Second-largest U.S. teachers’ union; founded in Chicago
New York officials are weighing participation in a federal Education Freedom Tax Credit program. Pro- and anti-school-choice coalitions are mounting campaigns as the state evaluates whether to opt in. The program would provide a 100% federal tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, potentially funding private and religious schooling while public schools defend their budgets.
New York City has imposed a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI for pre-K through eighth grade, affecting about 600,000 pupils. The city has banned companion chatbots, set classroom screen-time caps, will require twice-yearly AI literacy classes for high schoolers and will run limited supervised pilots for older students while reviewing ed-tech contracts.
The federal tax-credit scholarship program is expanding scrutiny and renewed political clash as New York considers opting in. Governors and unions frame the move as school choice versus public funding, while proponents say the program expands opportunity without diverting public dollars.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness backlogs and clawbacks have prompted a class-action suit against the Education Department. The American Federation of Teachers argues that thousands of borrowers are being deprived of timely debt relief as buyback applications pile up and some payments are retroactively canceled. The case highlights ongoing glitches in the Biden-era program as 1) buyback backlogs persist, 2) payments are rescinded, and 3) relief timelines stretch.