biblical references and skepticism about the 2020 election and origins of Covid-19. The court ruled the state board of ed violated the Open Meetings Act. Nondoc explains here.

Huge day for the Columbus Dispatch, where I worked for more than a decade. Glad to support them!

I should add that we're still very much reporting on what's happening with civil rights in schools: www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...

Linda McMahon plans to move some functions of the U.S. Department of Education to other federal agencies. That would outsource two big roles -- managing funding streams for K-12 schools and colleges -- to the Department of Labor. (No announcement on the Office for Civil Rights yet.)

“You starve your public schools to feed your private schools and charter schools,” said one superintendent about Oklahoma's efforts to grow charter schools. “Our foundation was set up for a free and appropriate education for all kids. All kids!” By @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

Although this story focuses on the education system in Oklahoma, my brilliant colleague @jsmithrichards.bsky.social makes it plain that this is a vision for education, a blueprint really, for the entire country: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Current and former Department of Education employees: We want to hear from you. Use Signal to contact our reporters @jsmithrichards.bsky.social at jsmithrichards.93, @jodiscohen.bsky.social at jodireporter.88 or @megomatz.bsky.social at 414-207-6225.

Some immigrants have tried to self-deport using a Trump-promoted app. Many are still here, despite the government giving them departure dates and promises of safe travel. @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social and @mariamelba.bsky.social have a deeply reported, riveting account of people stranded in America.

Five Ways Trump’s Department of Education Is Upending Public Schools, by @megomatz.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

To understand the Trump administration’s vision for American education, @megomatz.bsky.social and I studied dozens of hours of political appointees’ speeches and podcasts and essays. What emerged is a desire to dismantle the nation’s system of public schools.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon says she's leading the department's "final mission" to shut down. But @megomatz.bsky.social and I found it's more than that: Political appointees from ultraconservative groups are in power at ED now, and they hope to dismantle public schools.

NEW: ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the Trump administration’s cuts to an aid program.

The ex-Chicago cop who got out of dozens of traffic tickets by repeating the same bogus story — that his girlfriend stole his BMW — pleaded guilty. But there’s more: @jodiscohen.bsky.social and I have been tracking pending court cases that relied on his policing. More than 90 have been dropped.

ProPublica is powered by investigative journalists. Support our union's effort to protect our workers!

NEW: The Trump administration stripped funding from programs that serve deafblind students in 8 states. Programs' years-old grant applications mentioned diversity, inclusion, and in WI, transition. As in, transitioning from childhood to adulthood. w/ @jodiscohen.bsky.social

The Minnesota Star Tribune has a live feed of news updates about the school shooting in Minneapolis. www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

Well, this is a wild ride.

1/ Early on in President Trump’s second term, I spent a few weeks observing Chicago’s immigration court to get a sense of how things were changing. One afternoon in March, the case of a 27-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker caught my attention. I want to tell you his story 👇

Today’s must-read.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Education Dept. can carry out mass firings it began in March. So I'm here to remind you that we're continuing to report on changes at ED, including to its civil rights division. If you have been affected, we're listening: www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...

UPDATE: The rural Ohio solar project that fossil fuel interests fought hard against (in part by using the local newspaper) was approved by the state today. Frasier Solar can move forward. Here's our previous story about the fight for reference. www.propublica.org/article/ohio...

Chicago operates 150 schools that are half-empty and another 47 at less than 33% capacity. It's extraordinarily expensive. The most extreme example: Douglass high school has 27 employees for 28 students this year and a per-student cost of $93,000. Story w/ with @chalkbeat.org's Mila Koumpilova.

NEW: Illinois legislators passed a law to explicitly prevent police from ticketing and fining students for minor misbehavior at school, ending a practice that harmed students across the state. By @jodiscohen.bsky.social & @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

1/ The day after the Antioch High shooting, Nashville police arrested a 12-year-old for posting a concerning screenshot on Instagram. His school was supposed to figure out if it was a valid threat. Instead, the school expelled him with no further investigation.

Three of our colleagues are being placed on PIPs today and @propublica.org management has refused to allow stewards in those meetings. We're not shutting up about this — our colleagues deserve better and we're extremely disappointed in management for denying us this basic union right.

The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights regional office in Chicago, which was previously monitoring Xander's school for civil rights violations of its disabled students, was one of seven offices abolished by President Donald Trump’s administration in March.

The Education Department is supposed to be monitoring this school and how it treats students. This is the video that captured a teacher dragging a student with autism last month after he did not stop playing with blocks to go to P.E.

You might be wondering how the Trump administration is shutting the Education Department -- something only Congress can do. Look to ED's Office for Civil Rights for the answer: Render it "useless," then subvert the core mission. This story takes you inside OCR and how students are being harmed.

For May Day, @propublicaguild.bsky.social is sharing an important update about our contract negotiations. I signed this letter because my colleagues are the smartest, best people and we deserve basic job protections like just cause. ProPublica is too great an organization to settle for anything less

The Trump administration announced it's pulling Maine's K-12 funding over what the Ed Dept called "an extremist ideological agenda." Maine has not complied with the administration's directive to ban transgender girls from women's sports. (Note: Only two trans girls are competing in Maine this year.)

Just in time for the Final Four this weekend, here is our investigation into NIL deals at one Big Ten university: @propublica.org @chicagotribune.com www.propublica.org/article/univ...

“You don’t erase that history to save somebody a little embarrassment.” By @stevemmills.bsky.social / @propublica.org

NEW: You can now send us your tips via SecureDrop, the most secure and anonymous way to share information or files with us electronically. Used properly, it shields your identity even from us. Here’s how to use it: www.propublica.org/tips

President Trump said from the Oval Office this morning that the nation's student loan portfolio will move from the Education Department to the Small Business Administration and special education and special education and nutrition will go to the Health and Human Services Department.

The lawsuit may be the most substantive legal effort to require the Education Department to enforce civil rights since 1970, when the NAACP sued the agency for allowing segregation to continue. By @jsmithrichards.bsky.social & @jodiscohen.bsky.social

NEW: Emboldened by Trump and the courts, conservative Christian lawmakers are now being open about using legislation to bring school kids to Christ. It’s a shift from even a few years ago, when such convos were often couched in “religious liberty,” etc. It's a "wake up call," said one reverend.

NEW: The class-action lawsuit claims that decimating the agency’s Office for Civil Rights will leave it unable to address issues of discrimination at school — violating the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment. By @jsmithrichards.bsky.social and @jodiscohen.bsky.social

BREAKING: A federal lawsuit filed overnight says the Trump administration is sabotaging civil rights enforcement at the U.S. Department of Education. Brought by parents & advocates, the lawsuit says actions and mass firings at OCR violate the Constitution. w/ @jodiscohen.bsky.social

In light of ED Sec. Linda McMahon's comments about transgender people today, I'm sharing the story we published this week about what's happening in Maine. It's about how the Trump administration is using federal investigations to try to force the state to comply with its transgender sports ban.

Gov. Greg Abbott called for Houston ISD's Bellaire High School employees to be investigated for potential child "abuse or neglect" after allegedly calling an anonymous student by a different name and pronouns. www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

From a press release today, quoting ED Sec. Linda McMahon: “No teacher should attempt to persuade or coerce a student to undergo a gender transition." ED supports those who "understand firsthand the damage caused by indoctrinating kids to believe that they can ever be ‘born in the wrong body.’”

Our tips truck has hit the road. This week, the Education Dept. announced it would fire about 1,300 workers. If you were affected, we'll be near the Education Dept. building, ready to meet folks where they are. You can also reach out via Signal at 917-512-0201 or go to propublica.org/tips.

NEW: The Office for Civil Rights’ locations in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco are being shuttered, ProPublica has learned. "What you've got left is a shell that can't function." This is the latest from me and @jodiscohen.bsky.social

The Education Department announced this afternoon it is cutting about half of its workers. www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

A lawmaker in Maine posted on Facebook about a transgender athlete. Soon after, the hammer of the federal government began to swing. There's been a blitz of federal investigations, and nearly everything about them is unusual. Reported with @jodiscohen.bsky.social and @bangordailynews.bsky.social

We're hearing from multiple sources that all U.S. Dept. of Ed buildings are closing at 6 p.m. and are closed tomorrow. Email to staff cites "security reasons." "Employees will not be permitted in any ED facility on Wednesday, March 12th, for any reason." @jodiscohen.bsky.social and I are following

NEW UPDATE: The pause on investigations at the Office for Civil Rights has been lifted. Work can begin on cases again, per an email to staff today from Education Secretary Linda McMahon. @jodiscohen.bsky.social and I reported a few weeks ago that only disability cases had resumed.