Latest news with #TitleI
USA Today
21-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Chiefs legend Derrick Johnson reveals his mindset on retiring, Defend the Dream Foundation
A post shared by Defend The Dream Foundation (@defendthedreamfoundation) This week, Chiefs Wire's Ed Easton Jr. spoke to Kansas City Chiefs legend and franchise leader in tackles, Derrick Johnson, about his new children's book, 'Super DJ Saves Field Day,' Defend The Dream Foundation, and his realization that he would leave Kansas City after 13 seasons. "Defend The Dream Foundation caters to inner city kids through education. But what we do is go to Title I elementary schools in low-income areas and do library makeovers at their school. We add nice paint on the walls, comfortable furniture, rugs, bean bags, and a space that's specifically designed for kids. "We make it look nice and bright so it's conducive to learning," said Johnson. "We give them over 1,000 age-appropriate books, new books that they can read and do independent reading." Do anything that they need to have more resources to help them to read better, because we know there's a bad stat in the reading column; we talk in low-income areas; if they're not on grade level reading by the time they leave elementary school, half of them don't finish high school. So that's a big deal." Johnson ended his Chiefs playing career after the 2017 AFC Wild Card loss to the Tennessee Titans, but played one more season with the Oakland Raiders in 2018. He would eventually return to Kansas City to sign a one-day contract to retire with the team for which he holds the franchise record for tackles. "I was hoping it wasn't (my last game in Kansas City). But there was a reality check at the beginning of the (2017 Wild Card) game, like, this could be my last time breaking it down as a group," said Johnson, "At the moment, you don't know. Playing for 13 years, it seems like it never ends. So it's hard to say this is my last one, but 'Father Time' has gotten to me. I wasn't the player I used to be." Super DJ Saves Field Day, an inspiring story about a dad-turned-superhero who flies in and helps kids overcome challenges and find their own super powers, will be released under Black Rose Writing. Super DJ Saves Field Day is available on August 7th. Follow the link to order now! Check the website for more information on Derrick Johnson's Defend The Dream Foundation.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Funding for farming internship program at APS in jeopardy
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A group of Albuqeurque Public Schools' students has been spending their summer on a farm as part of an internship that helps them and the community. But funding for the program could be in jeopardy. Story continues below News: New Mexico Supreme Court throws out embezzlement charges against former official Trending: A 'professional courtesy': How an officer crossed the line Community: Funding for farming internship program at APS in jeopardy KRQE Investigates: Embattled McKinley County DA asks for emergency funding to keep her office running This is the third summer, Rio Grande High School students have been helping local farms through the Agriculture and Nutrition Internship Program. The students receive an elective credit, and the school district even pays them in exchange for their work at farm-to-table businesses around Albuquerque, like Old Town Farms and Chispas Farm. Domonic Taylor, an APS educational assistant, said it's a great way for students to put their phones down and to get outside. Old Town Farms said they love the help. An APS senior director sent an email to Rio Grande High School's principal in May stating that the school would need to find funding for the program after this summer, because district funds may not be available in the future. The popular program has even expanded to include Valley and Sandia High School students. Leaders of the agriculture internship program said that students taking part in career and technical programs have higher graduation rates. An APS spokesperson sent this statement: In prior fiscal years, it was funded by our Career Connected Learning department's operational budget. This year, that funding was allocated directly to schools. Moving forward, Rio Grande High School can continue to fund the program through the additional operational funds for Career Connected Learning classes and the additional Title I school-based funding it's now receiving. It's up to the school's leadership and Instructional Council to determine whether that program should continue to be funded or whether the money is better spent elsewhere. Martin Salazar Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Time Magazine
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
We Need a Constitutional Amendment to Protect U.S. Education
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court gave the Trump Administration a green light to do what it has long promised: gut the Department of Education from the inside out. The ruling upheld the administration's authority to fire department staff en masse, paving the way for a de facto dismantling of an agency responsible for enforcing civil rights law, allocating billions in federal education funding, and ensuring that when states fail poor children, someone still shows up. This isn't a bureaucratic reshuffling. It's a deliberate unraveling of the federal government's role in public education—an already weakened, often reluctant, commitment to the idea that education is a national responsibility, not just a local budget line. If we are to protect this idea, we urgently need a constitutional amendment which enshrines the right to education for all Americans. It won't be easy. But it is required if we are going to recover from these legal, economic, and political assaults coming from the Trump Administration. This became clear in the weeks leading up to the Supreme Court's decision when the Trump Administration made its intentions clear. