Chalkbeat Ideas is a new section featuring reported columns on the big ideas and debates shaping American schools. Sign up for the Ideas newsletter to follow our work.
President Donald Trump and his Education Secretary Linda McMahon have made returning education to the states — including closing the Education Department — the centerpiece of their education agenda.
What does that actually look like? To find out, Chalkbeat ideas editor Matt Barnum will be in conversation with two state education leaders: Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green and Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner.
We’ll discuss how they see the convulsive changes at the federal level affecting schools in their states. Does it matter if education programs are run out of the Department of Labor? Should parents and teachers be concerned about cuts to federal programs? What will happen to testing and accountability? How has civil rights enforcement changed? What new opportunities exist for state leaders?
RSVP for this virtual Chalkbeat Ideas conversation from 1-1:45 ET on Thursday. There will be time for audience-submitted questions. Please share yours upon registering.
Our panelists:
Matt Barnum is editor and columnist for Chalkbeat Ideas, a section devoted to explaining and examining the ideas and debates shaping American schools. Before launching this section, he covered K-12 education for the Wall Street Journal.
Katie Jenner, Indiana’s first secretary of education and the state’s top education official, leads a unified, student-centered vision from K-12 to college. Jenner oversees eight state agencies/boards, including leading the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and chairing the State Board of Education.
Angélica Infante-Green has served as Rhode Island’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education since April 2019, leading major statewide efforts to improve PK–12 education. She guided the education system through COVID-19 recovery and school reopening, advanced readiness-based graduation requirements to reimagine high school, earned national recognition for reducing chronic absenteeism, and is overseeing the state intervention in the Providence Public School District to address long-standing challenges.
Catch up on Chalkbeat coverage before the event:
- Project 2025 author and top Trump official: Special education protections and funding will remain
- What’s the Trump administration’s theory of action for improving schools?
- Trump aims to shrink the Education Department — while Washington tightens its grip on schools
- K-12 moving to Labor as Trump administration accelerates bid to dismantle Education Department
Caroline Bauman is the deputy managing editor for growth and community at Chalkbeat. Email her at cbauman@chalkbeat.org.
