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** Weekly Update
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A newsletter from The Hechinger Report


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In this week's edition: At this year’s Moms for Liberty summit, the group tried to court younger members and more men — and encouraged suing school districts ([link removed]) . Families are worried about the Trump administration's attempts to gut the office overseeing special education ([link removed]) . Plus, analysis of a Florida school district showed cellphone bans can help kids learn — but they led to a significant increase in student suspensions in the first year, especially among Black students ([link removed]) .
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[Members of Turning Point USA chapters in Florida accept the “Liberty Sword” from Moms for Liberty CEO and co-founder Tina Descovich. Credit: Laura Pappano for the Hechinger Report]


** At Moms for Liberty summit, parents urged to turn their grievances into lawsuits

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It’s not a rebrand. But the Moms for Liberty group that introduced itself three years ago as a band of female “joyful warriors” shedding domestic modesty to make raucous public challenges to masks, books and curriculum, is trying to glow up.

The group’s national summit this past weekend at a convention center outside Orlando leaned into family (read: parental rights), faith — and youth. The latter appeared to be a bid to join the cool kids who are the new face of conservatism in America (hint: young, Christian, very male), as well as a recognition of the group’s “diversity,” which includes grandparents, men and kids.

But even as the youth — including 20- and 30-something podcasters and social media influencers, as well as student members of the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA — brought a high-energy vibe, stalwart members got a new assignment. Where past Moms for Liberty attendees were urged to run for school board, this year they were encouraged to turn their grievances into legal challenges.

Moms for Liberty CEO and co-founder Tina Descovich acknowledged that while many of them had experienced backlashes as a result of running for school board or publicly challenging books, curricula and policies, they needed to continue the fight. (The more pugnacious co-founder, Tiffany Justice, is now at Heritage Action, an arm of right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation.)

“You have lost family, you have lost friends, you have lost neighbors, you’ve lost jobs, you’ve lost whole careers,” she said. Yet she insisted that it was vital that they “shake off the shackles of fear and stand for truth or we are going to lose Western civilization as a whole.”

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This week's newsletter is supported by:
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The EGF Accelerator ([link removed]) is supporting strong leaders in sustainable nonprofits that are working to improve the education and life outcomes for low-income New Yorkers. We offer incubation, advanced leadership development, a remote Fellows program, and fund journalism about educational equity. Want to know more? Drop us a line: [email protected].

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[Maribel Gardea reads to her 14-year-old son, Voozeki, outside his San Antoni0-area school. She credits federal special education mandates for getting the school to agree to a special communications device for Voozeki, who has cerebral palsy. Credit: Courtesy Maribel Gardea]


** Parents, advocates alarmed as Trump leverages shutdown to gut special education office
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Two months after Education Secretary Linda McMahon was confirmed, she and a small team from the department met with leadership from the National Center for Learning Disabilities, an advocacy group that works on behalf of millions of students with dyslexia and other disorders.

Jacqueline Rodriguez, NCLD’s chief executive officer, recalled pressing McMahon on a question raised during her confirmation hearing: Was the Trump administration planning to move control and oversight of special education law from the Education Department to Health and Human Services?

Rodriguez was alarmed at the prospect of uprooting the 50-year-old Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), which spells out the responsibility of schools to provide a “free, appropriate public education” to students with disabilities. Eliminating the Education Department entirely is a primary objective of Project 2025, the conservative blueprint that has guided much of the administration’s education policy. After the department is gone, Project 2025 said oversight of special education should move to HHS, which manages some programs that help adults with disabilities.

But the sprawling department that oversees public health has no expertise in the complex education law, Rodriguez told McMahon.

“Someone might be able to push the button to disseminate funding, but they wouldn’t be able to answer a question from a parent or a school district,” she said in an interview later.

For her part, McMahon had wavered during her confirmation hearing on the subject. “I’m not sure that it’s not better served in HHS, but I don’t know,” she told Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who shared concerns from parents worried about who would enforce the law’s provisions.

But nine days into a government shutdown that has furloughed most federal government workers, the Trump administration announced that it was planning a drastic “reduction in force” that would lay off more than 450 people, including almost everyone who works in the Office of Special Education Programs.

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** More special education coverage
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Special education and Trump: What parents and schools need to know ([link removed])

How might dismantling the Education Department alter services for students with disabilities?
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Top scholar says evidence for special education inclusion is ‘fundamentally flawed’ ([link removed])

Analysis of 50 years of research argues that there isn’t strong evidence for the academic advantages of placing children with disabilities in general education classrooms.
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** Cellphone bans can help kids learn — but Black students are suspended more as schools make the shift

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Analysis of Florida school district after 2023 classroom cellphone restrictions shows reading and math test score gains.
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What’s unclear from this data analysis is whether Black students were more likely to violate the new cellphone rules, or whether teachers were more likely to single out Black students for punishment. ([link removed])

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** Reading list
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Big Oil should help foot the bill for lost school time, students say ([link removed])

As climate change complicates kids’ education, young people see ‘climate superfund’ legislation as one fix

NJ advisory group to probe how students with disabilities are separated from their peers ([link removed])

The group will focus on exclusion of young students with disabilities in wake of Hechinger investigation

Getting preemies the help they need ([link removed])

Therapies for babies with suspected disabilities often miss the youngest infants

Tracking Trump: His actions on education ([link removed])

The president is working to eliminate the Education Department and fighting ‘woke’ ideology in schools. A week-by-week look at what he’s done

OPINION: A shuttered government was not the lesson I hoped my Texas students would learn on a trip to Washington, D.C. ([link removed])

Instead of listening firsthand to leaders from U.S. government in our nation’s capital, they are seeing what happens when diplomacy fails

As more question the value of a degree, colleges fight to prove their return on investment ([link removed])

A bachelor’s degree still pays off, at least on average and in the long run. Yet there’s growing recognition that not all degrees lead to a good salary

OPINION: We cannot let higher education become a gated community for the wealthy, but that’s exactly where it is headed ([link removed])

New policies mean millions of young people could lose the opportunity to earn a college degree and build a more financially secure future

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