Weekly Update 10/12/2026 Capitol Advocacy Partners
Grant Management
Drawdown Blackout Periods: Grantees may now be in a blackout period for submitting drawdown requests for grant or formula funds. Timing varies by agency and grant, but you should generally…
Education Department another agency to require written justification for grant drawdowns: Education Department grantees will soon need to submit separate explanations to accompany their draw down requests for awarded and approved federal funds. Under a Sept. 28 memo, the Department of Education will require grant recipients (formula and competitive) to provide written justification for drawing down previously approved funds beginning Nov. 1. The requirement stems from a February 2025…
Appropriations:
GAO keeps finding illegal impoundments but has not sued: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded last week that the White House illegally withheld more than $1 billion for education and health care research programs. In a related decision, GAO found the Department of Health and Human Services violated the Impoundment Control Act, a 1974 law governing when a president may delay or cancel funds Congress has appropriated, by leaving more than $78 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality unobligated after layoffs removed its grant staff. GAO issued more than six such findings during the President's second…
President and Administration:
Immigration enforcement partnerships expand under shortened federal training: Police departments weighing new federal immigration enforcement funding should look closely at the training that comes with it. Emails obtained through a public records request show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cut training for local officers deputized under 287(g) agreements, which let police help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest people for civil immigration violations…
HHS backs thresholds for scheduling concentrated kratom products: Federal regulators are moving to restrict concentrated synthetic kratom extracts, often sold in gas stations and tobacco shops as beverages, teas, powders, shots, capsules, or gummies. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classify 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and a related compound, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), as Schedule I…
Education:
Federal agencies warn schools that mental health screenings require written parental consent: Schools that survey or screen students' mental health face a federal funding risk. In a joint letter to state attorneys general last week, the Departments of Education and Justice said any form or survey that can evaluate a student's mental health requires…
Lawmakers in both parties urge HHS to revise Head Start rule: A proposal to loosen federal standards for early childhood programs drew about 40,000 public comments before the period closed last week. The HHS rule would give the roughly 1,600 Head Start programs, serving nearly 700,000 children, more flexibility. The HHS would cut the cap on administrative…
Top House Education Democrat outlines K-12 oversight and legislative priorities: The Education Department's transfer of K-12 programs to other agencies could face new congressional oversight. If Democrats retake the House in midterm elections, according to Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee. He said that as chair he would examine the interagency agreements moving K-12 programs to the Department of Labor and press…
New York opts into federal scholarship tax credit ahead of January launch: States are deciding whether to join the federal scholarship tax credit, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, after the Treasury proposed rules this month. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul opted in last week, saying public school students could benefit. Created by the 2025 reconciliation law, it gives donors…
Education Department targets districts accused of ignoring staff sexual misconduct: Federal civil rights enforcement is examining how school systems handle abuse allegations against their own employees. Last week, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX investigations under an initiative launched in July…
Private schools face vague new standards to keep tax exemptions: Proposed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules would revoke the tax exemption of any private school, including elementary and secondary schools, with a policy or practice that discriminates based on race or ethnicity for any purpose. The rules reach admissions…
California:
Adult charter school seeks new authorizer as it fights $243 million state claim: A bankruptcy filing in Sacramento is putting charter oversight and repayment liability back in focus for authorizers. Highlands Community and Technical Schools, which serves about 2,000 adults seeking diplomas, English classes, or job skills at six campuses, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month after repayment negotiations with the state broke down. A state audit last year found the school…