Guidance Released on Transgender Access to School Bathrooms

WASHINGTON — Last Friday, a joint letter from the Departments of Education and Justice went to public schools, addressing guidelines to ensure that “transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment,” the Obama administration said. While the letter does not specifically cite enforcement of the law, it was the latest attempt to make it clear that if state schools do not agree to follow the message, they risk losing federal funding.

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Sequester Impacts on Financial Aid and Grants

WASHINGTON — Students and the Department of Education are preparing to weather the storm of the sequester and its various hits to financial assistance and grant programs.

The Budget Control Act of 2011, which developed an automatic 10-year process of “across-the-board” federal cuts if Congress failed to reduce federal deficit, will take its toll on financial aid and several grants that have eased tuition and fees for hundreds of thousands of students.

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Feds Launch Green Ribbon School Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A tree-planting ceremony at the Department of Education headquarters marked the launch of a new program to recognize eco-friendly school facilities and operations that aims to both help schools in need of money and prepare students for jobs.
 
The Green Ribbon Schools program will “recognize schools that have taken great strides in greening their curricula, buildings, school grounds and overall building operations,” according to a department statement.

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