Back in the summer and fall, I recorded episodes on three big education policy trends. Cell phone bans in schools, teacher evaluations tied to test scores, and the executive order about dismantling the Department of Education. A lot has changed since then. In this mid-year education policy update, I’m pulling clips from those original episodes and jumping in with what’s shifted, what’s stayed the same, and what you need to know right now. If you’ve been too busy teaching to keep up, this is your catch-up episode.
If you’ve been teaching long enough, you know that education policy doesn’t stop moving just because you’re busy surviving the school year. Back in the summer and fall, I recorded episodes breaking down three major policy trends: cell phone bans in schools, teacher evaluations tied to test scores, and the executive order about dismantling the Department of Education. At the time, I did my best to cut through the jargon and translate what these policies actually mean for those of us in the classroom.
But a lot has changed since then. And some of it changed faster than I expected.
So this week on If Teachers Ruled the World, I’m doing something a little different. I’m pulling clips from those original episodes and jumping in with real-time updates — what’s shifted, what’s stayed the same, and what you need to be paying attention to right now. Think of it as your mid-year education policy update, straight from someone who’s in the trenches with you.
What’s Changed with Cell Phone Bans, Teacher Evaluations, and Federal Education Funding Cuts
When I recorded the cell phone episode, about 26 states had laws on the books. As of now, we’re at 35 states plus D.C., with 22 of those laws passing in 2025 alone. Georgia signed its own bell to bell phone policy for K-8 students, and the national momentum shows no signs of slowing down. I also talk about what’s actually happening in my classroom post-Christmas break. Because policy on paper and policy in practice are two very different things.
On teacher evaluations, the trend is moving away from tying our ratings to student test scores. Illinois made it optional. Virginia rebalanced their system. And here in Georgia, the GaLEADS pilot is working toward replacing TKES with something that actually supports teacher growth instead of punishing us with data we barely control.
And then there’s the Department of Education. The executive order I discussed in the summer has turned into real action. Mass layoffs, programs being transferred to other agencies, and billions in federal education funding cuts temporarily withheld from states. Congress pushed back with bipartisan votes to protect Title I and IDEA funding, but the uncertainty isn’t going away anytime soon.
Why Teachers Need to Stay Informed on Education Policy Right Now
I’m not trying to scare you. Most of what affects your daily work is still decided at the state and local level. That hasn’t changed. But the protections and funding that serve our most vulnerable students are in a more uncertain place than they were six months ago, and pretending otherwise doesn’t help anybody.
My goal with this episode is the same as it always is on Teacher Reality Check. To give you the information you need without the spin, connect it to what it actually means in your classroom, and remind you that your perspective as a practitioner matters in these conversations. Because when teachers have a seat at the table, the policies look different. And when we don’t, well…you’ll hear all about that in the episode.
Key Takeaway: Education policy is moving fast in 2026, with cell phone bans now in 39 states, teacher evaluations shifting away from test scores, and the Department of Education facing major restructuring. Here’s what classroom teachers actually need to know right now.
Key Moments: 1:15 – Education policy update: Revisiting the biggest changes affecting teachers this year
1:56 – Cell phone bans in schools: How bell to bell phone policy mandates actually play out in the classroom
3:39 – The mid-year cell phone struggle and practical strategies for enforcing phone policies after winter break
8:17 – 35 states and counting: The latest education policy update on cell phone bans in schools for 2025-2026
11:56 – Teacher evaluations under fire: Why test scores don’t measure what politicians think they do
14:13 – States are walking it back: How teacher evaluations are shifting away from test score dependence
22:38 – Department of Education dismantling: What’s actually happened and what it means for education policy update efforts
26:33 – Federal education funding cuts, Title I protections, and why education policy update teachers need to stay informed
Resources and Links
Cell Phone Bans:
“State Policies on Cellphone Use in K-12 Public Schools” – Ballotpedia (interactive map, updated regularly)
“Schools Prepare to Ban Cellphones Through Eighth Grade” – Capitol Beat (Georgia’s HB 340)
“Popular and political support growing for ban on cellphones in Georgia high schools” – Capitol Beat
Teacher Evaluations:
“Illinois Poised to End Rule That Educator Evaluations Include Test Scores” – Chalkbeat
“Teachers’ Performance Shouldn’t Be Based on Students’ Scores – How 9 States Are Making the Change” – Bored Teachers
“Dealing with Teacher Evaluations” – PAGE (Georgia’s TKES and GaLEADS pilot)
Department of Education:
“Is Trump Dismantling the Department of Education? Not Yet. But Changes Are Coming.” – Chalkbeat
“Senators—Including Republicans—Reject All of Trump’s Proposed Education Cuts” – Education Week
“President Trump’s First Year: Education in America” – US Department od Education
Episodes in This Recap/Update:
Episode 3: Bell-to-Bell Phone Bans – If Teachers Ruled the World
Episode 7: The Evaluation Game – If Teachers Ruled the World
Episode 11: Teacher’s Guide to Department of Education Changes – If Teachers Ruled the World
Prefer Reading? I’ve Got You…
Show Transcript
Earlier this year, I did an episode on cell phone bans in schools. Episode three Bell to Bell cell phone bans. And I want to revisit it because, well, because it’s February and you’re a teacher, you know exactly what this means. The honeymoon is long over the routines you establish in August, your students have decided those are more like suggestions now. So I want to play part of that original episode and then jump in with what’s actually happening in my classroom right now, plus some pretty significant policy updates since I recorded it. Here we go.
