Weekly Update

 
BallotPedia's Hall Pass

In this week's edition: Some states are thinking about cutting college budgets in the name of efficiency. International students reconsider college in the U.S. Education researchers band together to challenge Trump


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Credit: Camilla Forte/The Hechinger Report

In some states, colleges face a double dose of DOGE

Oklahoma is one of about a dozen states that has considered an approach similar to the federal DOGE, though some state attempts were launched before the Trump administration’s. The federal Department of Government Efficiency, established the day Trump took office on Jan. 20, has commanded deep cuts to federal spending and the federal workforce, with limited justification.

As academia becomes a piñata for President Donald Trump and his supporters, Republican state lawmakers and governors are assembling in line: They want to get their whacks in too.

Beyond Oklahoma, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched FL DOGE in February, with a promise to review state university and college operations and spending. Republicans in the Ohio statehouse formed an Ohio DOGE caucus. One of the Iowa DOGE Task Force’s three main goals is “further refining workforce and job training programs,” some of which are run through community colleges, and its members include at least two people who work at state universities.


The current political environment represents “an unprecedented attack on higher education,” said Veena Dubal, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and general counsel for the American Association of University Professors.

Read the story


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BallotPedia's Hall Pass

Stay informed on the conversations driving school board politics and education policy around the country with Hall Pass, Ballotpedia's free, nonpartisan weekly newsletter. Get exclusive research and election insights from Ballotpedia's school board experts—plus curated commentary from across the political spectrum.

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International students are rethinking coming to the U.S. That’s a problem for colleges

Foreign-born students often pay double what domestic students do — and are key to universities’ bottom line.

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“I just don’t feel safe going to the U.S. right now.”

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Education researchers sue Trump administration, testing executive power

Prominent scholars ask the courts to reverse DOGE cuts at the Education Department.

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 "If the destruction that we see continues, we won’t exist, and our members won’t exist."


📣 Listen up

Episode 4 of season 4 of College Uncovered, a podcast from The Hechinger Report and GBH News, is out now. 

College Uncovered: The Revenge of the Humanities

Some colleges are rebranding liberal arts as “applied humanities” or “leadership studies” to better connect with career paths and market demand.


Reading list

The return of student loan debt collection: What borrowers need to know

The Trump administration plans aggressive new collection policies for federal borrowers who don’t pay back their loans

Education research takes another hit in latest DOGE attack

Education sector accounts for 40 percent of National Science Foundation cuts 

Tracking Trump: His actions to dismantle the Education Department, and more 

Read the latest updates about Trump's actions on education

As federal dollars for Head Start slow, rural parents left without other options

Nearly half of Head Start slots are in rural areas

Universidades recurren estudiantes hispanos para compensar disminución en la matrícula

Los estudiantes hispanos de bachillerato, olvidados durante mucho tiempo, están recibiendo más atención porque las universidades los necesitan. Hasta ahora, el sentimiento anti DEI no se ha interpuesto en el camino.

OPINION: Book bans draw libraries into damaging culture wars that undermine their purpose

Libraries should continue to be vital hubs for lifelong learning and civic engagement

OPINION: Calling all California education leaders: This is no time to sit back and watch our world-class systems be demolished

We need a vociferous defense of the fundamental values that have allowed progress and racial justice to flourish


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