Treasury Releases Long Awaited Rules for the New Tax Credit

When the first national tax credit scholarship program was signed into law on July 4, 2025, school choice advocates immediately turned their attention to working with the Treasury Department on rules and regulations to clarify the law's many ambiguities. On October 1, 2026, Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations to implement the new tax credit. The new rules will govern the program in the near term, while also being subject to public comment and potential change in the future...

Religious Charter Issue Returns to Oklahoma

From Education Week:

A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction request from a Florida-based organization seeking to open a Jewish online charter school in Oklahoma.

The organization sued Oklahoma Attorney Gentner Drummond and the Statewide Charter School Board after the board cited state law when it denied Ben Gamla’s application and appeal earlier this year to open an online charter school.

The question of religious charters has been raised in Oklahoma previously.

The Statewide Charter School Board’s legal predecessor, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, voted in 2023 to authorize St. Isidore of Seville, an online religious charter school backed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa.

That decision ultimately went before the U.S. Supreme Court, which held in a 4-4 vote that the school was unconstitutional. St. Isidore never opened. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City announced in May that enrollment numbers were not sufficient to open a planned online tuition-based Catholic school, St. Carlo Acutis Academy, for the 2026-27 school year.

According to the Wall Street Journal,

If Ben Gamla doesn’t reach the Justices, another case might. In Tennessee a proposed Christian K-8 charter school called Wilberforce Academy has filed a federal lawsuit against the school board in Knox County, also claiming the free-exercise right to open. Another Christian charter in Tennessee is in the works, though it’s not now in litigation.

Justice [Amy Coney] Barrett didn’t explain why she recused herself on St. Isidore, but she is close friends with Nicole Stelle Garnett, a Notre Dame professor who advised the proposed school. Ms. Garnett is not involved with Ben Gamla or Wilberforce.

Trump Administration Rescinds Biden Title IX Rule

On September 28, the Education Department announced it is formally rescinding the Biden administration's 2024 Title IX regulations, which never took effect nationwide and were ultimately vacated by a federal judge in January 2025. The Administration is reinstating the 2020 rule from Trump's first term with minor changes to reflect other court orders and policy shifts. More changes to the Title IX regulations are expected in the days ahead.

U.S. Students Hit 20-Year Low on Global Test

From the Washington Post:

American students earned their lowest math and reading scores in more than two decades on an international exam that tests 15-year-olds’ knowledge of core subjects, data released Tuesday shows.

Reading scores dropped in the U.S. for the second time in a row on the Program for International Student Assessment, commonly called PISA. The 14-point decline in reading scores since 2022 comes as Americans’ satisfaction with K-12 education also fell to a new low, with adults doubting schools’ ability to prepare students for the future, according to the results of a new Walton Family Foundation and Gallup poll.

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