First Focus on Children

New: As private schools that run on public money multiply across the country, states are choosing not to interfere in how they operate. The backgrounds of school founders — in one case, a woman prosecuted for sexual abuse — often don’t matter. propub.li/3RgKl2U

Open Letter to the National Assessment Governing Board: Stop Letting Others Lie About Our Children with Your Data open.substack.com/pub/brucelesle…

US visas issued to international students fell by roughly a third in 2025. Today, DHS finalized changes to a rule known as "Duration of Status" — a move that will help lock that decline in place. The fallout for the STEM workforce, innovation, and economic growth could be severe. A sustained one-third decline in foreign STEM graduates entering the US labor force would shrink the high-skill STEM workforce by 6.2% overall and by 11.5% at the PhD level. Over a decade, that would cut annual US GDP by $240 billion to $481 billion, comparable to losing an entire state's economy. That's the estimate from @AmyMNice, in a guest research brief for Hoover's Immigration Initiative, drawing on research she co-authored with @m_clem and @JeremyLNeufeld. Read the full brief: hoover.org/research/break…

Open Letter to the National Assessment Governing Board: Stop Letting Others Lie About Our Children with Your Data open.substack.com/pub/brucelesle… Cites @NAEP_NCES

Since July 2025, about 1 million children in the 17 states that report the data have lost SNAP, and researchers say the true national number is higher. A child never asks to experience food insecurity. A child never asks to go to bed hungry. A child never asks to grow up in poverty. A child never asks to experience homelessness. A child never asks to suffer because of decisions they had no voice in. And a child should never have to pay the price for people who have become so consumed with political power that they have forgotten their moral responsibility to make sure children have enough to eat.

The Cruelty and Recklessness Must End: We Need Better Immigration Policies for a Stronger America - Center for American Progress americanprogress.org/events/the-cru…

Trump's attempt to freeze $10 billion for child care and social services funding was an obviously illegal and baseless attempt to punish blue states he disagrees with, and I am relieved to see it finally rescinded. Essential services for American families should never be threatened or taken away for petty political points. nytimes.com/2026/07/13/us/…

@CarlosPl0311 @MacFarlaneNews @KAZurcher We do not apply for or receive federal money. We are talking about the fact that kids are 22-23% of the population but receive 8.57% of federal investment. They will be further targeted by these proposed changes.

@First_Focus @MacFarlaneNews @KAZurcher I see that you are scared that the grift is up and no more money will be flowing to you.

Nothing to see here: Just 292,150+ people warning about Trump Admin’s new federal rule to strip grant funding power away from experts, scientists and unbiased arbiters Instead granting power over federal grants to Trump appointees Enormous issue Comment deadline is today

The immigration "court" system is a cruel farce. The Board of Immigration Appeals just ruled that a 6-yr-old US citizen child wouldn't suffer the "hardship" sufficient to save mom from deportation where mom's deportation would mean the little girl would become orphan. Holding:

As kids across the country lose SNAP in the wake of these cuts, a reminder that one study found that every $1 invested in SNAP for children returns $62 in value over their lifetimes due to a range of benefits - improved educational outcomes, higher earnings in adulthood & more.

New: Despite multiple complaints — and videos — of physical abuse and mistreatment of students, Arkansas' Delta Institute continues to receive public funds. It is just one of hundreds of private schools taking state money with little oversight. propub.li/4w7XUB7

“Cutting these mental health grants would be seriously misguided,” said AG Kaul. “The Trump administration’s insistence on putting ideology ahead of kids’ mental health is really outrageous.”

GOOD NEWS ALERT! For the first time EVER, California has allocated funding in the state budget for helping schools to identify and support unhoused students.

Dismantling the Department of Education: Ten Bills That Ask Zero Questions About What Happens to Kids open.substack.com/pub/brucelesle…

@JeromeAdamsMD Agree! And it will disproportionately harm children as well. A Proposed 400-Page OMB Rule Could Make It Easier to Defund Children's Programs Overnight open.substack.com/pub/firstfocus…

Elon Musk’s cuts to U.S.A.I.D. led to some 700,000 deaths, according to Atul Gawande, a former leading administrator at the agency. Gawande, backed by recent academic studies, believes that the death toll will likely reach seven figures. The policy is not only immeasurably cruel, he argues; it is also stupid, badly undermining what remains of American soft power and prestige. Gawande explains the human cost of DOGE’s war on U.S.A.I.D.: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/H5AQWr

A Proposed 400-Page OMB Rule Would Make It Easier to Defund Children's Programs Overnight firstfocusonchildren.substack.com/p/a-proposed-4…

Senate battle brews to shield special ed from RFK Jr.'s health agency buff.ly/dGeHfkn

As lawmakers procrastinate on PFAS, mothers and newborns pay the price buff.ly/vsOvU1S