Last week, the Department of Education (ED) concluded its intense, rapid-fire negotiated rulemaking (neg reg) sessions for the higher education provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), reaching consensus on new accountability measures for institutions of higher education and changes to existing Gainful Employment (GE) regulations. More from Noah, Alex, and Julia on the results of the latest higher ed rulemaking below. 

But I’m not sure that’s even the most significant education news of the week. 

Yesterday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the “impact of technology on America’s youth” reflected a shift in the national discourse about technology in schools that’s been brewing for some time.

What struck me most was not the intensity of the rhetoric or even the degree of  bipartisan alignment. It was how schools were treated as neither safe havens nor neutral infrastructure, but rather central terrain in the broader debate. Senators were no longer debating edge cases or hypothetical risks. They spoke with clarity about youth mental health, attention, and learning—and, critically, about the role schools and school-issued devices now play in exposing young people to potentially harmful technologies. 

The conversation, as expected, moved well beyond screen time. Witnesses and lawmakers focused on engagement-based design, algorithmic feeds, one-to-one devices, and the accelerating presence of AI tools in classrooms. Some testimony painted with a broad brush, but the policy questions themselves are becoming more precise, and harder to sidestep.

For edtech, this moment carries both risk and real opportunity. As Edmentum CEO Jamie Candee said on LinkedIn yesterday, “Active engagement and passive scrolling are not equal. Technology built on pedagogy accelerates learning and amplifies the impact of teachers… Follow the evidence. Prioritize tools that demonstrably improve learning.” She wasn’t alone. Securly CEO Tammy Wincup and Learning.com CEO Lisa O’Masta were quick to weigh in as well.

So here’s the big question for edtech: Can the distinction–between purpose-built learning tools and everybody else—form a new policy and political fault line in the months ahead?

Check out the W/A Research team’s full breakdown of the hearing on our blog.

Last week, the Department of Education (ED) concluded its intense, rapid-fire negotiated rulemaking (neg reg) sessions for the higher education provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The two distinct committees, the RISE Committee and AHEAD Committee, both managed to reach consensus on new regulations to implement OBBBA:

A major question debated among the D.C. policy community at the start of 2025 was whether the second Trump administration would handle federal accountability—specifically with regard to tax status—for higher ed institutions. So far, this administration and congressional Republicans have chosen parity, where new regulations (first mentioned in OBBBA and now implemented via neg reg) will apply equally across institution types.

The draft proposed rules largely add in details from the accountability requirements for Title IV federal loan programs first laid out in OBBBA.

Earning thresholds: The earnings thresholds, which are billed as “do no harm” measures, are meant to help identify if a graduate is better off after completing a program compared to those without a degree.

Changes To Gainful Employment. While the new law in OBBBA only applies to degree programs, the new rules will apply to non-degree programs as well. The new rules remove the old non-degree debt-to-earnings ratio test and apply the new earnings threshold test to all programs at all institutions, including non-degree programs. The new proposed rules also change the penalty for failure of GE earnings threshold tests to only include eligibility for the Direct Loan Program (vs. all types of Title IV aid). If a program fails the earnings test twice within a three year period, they will lose eligibility for the Direct Loan program.

Institutions can still lose eligibility for Title IV. Negotiators brought up concerns during the session around needing to have harsher punishments for the lowest-performing institutions. The proposed rules add in new administrative capability standards that mandate that an institution derive more than half of its student enrollment and half of its total Title IV funding from programs that pass the earnings threshold. If they do not meet this standard twice in a three year period, they will lose eligibility for Title IV, including Pell grants.

What about Financial Value Transparency? The new rules keep many aspects of the Biden-era Financial Value Transparency (FVT) framework, but remove a handful of reporting elements and change the name of FVT to the “Student Tuition and Transparency System” (STATS). ED will continue to require that institutions report required data by October 1 each year, so that ED can publish earnings thresholds calculations by the following July. 

An end to higher ed regulatory pendulum swings? Since the last reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in 2008, there have been considerable swings between Republican and Democrat administrations involving higher education regulations related to accountability, with a focus on for-profits. The new regulations may feel like a breath of fresh air for those worried about the pendulum swinging farther out, given they build from concepts started during the Biden administration. Under Secretary Nicolas Kent noted on Friday his appreciation for negotiators' work to “end the regulatory whiplash.”  While there may be more swings in store, these negotiated rulemaking sessions felt like a gentler shift than in years past.

