Federal Updates

While AESA’s advocacy regarding the budget reconciliation package has been laser focused on cuts to Medicaid and the creation of a national school voucher program, we wanted to flag two other issues that could impact school financing and student health and wellness.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a consular cable to U.S. embassies and consulates regarding F and J visa appointments. According to news coverage, “the memo instructs consular posts to pause processing of J visa applications while the Department develops procedures to expand social media screening.” While the intent appeared to focus on international students, the guidance was broadly worded and is currently being interpreted by posts as applying to all J categories—including teacher, camp counselor, au pair, and summer work travel programs.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) published a set of competitive grant priorities that the agency says it intends to apply to all discretionary grants moving forward. Grant competitions will incorporate three new priorities: “evidence-based literacy,” “school choice,” and “returning education to the States.”

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday ordering the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to reinstate employees who were terminated under the March 11th reduction in force (RIF). The order also prohibits the administration from implementing the March 20th Executive Order to dismantle ED.

AESA issued a statement in support of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 4-4 decision in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, which effectively upholds a lower court ruling preventing the establishment of the first publicly funded religious charter school in the nation.

A provision buried in the House Republican reconciliation package would ban states from taking any regulatory or legislative action on artificial intelligence (AI) for ten years. AESA opposes this federal overreach, and joined more than 140 organizations in a letter opposing the inclusion of the provision in the broader reconciliation package.

Last week, three separate House committees met to advance pieces of the Republican reconciliation proposal. Of significant concern for district leaders is the shift of costs to states that the federal government has traditionally subsidized.

During a recent House hearing, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assured lawmakers that the agency will continue to support the Head Start program.

Work on the federal fiscal year 2026 (FY26) budget officially began last week with the release of the White House Office of Management and Budget’s “skinny budget.” This initial proposal outlines major consolidations and substantial cuts to education programs.

In recent weeks, USED has leveraged the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as a policy tool to incentivize state compliance with other administration policy priorities. This blog post summarizes two sets of actions: specific communications with Maine and California, related to parent rights to access education records, and a broader ‘Dear Colleague’ letter about FERPA and students’ gender identity.