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon threatened to withhold Title I funding—designed for schools serving the highest concentrations of poverty—from districts that refused to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Then came the quiet refusal to release $7 billion in education funding already approved by Congress. None of this is happening in a vacuum. These moves are part of broader efforts which have been building for years: a project not to fix public education, but to abandon it. To convert justified public frustration into a license for withdrawal. And yes, that frustration is real. According to Pew, over half of Americans believe public K–12 education is on the wrong track. Classrooms are overcrowded, teachers underpaid, schools under-resourced. A resounding 82% of teachers say things have gotten worse over the past five years. College doesn't fare much better. Gallup reports that trust in higher education has cratered—particularly among working-class families and communities of color burdened by debt and priced out of opportunity. But these are not critiques of the public good itself—they are evidence of abandonment. And the response from lawmakers, Democratic and Republican alike, hasn't been to repair the system. It has been to shrink it, politicize it, starve it, and now, through the Court, dismantle the very infrastructure needed to enforce our nation's own laws. This moment is not just about saving a department. It's about reclaiming the idea that democracy requires a literate, critical, cared-for citizenry—and that the right to education is not something the states can choose to ignore. The long history of efforts to end the Department of Education The Department of Education, created as a Cabinet-level agency in 1979, was never perfect. But it existed for a reason: to intervene when states, left to their own devices, would not or could not educate all children fairly. It enforced desegregation orders. It monitored civil rights compliance under Title IX and IDEA. It held districts accountable when racial discrimination was systemic and unapologetic. This isn't the first time we've been here. In 1867, the federal government created the first Department of Education—not to regulate curriculum, but to gather data on how best to educate the newly freed Black population and poor whites in the post–Civil War South. It was a fragile, symbolic effort to build a national vision for learning and citizenship in a country struggling to imagine either across racial lines. Arguing that the federal government had no role to play in education, states organized and protested the new agency, and shut it down in less than a year. A century later, when Brown v. Board made segregation illegal, many states closed schools rather than integrate them. Others used zoning, funding, and private academies to maintain racial separation under different names. It took federal enforcement to protect U.S. citizens from the unequal citizenship their states desired for them. Now, we're watching that enforcement dissolve and once again, the reasoning is wrapped in the language of 'local control.' But let's be clear: local control has always been a polite term for resisting federal authority to protect its most vulnerable citizens. It means those with the most power get to shape curriculum, hoard resources, and decide who belongs—and who doesn't. The legacy of Bob Moses In this moment, we would benefit to remember the legacy of civil rights organizer and founder of the Algebra Project, Bob Moses. Moses understood better than most that education is not just about access to classrooms. It is about access to power. He believed that algebra was a 'gatekeeper' to full citizenship. Without it—and without the trained teachers, safe schools, and rigorous curriculum needed to teach it—students living in poverty were being systematically locked out of economic and civic life. For Moses, the fight for educational justice required more than reform. It required a new constitutional right. He spent the final decades of his life calling for an amendment that would guarantee every child in the United States—not just access to school buildings, but access to quality public education as a civil right. He knew what we are now learning the hard way: that unless quality is guaranteed by law, inequality will be guaranteed by design. 'We have been running an education system that is driving a caste system. We agree to have failing schools with the caveat that we also have a plethora of programs to rescue different categories of students from them,' Moses argued in 2012. 'Almost every program you can think of—charter schools, vouchers, affirmative action—all rescue different categories of students. We can't announce that as an education policy, but that's what we do.' Notably, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in 2023 and Congress passed a national school voucher program earlier this month. Indeed, rather than fix our educational system for all, as Moses had supported, the conservative movement has cherry-picked which students get to be 'rescued.' And in this moment—when the federal government is retreating, when civil rights enforcement is in free fall, when schools are being turned into ideological piggybanks—Moses's call for a constitutional amendment is no longer aspirational. It is necessary. This would not be easy. It would take litigation, legislation, and mass mobilization. But so did desegregation. So did voting rights. So did anything this country has ever done that was worth doing. What this Court has made official, many states were already doing in practice: walking away from the idea that education is a public good. But the people haven't walked away. In poll after poll, Americans continue to believe in public education. A 2024 Pew study found that 77% think the federal government should play a role in ensuring educational equity. Public school remains one of the last remaining entitlements that enjoys broad support across race, class, and even party lines. The question is no longer whether the people believe. It's whether the government is willing to act. Bob Moses saw this moment coming. And he left us a blueprint. If we don't follow that blueprint, we stand to witness not just the dismantling of the Department of Education, but the dismantling of public education itself.
The Herald Scotland
16-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Trump's Education Dept. layoffs get green light. What now?