By reaching consensus, ED will finalize the regulations agreed to by the committees with only minor technical changes allowed. 

The new regulations will then need to be reviewed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is a subagency of the Office of Management and Budget. During the review, OIRA will ensure that the proposed regulations are consistent with all applicable law, not just the OBBBA language that their creation is predicated upon.

After the review is complete, regulations are then posted to the Federal Register as proposed rules for public comment. Once ED collects and reviews all public comments, the regulations will go back to OIRA for a final review and will then be promulgated as final rules. Since the effective date of the new statutes on which the regulations are based is July 1, it is likely that the regulations crafted by both the RISE and AHEAD committees will be finalized by then. 

Sixteen governors took to the podium this week to elevate their state priorities and what to expect for the year ahead. In this edition of Whiteboard Notes, the W/A Research team takes a closer look at the governors that placed the greatest emphasis on education, and the initiatives they promoted during their State of the State addresses. 

“We have our highest ever College and Career Readiness rate. We are tied for the lowest percentage of chronic absenteeism. Our teachers are earning high marks. And we added 500,000 more credentialed men and women to our workforce.”

“High-quality early education prevents achievement gaps, and helps with reading, math, and long term success in school, all while saving families $6,300 a year on preschool and $500 a month on full day kindergarten.”

“Over these last seven years, we’ve put more money toward education and workforce training programs than ever before in our state’s history.”

“One year ago, I stood on this very stage and placed our state on the path to Universal Child Care. Today, I stand before you with a clear roadmap to show how we’ll get there. Building on over $8 billion in child care investments that my Administration has made since 2022, this plan will ultimately deliver Universal Child care for every single family in New York. Full stop.”

Bookmark our blog: The W/A Research Team will record and analyze governors’ addresses as they happen and share what you need to know on the W/A blog. The post will be updated until all governors have delivered their State of the State.

We’re excited to share that registration is now open for the 2026 Solutions Summit, co-hosted by ISTE+ASCD and Whiteboard Advisors, taking place alongside the ISTELive + ASCD Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.

A limited-time early registration discount is now available. Use the code EARLY2026 at checkout to receive $50 off your registration until January 31.

The Solutions Summit will be held on Sunday, June 28, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will bring together education technology leaders, innovators, and experts for a day of learning, collaboration, and connection. Designed specifically for edtech company leaders, this is a space to share best practices, workshop new ideas, and engage with peers who are shaping the future of teaching and learning.

Why attend? The Solutions Summit offers an unparalleled opportunity to:

In the edtech world, we spend a lot of time talking about what happens in the classroom. But anyone involved in education knows that what happens outside of the classroom—including nutrition—can have a profound impact on educational outcomes.

This week, W/A’s Matt Tower sat down with Lunch Bunch founder and CEO Natasha Case—a serial entrepreneur on a mission to fix school lunch.

Lunch Bunch helps students build a holistic understanding of health and nutrition. They do this not only by offering healthy food options in school cafeterias, but pairing those options with dedicated programming at schools for students to learn about the flavors of their local communities and what goes into a healthy meal.

This is an abbreviated version of W/A VP and EdSheet Editor Matt Tower's annual “Year in Review” essay.

Have you ever asked AI to age a picture of yourself? Over the holiday break, I gave an old picture of myself to five different AI models, returning this result:

This exercise provides both an eerie look in the mirror and a litmus test for how you feel about the current state of AI. To me, 2025 was the year of AI agency, when AI tools reached the point of being good enough to merit a conscious decision over whether, how, and when to embed it into our lives.

Fierce debates about AI also hung over an education industry that experienced one of the most challenging years in recent memory in 2025. Education leaders were forced to navigate a whirlwind of real, attempted and, at times, exaggerated policy changes, from attempting to shutter ED to freezing billions in federal funding, (finally) passing Workforce Pell, and the continued rise of education savings accounts.

And, as predicted, the edtech funding winter also continued. Private capital for education companies is at its lowest point since I started tracking transactions in 2022, and likely since ~2015, when now-stalwart edtech venture funds like Reach Capital, Owl Ventures, and GSV started scaling up to meet demand for the burgeoning sector. 

By dollar volume, venture funding is down 28% YoY. Transaction volume for M&A and buyouts—which I prefer for evaluating because deal size is infrequently disclosed—was also down by 24% and 28% YoY, respectively. 

Check out W/A Jobs, which features 3,550 career opportunities from 313 organizations across the education industry. A few roles that caught our eye over the past week: