Education in Focus

(The Center Square) — A new school-based app, Edefy, recently launched as part of another school choice alternative for parents. Edefy is an app that connects families to teachers of their choice at nearby host sites, a method known as Pod schooling. For the past two years, James Bisenius, the founder of Edefy, has been working on the development and software design. Though it has been tested for the last 15 years, the first public version recently launched this month. 

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(The Center Square) — The Trump administration released $1.3 billion in education funding back to the states after bipartisan pushback. After the U.S. Department of Education announced it would withhold $6.8 billion in federal education funding, lawmakers and education officials across the country took steps in demanding the funds be released. Now $1.3 billion has been released with a caveat. The federal government said the funds must be allocated toward “allowable activities,” or the money will be revoked. 

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(The Center Square) — California, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada are part of a coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia, suing the Trump administration for withholding $6.8 billion in federal education funding. These states are calling this freeze unconstitutional, unlawful and an arbitrary decision. Each year on July 1, states receive their federal education funds Congress has allocated for the upcoming school year. An email from the U.S. Department of Education, sent to various departments of education across the country, stated the department would not be “issuing obligating funds” for six formula funding programs on July 1.

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(The Center Square) — Colorado's K-12 safety anonymous reporting system surpassed over 30,000 reports in the 2024-2025 school year. The Safe2Tell system received 30,461 reports in total, with seven out of the last 10 months in the 2024-2025 school year receiving more reports than in the previous school year. The system, which was first implemented in 2004, continues to operate even in summer months. It is a violence intervention and prevention program for students, staff, parents or community members to anonymously report threats to their own and others’ safety.

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(The Center Square) — The California Family Council joins law enforcement in revealing a new LGBTQ+ suicide hotline bill that could expose children to online predators. Assembly Bill 727 would require the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ suicide hotline, be printed on all public school student ID cards for grades 7 through college. The online website connected to the Trevor Project, known as TrevorSpace, is a platform that encourages LGBTQ+ youth ages 13 to 24 to connect and share personal stories. 

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(The Center Square) — The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision Friday, sided with parents in opting-out their children from school curriculum with LGBTQ storybooks. In the case Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court recognized parents have a constitutional right to opt their children out of, for religious reasons, content such as storybooks that push LGBTQ ideology. “We have long recognized the rights of parents to direct 'the religious upbringing' of their children," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court's opinion. "And we have held that those rights are violated by government policies that substantially interfere with the religious development of children.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred. 

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(The Center Square) — Following the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation being found in violation of Title IX by the U.S Department of Education, the governor's office is unfazed. Meanwhile, the debate over transgender athletes in girls' sports has extended beyond California and the Trump administration to include organizations representing the transgender community and female athletes. Last week, the U.S Department of Education released a statement that found the CDE and CIF in violation of Title IX for allowing biological males in girls’ sports and intimate spaces. 

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(The Center Square) – Parents receiving taxpayer money for school choice won’t lose it immediately, as the state plans to appeal a ruling that declared Ohio’s EdChoice program unconstitutional. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page ruled late Tuesday in favor of 200 of the state’s public school districts that sued over the voucher program, which was expanded to any Ohio family that wanted to use it. The state’s current budget included $1 billion for the program.

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(The Center Square) – Tennessee lawmakers are questioning why two counties with virtual schools are reaping thousands in state funding at the expense of the state's other 93. Union and Johnson counties have the most significant percentage of the state's 59 virtual schools, according to information presented at Thursday's meeting of the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. The virtual students were counted as attending school in Union and Johnson counties, even though they could live elsewhere. 

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The FBI has arrested Yunqing Jian, a graduate student from China at the University of Michigan, on charges of conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud. Jian and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, are accused of smuggling a “dangerous biological pathogen” called fusarium graminearum into the United States to study. They also have arrested Chengxuan Han, a graduate student from China, on charges of smuggling goods into the United States and making false statements. Authorities called this an “alarming pattern.” 

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Full story: 

Smuggling charges filed against 3rd from China connected to Michigan

Michigan graduate student from China charged with conspiracy, smuggling

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