On April 29, 2019, the White House issued a memo for the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security with the subject of "Additional Measures to Enhance Border Security and Restore Integrity of Our Immigration System." These regulations could make it more difficult for immigrants seeking asylum as they limit their ability to be self sustaining during the asylum application process.

Not only would these regulations impose fees for the asylum application and employment authorization application, but for those that entered illegally, it would also bar them from receiving employment authorization during the asylum process. Asylum seekers with school age children could potentially be negatively impacted by the changes outlined in these proposed regulations.

The current administration and the Department of Homeland security have proposed changes to the rule called "Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds." For educators, the group that the Public Charge policy and the proposed changes to that policy most closely impacts is students in immigrant families. 

If you have ever been asked by a colleague to help him or her sign up for a TransACT Parent Notices account, you will appreciate this new feature. 

The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) at the U.S. Department of Education (USED) has announced the release of the first two chapters of a new resource, the "English Learner Family Tool Kit". The English Learner (EL) Family Tool Kit will eventually contain six chapters or topics when complete. Release dates for additional chapters are not provided but will likely be announced by USED.

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) has released a new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that pulls together information regarding the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and how that law relates to school safety. The FERPA FAQ guidance came not long after they released their 2018 Student Privacy Guidance.

In 2016 the Obama administration drafted ESSA Title I Supplement not Supplant regulations, which were later withdrawn just before the transition to the Trump administration. If the Obama era regulations had gone into effect and they were later rescinded by the Trump administration, according to the law that allows regulations to be rescinded, the Trump administration would have been prohibited from issuing new regulations on this topic. Now, two years later, USED has posted Supplement not Supplant Guidance for public comment .

There are an increasing number of resources available that address the changes in education requirements for students in Foster Care made by the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). At the 2018 annual conference hosted by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), where for the past two years I have had the privilege of presenting, I focused my presentation on these changes.

The National ESEA Conference (formerly the National Title I Conference) was held January 30 - February 2, 2019. The change to this conference having a more comprehensive approach to ESEA programs does not mean that presentations related to Title I programs are less important. The move was intended to promote more collaboration between Title I and other programs.

English Learners are an integral population and a large focus of the National ESEA Conference (formerly the National Title I Conference), as they were before the conference was re-branded. While the comprehensive approach boasts content that serves more populations and Title Programs, there are still many presentations that focus on ELs. This includes my presentation, ESSA Title I EL Requirements for All Title I Funded Districts, Wednesday, Jan. 30th at 11:30am.

The changing landscape of education that is the result of the re-authorization of ESEA as ESSA is a topic that will be widely covered at this year's National ESEA Conference (formerly National Title I Conference).