Welcome to the report card with Nat Malgus, the Education Policy podcast from the American Enterprise Institute.

We are now coming to the end of another year. What were the biggest

stories in education in 2025? What stories didn't get as much attention as perhaps they should

have? And what can we expect from the coming year? To discuss these questions and more,

I invited three education journalists on to the last show of the year.

Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times, Eric Kelderman of the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Jill Barshay of the Heckenger Report.

Sarah, Eric, Jill, welcome to the report card.

Thanks for having me.

Great to be here. Thank you for having me. Great to be here.

Thank you for having me.

All right.

So we always start off with the same question and just swap out the year.

Three great reporters have done reporting on all kinds of education issues this year.

Right out of the gate, what is the biggest

story in education this year? Sarah? Okay. I think I'm lucky by getting to go first on this one.

I think unquestionably, the biggest storyline of 2025 was the Trump administration and its

impact on education. And that would go the

gamut from its efforts to eliminate, shut down, and cut the Department of Education, new and

reverse interpretations of Title VI, which is the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the

basis of race, color, and national origin. The unexpected withholding of $7 billion, nearly $7 billion this summer from school programs,

plans to cut the budget for next year, and it spites with ivies and other elite universities.

So in the public consciousness and the media coverage, this was the big education story of 2025.

...