Melissa Tooley

@rickhess99 Fed education $ are intact for now, but Rs have said they want to cut them. ITM, the Trump administration has gutted staff at ED so no one can ensure schools use fed $ as law requires, and there's no recourse for students denied their rights to a free and appropriate education.

I keep giving the same answers to the same queries about the Executive Order on the Department of Ed. So, as a time-saver, here’s my take: 1. In principle, I think downsizing or eliminating ED is sensible. As always, though, what really matters is whether the practical result works as promised. 2. As written, the EO is careful to respect Congressional authority. This is good. 3. That means, as written, the EO doesn’t really change anything. It tells the EdSec to keep doing what she’s doing and asks Congress to abolish ED. 4. The R’s don’t currently have the Senate votes, so ED isn’t getting abolished unless they get at least 7 D’s. 5. Today’s announcements about moving student lending to SBA or special ed to HHS appear inconsistent with statute. That means this is headed to court. 6. None of what’s been proposed involves cuts to funding for major programs (like Title I, IDEA, or Pell). The only cuts are to federal staff and organizational boxes. That means the claims about how much all this matters for students are grossly exaggerated. 7. Meanwhile, if you really want to empower states, we need to not just cut staff or abolish ED but repeal rules, revamp requirements, issue waivers, or overhaul legislation. Otherwise, all the accumulated red tape actually remains, whether it’s supervised by ED or someone else. 8. The only thing that the EO really changed is that it put Trump squarely into the “abolish ED” push— publicly and viscerally. This will energize supporters and opponents alike.

Never forget this is exactly who and what they mean when they say they hate DEI

@SenateDems please do the principled thing tonight and vote against the sham budget res the Rs are trying to peddle. Given their refusal to do their job of actually allocating funding to specific programs, any govt shutdown is their doing. Voting yes only anoints Trump as king!

@christopherrufo Do you not know what "disproportionate" means? It doesn't mean "too many." It means "more than their fair share." Equity=promoting fairness, and Americans believe in fairness. Nice try though.

The Department of Education has granted more than $200 million to 21 "comprehensive centers" that push left-wing ideologies in local districts. They believe America's schools are systems of "institutionalized privilege" and that there are too many "White students" in STEM.

@SenatorTimScott also made it clear that it's not @usedgov that educates kids, but local school districts. So why does the Trump admin say the Dept of Ed forces schools to teach certain content?

The Dept provides extra $ to poor, rural kids to close gaps in ed outcomes. So why does the Trump admin want to close @usedgov.

At #McMahonhearing, @SenatorTimScott shared how schools shaped his life, and how it's critical for schools to help more kids growing up poor in rural areas succeed as he did.

@CrimsonKimbleeS @OffensiveJestr @christopherrufo Not even! Most states just set the academic benchmarks students are expected to meet in each grade, and each local school district chooses the curriculum & textbooks they'll use to meet those (although 19 states do curate lists of approved textbooks for districts to select from)

I'm sitting on a trove of insane videos, slides, and documents from the Department of Education. The whole department functions like a Ponzi scheme for left-wing ideologies. Just waiting for the moment of maximum impact. Tick tock.

This is a big deal: Federally-funded community health centers, which serve 1 in 5 rural patients in America, are starting to shut down because they still can’t access their grant funding vpm.org/news/2025-02-0…

@WesleyWhistle 😳

This is who Trump wants to run the Department of Education. 😭😭😭

@EdTrust shares why @usedgov's existence is critical to ensuring that students have access to affordable, quality education opportunities that lead to #StudentSuccess! edtrust.org/blog/why-we-ne…

@DrKimako shares how @ISBEnews’ Educator Prep Profiles increased transparency about #teacherprep program COMPLETION for racially diverse candidates, not just recruitment. Learn how IL developed its Profiles in this @NewAmericaEd report: newamerica.org/education-poli…

Excited to be at @usedgov w/ state & national ed leaders discussing how to support a thriving, diverse, and talented workforce of #teachers and other #educators in our #publicschools. #RaisetheBar #TeacherConvening

You know you're an #edpolicy nerd when you're super excited to learn about a new @IESResearch center! (Talking about a friend, of course 😁) Congrats @CEDR_US on launching this important new approach to better understanding and addressing #teachershortages ies.ed.gov/blogs/research…

Yes, yes, yes! This is why I struggle when people advocate for educators to have FULL agency over their own professional learning...humans aren't good at knowing what we don't know when we don't know it, or know how to learn it!😅 I wrote about it here: newamerica.org/education-poli…

@DTWillingham Yes, yes, yes! This is why I struggle when people advocate for educators to have full agency over their own professional learning...humans aren't good at knowing what we don't know when we don't know it, or know how to learn it!😅 I wrote about it here: newamerica.org/education-poli…

People with more content knowledge are less likely to claim to have knowledge they actually lack. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

💡In this new @educationweek article, my 2 quotes relay my competing optimism and pessimism about leveraging micro-credentials for #teachers. Great #edpolicy requires great design AND implementation, which take a lot to get right. @NewAmericaEd edweek.org/leadership/tea…

@NewAmericaEd States keep revisiting these policies to try to address shortages of #teachers so we hope to procure funding to update this data set moving forward!

Last year, we released a ☝🏼st-of-its-kind database that assesses existing pathways into #teaching within each state so policy leaders can expand options for becoming a #teacher—wisely. Here's our national scan and #DataTool from @mdjtooley. newamerica.org/education-poli…

📢📢📢

In the meantime, check out @NewAmericaEd's other resources explaining the benefits and challenges of leveraging micro-credentials for #educators! newamerica.org/education-poli…

📥I need YOUR vote! 📥... to get to @SXSWEDU 2025! My session with @HarmonyEdu will share how #K12 schools can stem the #teachershortage by smartly leveraging #microcredentialing that offer more $$, skills, and job satisfaction for #teachers...vote below! panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/150408