The Senate adjourned late Wednesday night after confirming Keith Sonderling as Secretary of Labor, joining the House in recess until November. There was still notable activity on behalf of the Administration and its agencies, including the Department of Education (ED) issuing a memo on grant spending requirements and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) publishing proposed rules for the school choice tax credit program. Read more policy updates below.  

• IES Releases National Evaluation of CTE: On Sept. 30, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) released the National Evaluation of CTE Under Perkins V (NECTEP). The report found that while states and districts leveraged changes introduced in Perkins V, they also faced capacity and implementation challenges related to program quality, labor market alignment, teacher recruitment and retention, and career guidance activities. We will be posting a deeper dive into this on the Policy Watch blog soon.  

• IRS Proposes Rule for School Choice Program: On Oct. 1, the IRS published proposed rules for the Education Freedom Tax Credit, the nationwide school choice program that launches Jan. 1, 2027. The program would provide tax credits for individuals’ donations to scholarship-granting organizations, who in turn would provide students with scholarships for private school tuition and public school expenses such as tutoring, services for students with disabilities, books, computers and other costs.   

• ED Issues Memo on Grant Spending Requirements: On Sept. 28, ED issued a memo stating that, starting Nov. 1, all of the agency’s grant recipients will be required to provide written justification for drawing down funds. Grantees will have to provide the program name, expense categories and amounts, and the start and end dates for expenses. These requirements had already been applied to Perkins funds now being administered by the Department of Labor.  

• Trump Administration Cancels Nearly $1 Billion in Federal Spending: On Sept. 25, the Trump Administration announced that it was cutting $810 million in federal spending via a pocket recission, including nearly $100 million in education funding. Programs that were cut centered around international and language education as well as migrant student initiatives. 

• Senate Confirms Keith Sonderling for Labor Secretary: On Sept. 30, the Senate voted to confirm Keith Sonderling as Secretary of Labor following Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s departure. Sonderling had been serving as the Acting Secretary. Read more on the Policy Watch blog.  

• ED Approves Workforce Pell Programs in Florida: On Sept. 28, ED approved four Workforce Pell programs in Florida. Eligible students at Eastern Florida State College can now use Federal Pell dollars to enroll in programs that will prepare students for careers as firefighters, correctional officers, emergency management technicians, and more.   

• DOL Awards $43 Million for Skills Training Programs: On Sept. 30, the DOL announced that it has awarded over $43 million to support the development of skills training programs in shipbuilding, advanced manufacturing and other critical industries across seven states. The funds are part of the Industry-driven Skills Training Fund Grant Program. 

• 3.1 Million High School Students Engage with Dual Enrollment: An analysis of recently released federal postsecondary data from the Community College Research Center found that the number of high school students that took a college course in 2024-25 was 3.1 million, a new record. Enrollment is up 24% from 2.5 million students in the 2022-23 school year. 

• ED and Treasury Launch Defaulted Loans Support Center: On Sept. 30, ED and the Department of Treasury (Treasury) announced the launch of the Defaulted Loans Support Center, an online portal that allows Americans with defaulted federal student loans to understand their options, address default and return to repayment.   

• ED Extends Enrollment Period for Student Loan Interest Rate Reduction: On Sept. 29, ED announced that it was extending the enrollment period for the 1% interest rate reduction benefit through Dec. 31. 

• IES Expends Research Funds Before Deadline: The IES spent the remaining of its research budget for the fiscal year this week following concerns from advocacy groups that the agency would be unable to do so. A federal court last week had ordered the IES to provide an update on the status of its research funding. 

• ED Rescinds 2024 Title IX Regulations and Reinstates 2020 Regulations: On Sept. 28, ED announced that it was formally rescinding the Title IX regulations that the Biden administration put in place in 2024. This formally reinstates the 2020 Title IX regulations, which ED said will provide “clear guidance for parents, students, and educational institutions on the legal requirements of Title IX,” the federal law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex in educational settings.   

• DOJ Ends More than 50 School Desegregation Cases: On Sept. 24, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has ended more than 50 decades-long school desegregation cases. The cases were originally established to curb racial segregation during the Civil Rights era.