U.S. Department of Education faces scrutiny over funding and oversight

The U.S. Department of Education is facing scrutiny regarding its management of federal education funds and oversight responsibilities. A federal judge has ordered the department to provide an update by Monday regarding the status of approximately $180 million in unallocated research funds within the Institute of Education Sciences. These funds, which include money for special education research, are set to expire at the end of September. Stakeholders, including the National Center for Learning Disabilities, filed suit to prevent these funds from lapsing.

Separately, a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has raised concerns about the department’s oversight of state-level data. The GAO suggests that the department is not sufficiently monitoring how states track chronic absenteeism, which could lead to unreliable statistics. The watchdog also noted that the department’s decision to suspend regular examinations of how states implement the Every Student Succeeds Act increases the risk of undetected fraud, waste, or abuse of federal K-12 funds. The Department of Education has disagreed with most of the GAO’s conclusions.