Weekly Update 11/12/24

Appropriations

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has told allies that he's leaning toward a Continuing Resolution (CR) that would extend into March with a disaster relief package attached…

Trump-Vance Administration Nominees

President-elect Trump is assembling his Cabinet and senior staff for his second term in the White House before taking office in January…

Congress

In the House, at least nine appropriators are not returning to Congress next year, and this number may increase as more than half a dozen appropriators’ races are still uncalled…

Three Republican senators are vying to be the majority leader in the upper chamber in the new Congress…

California

Proposition 2, a $10 billion bond to fund school repair, passed on Tuesday (11/5), a coup for school advocates and construction firms that had watched the measure struggle to gain traction throughout the fall…

While California’s 2024 legislative session wasn’t very heavy on landmark housing bills, the state began streamlining development and addressing homelessness…

With Donald Trump’s election, California is preparing to reprise a familiar role as a counterbalance on key national issues…

President and Administration

The nursing home industry views President-elect Donald Trump’s victory as a potential opportunity for change, particularly regarding the Biden administration’s recently implemented staffing rule…

As former President Donald Trump prepares to start a second term, changes to U.S. cyber policy and federal cybersecurity oversight may be on the horizon…

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely be a part of a second Trump administration’s HHS, where he could play a major role in shaping policy as the department grapples with cybersecurity and legal challenges…

Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign touched on numerous tax cut proposals, but he will soon need to navigate the practical challenges of implementing them…

Donald Trump’s promise to abolish the Education Department just got closer to reality…

Despite political polarization, this opinion article argues that the 2024 election has opened a potential "policy window" for national consensus on childcare reform in the U.S…

Jenniffer González of Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood New Progressive Party was leading polls on Wednesday (11/6) in a historic gubernatorial election…

CHC BOLD PAC, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, congratulated Pablo José Hernández Rivera on Thursday (11/7) on his election as the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico…

Genera PR announced on Thursday (11/7) the awarding of $459 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the purchase and installation of equipment…

Education

Recent state-level decisions in Kentucky, Nebraska, and Colorado saw voters rejecting ballot measures intended to expand or formally establish private school choice initiatives…

After yearslong failures to give families tax dollars for private tuition, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott now appears to have enough legislative support to move forward…

Special Post-Election Update - 11/7/24

Future of Community Project Requests and FY25 Appropriations

The FY25 budget still needs to be passed. It is currently scheduled to be considered in December, but with these election results it is possible that instead of passing a full budget…

Trump-Vance Administration - What to Expect

Donald Trump secured enough Electoral College votes to set the stage for a second term by flipping key swing states, including Georgia, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania…

House Majority Uncertain as Key Races Await Final Counts

As of November 6, 2024, the control over the House of Representatives is still undetermined, with 48 races yet to be called…

Republicans Take Senate Majority

As of November 6, 2024, the Republican Party has gained control of the U.S. Senate, marking a significant shift in the legislative branch…

Weekly Update 11/4/24

Changes in Electoral Vote Process

After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2022, the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) was signed into law…

Congress

As voters head to the polls in Tuesday's elections, they’ll also be choosing a new Congress…

Reps. Burgess Owens (R-UT) and Tim Walberg (R-MI) are vying to replace Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)…

Two majority-Latino House districts in California's heartland have become major targets for both parties heading into the election…

California

Gavin Newsom and his administration are making further contingency plans to shield the Golden State in case former President Donald Trump returns to the White House…

Education

The SEED School of Washington, D.C., a rare charter boarding campus in the District, has been accused of flouting local and federal education laws that protect students with disabilities…

New research shows older students are hitting a “decoding threshold…”

Tense conflict over issues like how districts teach about race, their policies related to LGBTQ+ students, and the books they keep in school libraries cost American schools more than $3 billion…

The 2024 election could have significant implications for K-12 schools, as the presidential candidates present distinctly different approaches to education policy…

A new report finds that more schools are now investing in social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula than just a few years ago…

Weekly Update 10/28/24

Electoral College

Approximately 31 million Americans have already voted in the 2024 election. But the chances of the election being called on November 5, are unlikely…

Election 2024

While many people wonder about the outcome of the Electoral College, not many pay attention to the selection of the electors, which begins with political parties and ends with voters casting their ballots…

President and Administration

The Education Department announced on Friday (10/25) a set of proposed rules that, if finalized, would authorize student loan forgiveness for about eight million borrowers experiencing financial hardship…

NAMI National’s Youth and Young Adult Initiatives team created NAMI TraumaInSight, a free, open to the public, virtual, and self-paced trauma awareness training

California

California taxes came in $2.4 billion above projections in September and are now $7.3 billion higher than was forecast before the state’s last budget passed…

Education

Voters have a history of rejecting private school choice measures at the ballot box…

A year after it was convened by the Hoover Institution, the Education Futures Council released its first report Tuesday (10/22)

This article discusses the need for schools to honor bilingual students’ diverse backgrounds throughout the year…

The parents of a Massachusetts teenager are suing his high school after they say he was unfairly punished for using generative artificial intelligence on an assignment…

School safety is critical to student success and school improvement…

When schools prioritize making families feel welcome, valued, and heard, they create an environment that fosters trust and partnership…

The U.S. Department of Education’s (Department’s) Office of Educational Technology released Empowering Education Leaders: A Toolkit for Safe, Ethical, and Equitable AI Integration…

Weekly Update 10/21/24

President and Administration

Kamala Harris took aim at voters in her opponent Donald Trump’s stronghold in releasing a plan to help rural America…

Congress

Congress appears poised to extend eased access to telehealth for Medicare patients, but the fate of virtual care in high-deductible plans remains less certain as lawmakers plan for a year-end package…

The nation’s loan program for disaster survivors has fully exhausted its funding, the Biden administration announced Tuesday…

Nearly two years ago, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) lost his bid to lead the House Education and the Workforce Committee to Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)…

California

Health officials across the U.S. are working to prevent a potentially dangerous combination virus as avian flu rips through one of the nation's largest milk-producing regions…

Education

Lawmakers, pushing to remake legislative maps, are increasingly turning for assistance to groups like the American Federation for Children and the School Freedom Fund…

While the average American student has recovered about one-third of pandemic learning losses in math and about a quarter in reading, many others are still struggling in COVID’s wake…

The topic of education has been largely absent from the presidential race, and debate over charter schools—once a marquee issue in the national discourse about education—especially so…

The 2024 presidential election is less than two weeks away, and one issue has been notably absent from debates, policy platforms, and stump speeches: K-12 education…

One-fifth of vacant teacher positions remained unfilled at the start of this school year, according to new federal data…