👻 Happy Halloween from the W/A team!
Curious about how this spooky tradition began? 🎃 Check out BrainPOP’s Halloween movie to learn how mischievous spirits, ancient festivals, and a surprising vegetable shaped the holiday we know today.
In this week’s edition, we round up the “Top 10 Articles of the Week” and take a closer look at:
Cassidy’s LIFE Act Marks Congress’ First Real Move on AI in Schools
Trump Administration Rolls Out Final Rule Limiting PSLF Eligibility
Report Reveals Spending Disparities for Professional Learning for Teachers
Top 10 Articles of the Week from W/A’s What We’re Reading Newsletter
Homework is facing an existential crisis. Has AI made it pointless? [Los Angeles Times, subscription model]
How One State is Leading the Way for English Learners With Disabilities [Education Week, subscription model]
Special education layoffs would reduce federal oversight of states [San Antonio Express-News, subscription model]
More first-generation students in Texas are applying for college [The Hechinger Report]
An Incubator, But for College Completion Ideas [Higher Education Digest]
Cal State Invited Tech Companies to Remake Learning With A.I. [The New York Times, subscription model]
Stop blaming Gen Z: the workforce system is broken. Here's how leaders can step up [Fortune, subscription model]
A New AI Career Ladder [Stanford Social Innovation Review]
Cassidy’s LIFE Act Marks Congress’ First Real Move on AI in Schools
Lawmakers are moving fast to rein in artificial intelligence in schools as mounting safety concerns collide with rapid adoption. This week, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R–La.) introduced legislation aimed at putting new guardrails around AI use in classrooms, the latest in a series of moves defining the nation’s emerging AI policy landscape. [Education Week, subscription model]
Cassidy’s Learning Innovation and Family Empowerment with AI (LIFE) Act is the most comprehensive education-focused AI bill yet. It would expand federal student privacy protections and empower parents to vet the tools schools use, signaling a bipartisan shift toward formal AI oversight.
The Details
The LIFE Act would expand the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to include all digital data related to a student’s academics, attendance, health, and discipline. It would also:
Ban the use of student photos for facial recognition training without parental consent.
Allow parents to review third-party vendor contracts before approval.
Create a federal list of noncompliant ed tech vendors.
Direct the Department of Education to develop a model privacy agreement for schools.
Permit Title II-A professional development funds to be used for teacher training on AI.
Establish a “Golden Seal of Excellence in Student Data Privacy” for schools with strong parental consent systems.
While few expect the measure to pass in its current form, policy watchers see it as a marker—a federal blueprint for responsible AI adoption in education.
Cassidy’s proposal arrived just as Sens. Josh Hawley (R–Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D–Conn.) introduced their own bipartisan bill to ban AI “companion chatbots” for minors, part of a wave of legislation responding to reports of AI-fueled mental health crises among teens. [POLITICO]
The Hawley–Blumenthal bill would require strict age verification for all chatbot users; frequent disclosures reminding users they’re talking to AI, not a human; and criminal penalties for companies whose bots solicit or generate sexual content for minors. Unlike Cassidy’s education-focused bill, this measure aims squarely at consumer-facing AI products.
The legislative surge also comes amid a series of corporate safety overhauls following public outrage and lawsuits. [Axios]
Character.AI announced it will ban users under 18 beginning November 25, after facing multiple wrongful-death suits and scrutiny over sexually explicit and manipulative chatbot conversations.
OpenAI introduced parental controls and retrained ChatGPT to detect signs of psychosis, self-harm, or delusional thinking—redirecting users to crisis resources.
Meta added filters preventing AI interactions with teens around suicide, eating disorders, and romantic conversations.
What They’re Saying
Amelia Vance, the president of the Public Interest Privacy Center, told Education Week: “This is just the opening salvo. There’s a struggle to figure out: How do we make this safe? How do we hold these companies accountable? And how on earth does this fit into education?”
Tammy Wincup, CEO of digital safety platform Securly, said “The LIFE Act is an important first step in helping policymakers and educators understand what’s really happening in classrooms. But before we can make thoughtful decisions that maximize learning and protect students, we need clear insight into how AI tools are being used—and by whom.”
Trump Administration Rolls Out Final Rule Limiting PSLF Eligibility
On Thursday, the Trump administration finalized a new set of regulations aimed at tightening employer eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which offers student debt cancellation to borrowers who work in public service (e.g., teachers, community health care professionals, and public defenders) and make qualifying monthly payments for at least a decade.
The Education Department received nearly 14,000 comments on the proposed rule within the 30-day comment period that began when it was published in the Federal Register on August 18.
Between the Lines
The final rule, which takes effect July 1, 2026, will change the definition of a “qualifying employer” to exclude organizations engaging in “unlawful activities.” Disqualifying activities include providing certain health care services to transgender youth, supporting terrorist organizations, facilitating the violation of federal immigration laws, and engaging in patterns of “illegal discrimination,” among others.
The Secretary of Education will determine whether or not employers are in compliance based on a “preponderance of evidence.” The rule will only be applied prospectively, meaning borrowers who have been making qualifying payments will not lose credit for those payments if their employer is disqualified from the PSLF program after the rule goes into effect.
The Education Department encourages borrowers and employers to take “any necessary actions” to be in compliance with the new regulations and retain PSLF eligibility.