Today we’re diving into one of the hottest education policy trends sweeping the nation right now. Cell phone bans in schools. You’ve probably heard the phrase bell to bell restrictions thrown around in the news. Politicians are calling it a solution to student distraction, and mental health issues put a lot on those cell phones. But as someone who’s been managing phones in my own classroom for years, I want to translate what this policy jargon actually means for those of us who have to make it work in the real world. So let’s start with that phrase bell to bell. Politicians say bell to Bell policy, but what they really mean is teachers. You’re now phone police. From the moment kids walk in your door until they leave. Good luck with all that. At least twenty six states now have laws restricting cell phones in schools, with seventeen states acting just this year alone. New York just became the largest state to require these restrictions, effective this fall. But here’s what I want to know. Where’s the implementation plan? Now, I want to be clear I’m not against managing phones in the classroom. I’ve had my own phone policy since before it was a county wide policy in my district. When students enter my classroom, phones go in a pouch. The pouch isn’t locked, and I have a charging station with twenty seven spots so kids can charge their phone while they’re stored. A little spoonful of sugar, as Mary Poppins would say. And here’s the thing most of my students are fine with this because we have clear expectations and mutual respect.
Okay, I need to pause here because I’m listening to summer me talk about how most of my students are fine with this, and I just want to be real with you. We came back from Christmas break and suddenly it’s like the first week of school again. I’m trying to double check when I take attendance, because kids are trying to slip by without putting their cell phones in the pouch. Now, when I catch them, I tell them and they do it. It’s not a battle, but it is a game, and I don’t love playing it every single period. I know another teacher who handles this by having students put a card in the pouch instead of their phone if they say they don’t have their phone, and the card says something like, I don’t have my phone today. I understand that if I’m seen with my phone during class, it will be an office referral. I think that’s smart. I think that’s fair. It puts the accountability right back on the student and it saves the teacher time and quite frankly, a lot of frustration. But for me, and this does go back to the whole relationship piece. My approach will probably be more like, okay, if this keeps happening, it’s a phone call home and then I escalate from there. That’s really more my speed. I’m not saying the referral is wrong. Kids know what they’re supposed to do, and at a certain point, a consequence is a consequence and it is warranted. But I’d rather start with the relationship lever first. That said, if my students keep playing this little game with me, I might adopt that card system just to save myself five minutes every class. We’ll see. Now, I also want to say that all of this is school wide, in spite of state cell phone ban mandates. So it’s a struggle regardless of what the law is. All right, let’s get back to the episode.