Another big development came on June 14, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could move forward with laying off more than 1,300 Education Department workers. The staffers - whose responsibilities included helping protect students and teachers from discrimination, assisting college financial aid offices and compiling data about the nation's schools - were laid off in March. The Supreme Court's green light came with caveats, though: The justices didn't rule on the merits of the case. They only allowed the agency to carry out the layoffs while a legal challenge proceeds. Education Dept. layoffs by the numbers: See which staff were ousted, where cuts hit hardest To be clear, there isn't much changing in the wake of this week's Supreme Court decision. All the workers who were let go in March have been locked out of their jobs since then. The difference now is that their terminations are official (unless a judge subsequently rules otherwise). And despite all the big talk from the White House, the Education Department isn't going away: Education Secretary Linda McMahon has made it clear that she knows her agency can't be fully eliminated without the help of Congress, and the coordinated effort required (including help from Democrats) isn't likely. Read more: What does the Education Department do? Trump gets the OK to gut it For many onlookers, the twists and turns in the Education Department saga have been unpredictable. The news has been confusing. And the rhetoric, coming from people on both sides of the issue, has left some scared. Here's how it all might impact you: Your child's school Public K-12 schools are primarily overseen at the local level by school boards. But they receive about a tenth of their funding from the federal government. And that funding has strings attached, which is where the Education Department comes in. The agency's layoffs have three main areas of potential impact for K-12 schools. First, there may continue to be disruptions in federal funding, which could cause other problems for school administrators trying to balance their budgets. For example, funding estimates for low-income schools that rely on Title I grants were a month late this year. That kind of uncertainty can trigger cost-cutting measures, such as hiring freezes, for districts. In addition, there will continue to be fewer federal workers on hand to address reports of discrimination affecting students and teachers. The Trump administration has dismissed hundreds of attorneys at the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights and closed more than half a dozen regional offices. Lastly, federal data that school administrators and teachers rely on remains in jeopardy. The National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees some of the most important educational progress assessments in the country, was reduced to just a handful of people in March. Without that data, teachers could have a harder time ensuring their students' learning is on track. Your financial aid Since the Education Department layoffs were announced, universities across the country have reported widespread problems in administering financial aid. That's because the division that lost the most employees was the Federal Student Aid office, which offers students help paying for college. Read more: Colleges report widespread problems with financial aid since Education Department layoffs A survey of roughly 900 colleges published on May 21 revealed new bottlenecks in the federal financial aid system. Missed emails, long call wait times and broader disruptions have made it harder for universities to help students access financial assistance, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators found. Your student loans Student loan borrowers will continue to have fewer supports because of the layoffs. Education Department staffers responsible for holding student loan servicers accountable won't return to work. Nor will other workers who helped borrowers with the most complicated lending issues. Despite the lack of staffing, the Education Department's workload just grew. After President Trump signed his massive tax and spending bill into law, the agency was tasked with implementing two new loan repayment programs, as well as a complex system for holding colleges accountable. Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@ Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @
USA Today
15-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump's Education Department layoffs got a green light. What now?
The Supreme Court said the downsizing could proceed, at least for now. What does that mean for students, parents and teachers? WASHINGTON – Keeping tabs on President Donald Trump's campaign to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education hasn't been easy for students, parents and teachers. The effort has been multifaceted and drawn out. And it still isn't exactly close to over. Another big development came on June 14, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could move forward with laying off more than 1,300 Education Department workers. The staffers – whose responsibilities included helping protect students and teachers from discrimination, assisting college financial aid offices and compiling data about the nation's schools – were laid off in March. The Supreme Court's green light came with caveats, though: The justices didn't rule on the merits of the case. They only allowed the agency to carry out the layoffs while a legal challenge proceeds. Education Dept. layoffs by the numbers: See which staff were ousted, where cuts hit hardest To be clear, there isn't much changing in the wake of this week's Supreme Court decision. All the workers who were let go in March have been locked out of their jobs since then. The difference now is that their terminations are official (unless a judge subsequently rules otherwise). And despite all the big talk from the White House, the Education Department isn't going away: Education Secretary Linda McMahon has made it clear that she knows her agency can't be fully eliminated without the help of Congress, and the coordinated effort required (including help from Democrats) isn't likely. Read more: What does the Education Department do? Trump gets the OK to gut it For many onlookers, the twists and turns in the Education Department saga have been unpredictable. The news has been confusing. And the rhetoric, coming from people on both sides of the issue, has left some scared. Here's how it all might impact you: Your child's school Public K-12 schools are primarily overseen at the local level by school boards. But they receive about a tenth of their funding from the federal government. And that funding has strings attached, which is where the Education Department comes in. The agency's layoffs have three main areas of potential impact for K-12 schools. First, there may continue to be disruptions in federal funding, which could cause other problems for school administrators trying to balance their budgets. For example, funding estimates for low-income schools that rely on Title I grants were a month late this year. That kind of uncertainty can trigger cost-cutting measures, such as hiring freezes, for districts. In addition, there will continue to be fewer federal workers on hand to address reports of discrimination affecting students and teachers. The Trump administration has dismissed hundreds of attorneys at the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights and closed more than half a dozen regional offices. Lastly, federal data that school administrators and teachers rely on remains in jeopardy. The National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees some of the most important educational progress assessments in the country, was reduced to just a handful of people in March. Without that data, teachers could have a harder time ensuring their students' learning is on track. Your financial aid Since the Education Department layoffs were announced, universities across the country have reported widespread problems in administering financial aid. That's because the division that lost the most employees was the Federal Student Aid office, which offers students help paying for college. Read more: Colleges report widespread problems with financial aid since Education Department layoffs A survey of roughly 900 colleges published on May 21 revealed new bottlenecks in the federal financial aid system. Missed emails, long call wait times and broader disruptions have made it harder for universities to help students access financial assistance, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators found. Your student loans Student loan borrowers will continue to have fewer supports because of the layoffs. Education Department staffers responsible for holding student loan servicers accountable won't return to work. Nor will other workers who helped borrowers with the most complicated lending issues. Despite the lack of staffing, the Education Department's workload just grew. After President Trump signed his massive tax and spending bill into law, the agency was tasked with implementing two new loan repayment programs, as well as a complex system for holding colleges accountable. Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@ Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @
