Happy Thursday!

Linda McMahon spent nearly four hours on the Hill today in front of the House Education and Workforce Committee defending the dismantling of her department. Few fireworks, but plenty on the record. Education Week's Alyson Klein captured the political reality: Chairman Tim Walberg conceded the administration does not have the votes to formally close the agency, even as he praised McMahon for "finding creative ways" to shrink it. NPR's Cory Turner has the most comprehensive recap: the department is down to 2,300 employees from 4,200 in 2024, more than 110 programs have moved to five other federal agencies, and the student loan portfolio is heading to Treasury. And when Rep. Suzanne Bonamici asked McMahon for a straight yes-or-no on whether IDEA services would be transferred out of the department, McMahon declined to answer.

For your longer read, Anya Kamenetz's feature for New York Magazine on Carter cases is worth the time. NYC now spends $1.1 billion a year — more than quadruple its 2015 figure — paying for private-school tuition and services for students whose families have sued over inadequate special-education placements. New York State accounts for 70% of all such claims nationwide; 98% come from NYC. Seventy-one percent of families who won tuition last year were white, in a system where 12.5% of students with disabilities are. As NYC's deputy chancellor for inclusive learning told Kamenetz: "We cannot build an inclusive public-school system through litigation."

— Thomas

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