If there’s a genuine need, like a football player expecting a text from coach about a scout visit, or a student who needs to call mom about staying after school. We handle it reasonably, because here’s what politicians don’t understand. We don’t live in the same world I grew up in, where a teacher could expect to be obeyed just because they said, do this. For better or worse, that is not our reality. And as Machiavelli said, oh yes, I’m quoting Machiavelli. Well, I’m paraphrasing Machiavelli. It’s better to be feared than loved. But you don’t want to be hated. Because if people hate you, they’re going to overthrow you. That’s true whether you’re dealing with kids or adults. Here’s what frustrates me about these mandates. Politicians have these ideas that sound great. Kids are on their phones all the time. These lazy teachers aren’t doing their job. Let’s make them. But that’s not the case in most classrooms. That’s not the case in my classroom. My students aren’t sitting there scrolling through social media because I’ve established a system that works. Don’t give me a mandate with a specific way to handle something. If the way I’m already handling it is working, and if it’s not working for some teachers, we need to give them support to help them. Give them strategies, not mandates. Because here’s the reality the teachers who aren’t enforcing phone policies now, they’re probably not going to enforce the new mandate of ones either. But you’re adding another layer of bureaucracy and potential conflict. For those of us who have already figured out how to maintain classroom management while treating students like human beings. What we really need is support for teachers to develop classroom management skills, not micromanagement of exactly how we handle every situation. Policing phones should not be added to our already overwhelming list of responsibilities. We’re educators, not security guards. I understand the concerns about phone use and student mental health. They’re valid, but effective. Classroom management has always been about relationships, clear expectations, and reasonable enforcement. You can’t legislate your way into good teaching.
That was from the summer. And let me tell you, a lot has changed on the policy front since I recorded that. When I did this episode, I mentioned that about twenty six states had laws restricting cell phones in schools. As of right now, we’re at thirty five states plus DC. Twenty two of those laws were passed in twenty twenty five alone. This thing is moving fast and it has bipartisan support, which, if you follow education policy at all, you know, is incredibly rare. New York became one of the biggest stories. They passed a full bell to bell ban as part of their state budget, and it went into effect this school year. We’re talking no phones during class, during lunch, in the hallways the whole day. And here in Georgia, Governor Kemp signed the Distraction Free Education Act. That’s House Bill three forty, which bans personal devices for K through eight students. Bell to bell that goes into effect July twenty twenty six. So elementary and middle school teachers in Georgia that is coming for you. And there’s already conversation about expanding it to high schools, because right now Georgia is actually considered an outlier for not restricting devices at the high school level. Texas allocated twenty million dollars in grant funding just to help schools buy secure storage solutions. Pew research found that seventy four percent of adults now support banning phones in middle and high schools during class. And a national survey of over twenty thousand educators found that the stricter the policy, the less students use their phone and the more satisfied teachers are. So that is an interesting thing for us to follow. I mean, teachers could have told you that for free. But it is nice to have the data. Here’s what I keep coming back to, though. And this is what I said in the original episode. Where is the implementation plan? Because we’ve now got thirty five states saying ban the phones. Great. But who’s enforcing it? Who’s buying the pouches, the lockers, the charging stations, who’s dealing with the parents who call the front office furious because they can’t text their kids during third period? That’s us. That is always us. I am not anti-phone ban. You heard me. I’ve had my own policy for years. But there’s a difference between a politician signing a bill and a teacher standing in front of thirty kids at eight a m, making it work. And that gap. That’s what teacher reality check is all about.
Next up, I want to revisit part of episode seven, The Evaluation Game, an episode I did on teacher evaluations, specifically, the question of whether student test scores should be a major factor in how we’re evaluated. When I recorded this, I had some strong feelings about it. Shocker, I know. And what’s interesting is that since then, the national conversation has actually started to shift. So I want to play part of that episode and then talk about what’s changed and what hasn’t. Let’s listen.
Whether you’re evaluated as effective or not might have less to do with your actual teaching, and more to do with your state’s politics and union strength. So let’s start with the basics. Right now, as you’re listening to this, in August, teachers across the country are dealing with brand new evaluation systems, but only in some states. If you’re teaching in Michigan, Congratulations. Your evaluation criteria just changed dramatically this year. Student test scores used to make up forty percent of your evaluation. Now only twenty percent. Your union fought for that change, which means you had a voice in what shows up on your evaluation. But if you’re teaching in Alabama or Texas, you’re stuck with whatever policymakers decide. Why? Because Alabama and Texas are among the five states that prohibit collective bargaining for teachers, no union power means no teacher voice in evaluation policy. So here’s the reality check. The criteria used to judge whether you’re a good teacher might depend more on which state you happen to teach in, than on your actual effectiveness in the classroom. How’s that for professional standards? Now, I need to be honest with you. I’m a bit of a numbers nerd myself, in spite of not being great at math. I like looking at data. I like analyzing patterns, and I absolutely use that information to see what’s working and what isn’t working in my classroom. But here’s what the research actually tells us about using student test scores to evaluate teachers. Teachers control somewhere between one percent and fourteen percent of what shows up on those test scores. Let me say that again one percent to fourteen percent. The other eighty six percent to ninety nine percent. That’s out of school. Factors, family issues, health, access to resources, socioeconomic status. So if teachers only control a tiny fraction of what shows up on test scores, why are we pretending like test scores tell us anything meaningful about teaching quality.
