Weekly Update 10/26/2026 Capitol Advocacy Partners
Grant Management
Upcoming FEMA Grants Management System Transition: Beginning in late November, FEMA GO and other Federal Emergency Management Agency grant management systems will have a period of limited functionality. During this time, users will not be able to process financial transactions, such as drawdowns, payments, requests, obligations, de-obligations…
President and Administration:
Proposed rule would end automatic reenrollment for subsidized marketplace plans: Families who rely on premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace coverage would have to prove eligibility every year under changes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed last week. As part of the 2025 tax and spending law, the rule would require consumers to verify household income, citizenship status, and other information before receiving any tax credits to lower…
GUSD, Ceres, Gustine, CHCA, LHE, PSI: Rural health grants reward states that loosen hospital construction rules: States competing for new federal rural health money are being pushed to change how they approve hospitals. Half of the $50 billion, five-year Rural Health Transformation Program is split equally among states, but the other $25 billion depends partly on policy commitments. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) told states in its application instructions that…
Congress:
House education committee report targets Berkeley Unified over ethnic studies lessons: House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) released a report last week alleging that Berkeley Unified School District in California, the School District of Philadelphia, and the National Education Association are engaging in activism that promotes antisemitism, drawing on documents and a transcribed interview with Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington, Politico Pro reports. For Berkeley, the report alleges that employees spread antisemitic material through ethnic studies and that…
Education:
Federal agencies withdraw civil rights guidance on English learners and students of color: The Departments of Education and Justice said in a Federal Register notice released on Oct. 23 that seven documents issued from 2015 to 2023 are "not enforceable" and will not guide civil rights enforcement. For context, guidance documents are not legally binding or enforceable by law; rather, they are designed to provide state and local agencies with non-enforceable guideposts for…
Supreme Court will decide what it takes to challenge race-neutral admissions: The Supreme Court agreed last week to hear Association for Education Fairness v. Montgomery County Board of Education, a challenge by mostly Asian American parents to a Maryland district's magnet middle school lottery, which weighs school poverty and compares students with peers
…Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cuts could push schools out of free meals for all students: Schools serving free meals to all may lose that option as fewer families receive food aid. Schools qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which reimburses free meals schoolwide, when at least 25% of students…
Senate Commerce report targets E-rate consultants as federal review continues: Small districts that hire outside help to apply for E-rate, the federal internet discount program for schools and libraries, could face new rules. A report from the Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), said consultant pay can reward higher spending, and Federal…
California has until Jan. 1 to join the federal scholarship tax credit: Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose office says he is reviewing the Treasury Department's proposed rules, to decide whether California students can tap donated scholarship money, Politico Pro reports. Donors (individual taxpayers) can claim a credit of up to $1,700 for gifts to scholarship-granting organizations, which fund private school costs or public school tutoring and after-school programs for families earning up to 300% of area…
Administration drops defense of rule limiting loan forgiveness for public service workers: School, city, and police employees with student loans no longer face the prospect of a rule that could have cut off their path to forgiveness. The Justice Department dropped its appeals last week of two court rulings against an Education Department rule that would have let Secretary Linda McMahon deny Public Service Loan Forgiveness to employees of organizations found to have a "substantial illegal…
Study finds transitional kindergarten gains are largest for low-income students: Districts planning early learning budgets have new evidence that pairing state preschool with transitional kindergarten (TK) compounds gains. A brief from UC Berkeley and the Learning Policy Institute, drawing on a study of more than 1.6 million students who entered kindergarten from 2011 to 2014, found that cohorts affected by the state's Kindergarten Readiness Act read nearly a grade level higher…
California:
California stockpiles flood supplies as FEMA signals states should plan to go it alone: Cities and counties heading into an El Niño winter may get less federal disaster help than in past years. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Cameron Hamilton told state emergency managers at a national conference last week to ready their budgets to handle disasters with less reliance on federal declarations. A California official said he described changes unfolding over six months, according to The Washington Post, though FEMA has not issued a written policy. Gov. Newsom directed state agencies to prepare 6.2 million sandbags, more than 52,000…
California cities move to pause data centers despite new state rules: Cities weighing large data center proposals now have a growing set of local models to draw on. At least 26 resolutions, moratoriums, or bans on data center development have been passed or proposed in California since June, according to Food & Water Watch, even after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed seven laws in September focused on disclosure, environmental review, and grid protection, CalMatters reports. Earlier this month…
Federal officials withhold another $1.2 billion from Medi-Cal as scrutiny of Medicaid coverage grows: Medi-Cal providers, especially those offering care at home, face more federal funding holds as Washington tightens oversight of who gets and keeps Medicaid coverage. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz said last week he will withhold $1.2 billion meant for nonmedical services delivered at home, the third hold this year and…
New California law simplifies how English learners exit language services: Districts must change how they reclassify English learners under a law that took effect immediately. Assembly Bill 2555, which Gov. Newsom signed in late September, replaces four criteria, including an academic measure that varied by district, with one: a set score on the state's English language proficiency test, or the alternate test for English learners with disabilities, Education Week reports. Requirements…
Falling newcomer enrollment adds to budget pressure on California districts: Districts that built programs for newly arrived immigrant students are now cutting them as those enrollments fall. Los Angeles Unified's count of newcomers, students in their first three years in America, fell to 11,103 this school year from 20,755, a 46.5 percent drop, while overall district enrollment fell 8.3 percent, EdSource reports. Oakland Unified, which enrolled more than 1,300 new immigrant students a year through 2024-25, had enrolled 212 as of October 7 and cut its newcomer programs from 17 middle and high schools to six, while San Juan Unified near Sacramento, where many families arrived as refugees, saw a smaller 13.6 percent drop. Statewide, newcomers…