What They’re Saying
Proponents of the final rule say that it will restore public confidence in PSLF and prevent misuse of the student loan forgiveness incentive.
“With this new rule, the Trump Administration is refocusing the PSLF program to ensure federal benefits go to our Nation’s teachers, first responders, and civil servants who tirelessly serve their communities,” said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent in the Department’s press release.
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, said in an official statement: “Unfortunately, the open-ended nature of PSLF has forced taxpayers—many of whom never went to college, to foot the bill for employees at radical organizations that violate state and federal laws. This new rule… [prevents] taxpayer dollars from paying the student loans of those undermining the rule of law.”
Opponents argue that the final rule is overly vague, opens the door for executive overreach, and risks employer eligibility being based on the ideology of the administration in power.
Yesterday, Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), Ranking Member on the House Committee on Education and Workforce, responded to the final rule: “Individuals who have dedicated their lives to giving back to their communities do not deserve their hard-earned loan forgiveness to be ripped away from them on a political whim. This rule follows the Trump Administration’s disturbing pattern of making repayment less affordable and taking money out of the pockets of hardworking families, all while attempting to police political speech.”
Physician groups including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Physicians shared that they are “deeply concerned” about the final rule, asserting that PSLF makes it possible for medical graduates to pursue primary care and psychiatry careers in high-need areas, and protects them from outsized debt.
Democracy Forward (a national legal organization) and Protect Borrowers (a student borrower advocacy group) said in a joint statement: “This new rule is a craven attempt to usurp the legislature’s authority in an unconstitutional power grab aimed at punishing people with political views different than the administration’s.”
What’s Next
Legal challenges are expected as early as next week. Barring any court injunctions, the Education Department’s final rule will go into effect next summer. Our team will be closely tracking related lawsuits as they are filed.
Report Reveals Spending Disparities for Professional Learning for Teachers
A new analysis from the Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL) offers a comprehensive look into how districts invest in professional learning (PL) for teachers. Drawing on more than two decades of national data, The Cost of Improvement report reveals wide variation in PL spending across states and districts.
The report underscores that PL remains one of the strongest levers for improving instruction and student outcomes, while calling for more strategic and transparent investment in teacher growth.
Districts across the U.S. are spending roughly $37 billion annually on teacher PL, or about $7,700 per teacher.
The 100 largest school districts spend significantly more—about $12,000 per teacher.
Over the period 1999-2021 (inflation-adjusted), PL spending per teacher rose by about 40%, while total PL spending nearly doubled.
Despite these growth figures, the share of a district’s overall budget dedicated to PL has remained fairly stable at around 3%.
Larger and more urban districts spend more per teacher than smaller or rural ones, even after adjusting for cost-of-living.
A large share of PL spending (about 70%) is directed toward salaries and benefits for district staff, rather than external vendors or materials.
Suzanne Walsh has returned to Seattle to serve as president of City University (CityU), where she will work to improve enrollment and support adult and military-connected learners. Most recently, Walsh served as president of Bennett College, one of only two HBCUs exclusively for women in the country. Prior to Bennett College, Walsh spent nearly a decade at the Gates Foundation. [Puget Sound Business Journal, subscription model]
Check out W/A Jobs, which features 3,436 career opportunities from 3012 organizations across the education industry. A few roles that caught our eye over the past week:
ISTE+ASCD is hiring a Managing Director of Research & Development to lead the organization’s R&D and Industry functions.
Ad Astra is hiring a Kansas-based Product Manager with experience in AI to enhance its scheduling, optimization, and planning products.
Amira Learning is hiring a Vice President of People to lead all aspects of talent acquisition and development and employee compensation and benefits.
Discovery Education is hiring a California-based Educational Partnerships Manager to identify and cultivate new district-level opportunities for its DreamBox Math program.
Everway is hiring a Vice President of Product to oversee and develop strategy for its Instructing and Planning product pillars.
Upcoming Events and Convenings
Quality Matters: QM Connect Conference: Impact Through Quality Connections, November 3-5, Tucson, AZ.
P3•EDU: Innovation and Public-Private Partnerships in Higher Education hosted by Georgia Tech, November 3–5, Atlanta, GA.
Bowie State University: HBCU+ Entrepreneur Conference: Charting New Frontiers: Deep Tech, AI, and Innovation, November 7, Virtual.
Consortium for School Networking: Student Screen Time Pros and Cons: The CoSN 2025 Blaschke Report, November 10 at 5 p.m. ET, Virtual.
C-BEN: CBExchange 2025: Wrangling Skills in This Wild, Wild West Environment, November 10-13, Phoenix, AZ.
FutureEd: A Win-Win: How Teachers in Training are Supporting High-Quality Tutoring, November 12 at Noon ET, Virtual.
Human Potential Network: Human Potential Summit, November 12-13, Deer Valley, UT.
Packback: Teaching With Integrity in the Age of AI: How to Build Your Ethical Framework, November 20 at 1 p.m. ET, Virtual.
Branching Minds: Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Virtual Summit: Innovation with Intention, December 3-4, Virtual.
EdGate: Paradigm Shift: States Redefining Standards and Skills for the Future, December 17 at 2 p.m. ET, Virtual.
AASA: National Conference on Education: The Future is Ready, February 12-14, 2025, Nashville, TN.