I need to stop here because when I recorded this, I felt like I was shouting into the void. Like teachers have been saying this for years, we only control a tiny fraction of what shows up on those scores and nobody was listening. But since this episode aired, there’s actually been movement on this. Real movement. Illinois passed a law making it optional for districts to include test scores in teacher evaluations. That went into effect in twenty twenty five. They joined about twenty other states that no longer require it. And here’s the number that matters. In twenty fifteen, forty three states required student test scores in teacher evaluations. As of now, that number is down to around thirty. That, my friends, is a significant shift. Virginia overhauled their system too. Test scores used to count for forty percent of a teacher’s rating. They reduced that and rebalanced it with things like classroom environment and planning. You know, the things that actually reflect what we do every day. And right here in Georgia, the Department of Education has been piloting a new system called Georgia Leads. Our GA leads to eventually replace Teaks, which is our current evaluation system. The whole point is to move away from what Superintendent Richard Woods called a punitive gotcha system, and toward something that actually supports teacher growth. They’ve been piloting it in about a dozen districts. Now, I want to be cautiously optimistic here because and this is important, even Georgia leads still has test scores baked into it. Growth and achievement data still account for thirty percent of the evaluation. And that applies to every teacher in the building, not just the ones who teach tested subjects. So we’re moving in the right direction, but we are not there yet. The bigger story, though, is this the Obama era race to the top push that started all of this. States are walking it back. And I think that matters for teachers to hear, because sometimes it feels like nothing ever changes. But it does. It just changes slowly. Okay, let’s keep going.
Here’s where it gets really interesting. Research shows that in the states where districts are required to negotiate evaluation policies with unions, only seventeen percent agreed to wait student achievement at thirty percent or more. But in states where districts choose to negotiate, forty six percent went with heavy test score weighting. Translation. When teachers have a seat at the table, they successfully negotiate away from test score heavy evaluations. When they don’t have that power, policymakers can implement whatever they want. Now there’s a brilliant Ted talk called The Myth of Common Sense by Duncan. What’s a guy who started as a physicist and became a sociologist? He makes this incredible point. We say it’s not rocket science when we want to say something should be easy. But here’s the thing rocket science actually isn’t that hard for people who are good at rocket science. We figured out rockets, right? What’s infinitely harder? Dealing with humans in education? Education is all about dealing with humans. I have the utmost respect for the natural sciences. I’m grateful for them. But we have to remember that while we can borrow some strategies from natural sciences, we cannot approach education in the exact same way. A lot of teaching is responsive. What we’re responding to is human need, not what works in this situation because it will work every time. That is not the way people work. Teaching is an art, not a science. The researchers who are reporting these best practices. I am grateful for them because I learn a lot from them, and I take what they’ve done and I adapt it. But you have to keep in mind that these people aren’t doing the actual day to day work of teaching. They’re researchers, not practitioners. Teachers are practitioners. We deal with the messiness, the unpredictability, the beautiful chaos of actual classrooms filled with actual kids. We can’t control all the variables like researchers try to. We work with what we’ve got, and what we’ve got is gloriously, frustratingly human. But here’s what really gets me. What are we teaching kids about ownership when we act like their test scores are entirely their teacher’s responsibility? That’s dangerous. We’re teaching them a bigger lesson about life, that they have no agency, that they have no control over outcomes. We want them to put two and two together, study effectively for the test, get an A, don’t study effectively for the test, and then blame the teacher. That’s not the lesson we want to teach. When we make test scores, the primary measure of teacher effectiveness, we’re robbing students of ownership of their learning were telling them they’re passive recipients rather than active participants in their education. Meanwhile, back in the real world, districts are scrambling to figure out new evaluation systems. Here’s our reality check. We’re taking one of the most complex, nuanced, relationship based professions in the world and trying to reduce it to a formula. We’re pretending that we can measure the art of teaching the same way we measure the science of rocket propulsion. But if dealing with humans is harder than rocket science, maybe we should stop pretending that teacher evaluation can be reduced to a simple formula.
So here’s where I want to land on this. When I recorded that episode, I talked about how we’re trying to reduce the most complex human relationship based profession in the world to a formula. And I still believe that. But what gives me a little bit of hope is that the pendulum is actually swinging. States are pulling back on test score heavy evaluations. Georgia’s piloting something new. Illinois made test scores optional. The research is backing up what teachers have been saying all along that tying our evaluation to scores we barely control doesn’t improve teaching, and it definitely doesn’t improve morale. And that is a big deal in this age of teacher shortages. But and there’s always a but, we’re still in this messy middle. TEAKS is still the system most of us in Georgia are being evaluated under right now. And even the new pilot still leans on test data. So while I’m encouraged, I’m also realistic because here’s the pattern. And if you’ve been teaching long enough, you’ve seen it. A new initiative launches. There’s a pilot, there’s excitement, and then implementation gets complicated and underfunded and it either stalls out or gets watered down. So my reality check on this one is pay attention. If your district is part of the Georgia Leads pilot, talk to the teachers in it. Ask what’s working and what’s not. And if you’re not in a pilot district, know that this conversation is happening and your voice matters in it. Because if we’ve learned anything from the last decade of evaluation reform, it’s that when teachers have a seat at the table, the policies look different. And when we don’t, well, you heard the episode.
All right. This is the last one. It’s a lot because when I recorded this episode back in the fall, I was trying to cut through a whole lot of noise and help teachers understand what the executive order about dismantling the Department of Education actually meant. And a lot of what I said is still true, but a lot has also happened since then. So let’s listen to part of the original episode, and then I’m going to come in with an update. Let’s listen to a little bit of episode eleven. Teacher’s Guide to Department of Education changes.
So I’ve been hearing a lot of concern from teachers lately. When the Trump administration issued that executive order back in March about dismantling the Department of Education. The halls of many a school were abuzz with worried teachers. What does this mean for our funding? Are we losing title one? What happens to special education services? And I realized that as a social studies teacher, I probably know a little bit more about government agencies than some folks. But even I had some misconceptions about what the Department of Education actually does versus what it doesn’t do. It was created in nineteen seventy nine by President Carter, and Ronald Reagan, ran for president the following year, promising to eliminate it. Trump isn’t the first president to want to dismantle it, and he probably won’t be the last. Here’s why. The Constitution does not mention education at all. Under the tenth amendment, anything not specifically mentioned in the Constitution is supposed to be left to the states. So from a constitutional perspective. There’s been this ongoing debate about whether the federal government should be involved in education at all. The Department of Education is actually one of the smallest cabinet agencies. It only has about four thousand two hundred employees. Compare that to, say, the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense has about two point nine million employees. So when people talk about this massive federal education bureaucracy, they’re really not talking about something huge in terms of government size. This is where I think teachers really need clarity. Let me break down what the Department of Education actually does. The Department of Education manages federal student loans and Pell grants. This is actually most of their budget. It distributes about ten percent of K through twelve funding nationwide through programs like title one and Idea. It enforces civil rights laws in schools that receive federal funding, things like title nine and making sure students with disabilities get appropriate services. It collects educational data and conducts research. It provides some oversight to make sure federal education dollars are being used appropriately. Now, here’s what it doesn’t do. The Department of Education does not set curriculum. That’s what your state and local district do. It does not hire or fire teachers. That’s your local district. It doesn’t decide what textbooks you use. Again, that’s at the state and local level, it does not determine your graduation requirements. That’s at the state level. It does not set your school calendar, that is, at the local district level. I think there’s this misconception that the Department of Education controls our daily work as teachers. But the reality is that almost everything you do day to day is decided by your state and your local district.
Okay, I want to stop here because this is still fundamentally true. Your curriculum, your textbooks, your calendar. Who hires and fires? That’s all state and local. That hasn’t changed. But what has changed since I recorded this is the pace and scale of what’s happening at the federal level. And I think it’s important to be honest about that. Since this episode aired, the Department of Education has lost roughly half its workforce. About a third were laid off in March, and more left through voluntary separation. The Supreme Court allowed those layoffs to move forward while legal changes played out. Then in November, the department announced its signing agreement to transfer major functions to other federal agencies. K through twelve, and post-secondary education management is going to the Department of labor. Indian education is moving to the Department of Interior. Some programs are going to Health and Human Services and state. The department itself technically still exists because, as I said in the original episode, only Congress can actually eliminate it, but it’s being hollowed out from the inside. Now, here’s the part that matters for your classroom. Over the summer, the administration withheld seven billion dollars in federal education that was supposed to go out on July first. These were formula grants. Adult education money, things like that that states and districts had already budgeted for. They eventually started releasing some of it, but that delay caused real uncertainty for districts that were counting on those dollars. The good news. And I use that term very loosely, is that Congress did push back. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted twenty six to three, to reject virtually all of the administration’s proposed education cuts. That included fourteen Republicans. They protected title one. They protected idea funding. They kept Pell Grants at the current level. So the bipartisan resistance I mentioned in the original episode? That held up. But senators from both sides also warned that the administration might simply try to go around Congress anyway. So my original point does stand. Most of what affects your daily life as a teacher is state and local. But the federal protections and funding that support our most vulnerable students, those are in a more uncertain place than when I recorded this episode. And that’s worth paying attention to. Let’s finish the clip.
Now, I’ve seen title one funding at work firsthand at the title one schools, where I’ve taught that federal money helped pay for instructional coaches, tutoring programs for at risk students, and additional resources that did make a real difference for kids who needed extra support. So while it’s not the majority of school funding, it does matter for specific populations of students. But here’s what I want every teacher to understand. An executive order cannot eliminate the Department of Education. Only Congress can do that by passing a law. What the executive order can do is this it can reallocate some resources within the department. It can change how existing programs are implemented. It can direct the Secretary of Education to prepare for potential changes. It can also freeze some funding or change some regulations. The executive order directs the education secretary to, and I’m quoting, return authority over education to the states and local communities. And it talks about keeping some core necessities, but it can’t actually shut down the department. Could Congress actually eliminate the department? This has been tried before. Reagan wanted to do it. Other Republican presidents and congressional leaders have proposed it, but it’s never happened. And here’s why. It’s really difficult. You need sixty votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. That means you need some Democratic senators to vote for it, which seems unlikely even among Republicans. There’s not always unanimous support, because many of them represent states that benefit significantly from federal education funding. Just this July, senators from both parties, including fourteen Republicans, voted to reject virtually all of Trump’s proposed education budget cuts. Here’s what you can look out for. Watch for changes in federal grant applications and funding announcements. Pay attention to your state’s education budget discussions. They might need to pick up some more slack. Monitor any changes to special education services and civil rights policies in your district. Keep an eye on teacher preparation programs and student loan policies that affect future teachers. As teachers, we need to stay informed but not panic. The reality is that most of what we do every day is governed by state and local policies, not federal ones. But we also need to understand that federal funding and oversight do provide important protections and resources, especially for our most vulnerable students. The Department of Education is not perfect. No government agency is. But it does help serve some important functions in promoting equity and supporting students who need extra help.
When I recorded that episode, I said, The Department of Education is not perfect, but it serves some important functions, especially for equity and students who need extra support. I still believe that. But I also want to be real with you about where things stand now. The Department of Education is not gone, but it is significantly smaller and its functions are being scattered across agencies that have no history of managing education programs. The Department of Labor is now overseeing K through twelve education management. Think about that for a second. And while Congress has repeatedly voted to maintain funding levels, there’s a real question about whether the infrastructure will be there to actually distribute and oversee that money effectively when you’ve cut your staff in half. Here’s what I want you to take away from this. First, and I cannot stress this enough. Stay informed, but don’t panic. Your paycheck, your classroom, your students showing up tomorrow morning. That’s state and local. That hasn’t changed. Second, pay attention to your state budget. Because if federal oversight weakens or funding gets delayed, your state may need to step in. And that’s a conversation happening in legislatures right now. Third, watch what happens with title one an idea in your district, specifically. Those programs serve the kids who have the least, and any disruption to that funding. Even a temporary delay– has real consequences. And here’s my bigger picture thought. I said in the original episode that this debate about the federal role in education has been going on since the department was created in nineteen seventy nine. That’s true. But what’s different this time is that it’s not just a debate anymore. It’s actively happening. Programs are being moved, staff are gone. And the question isn’t really should the Department of Education exist? The question is, who’s looking out for the kids that the federal government was specifically designed to protect? The ones with disabilities, the ones in poverty, the ones in title one schools? Because somebody has to. And if it’s not going to be a federal department, then we need to know who it’s going to be and whether they’re equipped to do it. That’s your teacher reality check for this week. I wanted to go and revisit some changes that have been made in the past year since, well, not even a year in the past eight or nine months since I’ve been recording. I hope that you’ve learned a lot from this, and thank you for being with me. I’ll see you next time on If Teachers Ruled the World.