Hello from the national desk, it’s Erica and Lily. We watched a three-hour congressional hearing to bring you today’s story — please send us espresso. Stick around for the drama at that hearing, details around a new push for play-based learning, and perhaps a tip on how to make fake cigars for graduation photos (or maybe a reason not to do that).

And there is still time to register for our Ideas event tomorrow. Ideas Editor Matt Barnum will be talking with Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green and Indiana Education Secretary Katie Jenner about whether President Donald Trump is really returning education to the states and what, exactly, that means. RSVP here. 

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Since the start of the second Trump administration, the federal government has targeted school districts with progressive approaches to transgender inclusion and racial equity with investigations and threats of funding cuts. 

On Wednesday, congressional Republicans picked up that fight in a lengthy hearing before the House Education and Workforce Committee. Chairman Tim Walberg convened the hearing under the title “Breaking Trust” and said too many schools have excluded parents and injected politics that distract from the core mission of schools. 

Called to testify were San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su, Loudoun County Superintendent Aaron Spence in Virginia, and Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King, who had to be subpoenaed. 

The superintendents readily agreed that parents play an important role in education and all said they allow parents to opt out of lessons they disagree with. A touchier subject was when to notify parents that a child is considering socially transitioning at school, for example by using a different name or pronouns. 

The superintendents said they follow the law — but in one tense exchange about bathroom access, Missouri Rep. Robert Onder and Loudoun County’s Spence argued over what the law really says. Onder leaned on the Trump administration’s legally untested interpretation of Title IX, while Spence leaned on the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. 

The superintendents said their policies are not really about politics but about ensuring students feel safe and supported and ready to learn at school. 

“We're in education because we care about students, and part of that means ensuring an environment where all students can reach their full potential,” Spence said.

Democrats, in turn, noted that the superintendents had the support of their school boards and many community members.

“This committee talks all the time about ‘decisions should be made at the local level,’ but I guess that's only if they like the decisions that you make at the local level,” said Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Connecticut Democrat and former national teacher of the year.

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New long-term NAEP results show a mixed picture of how the nation’s students are faring. A pencil-and-paper test that’s tracked student achievement since the 1970s shows that 9-year-olds are making progress after a post-pandemic plummet in 2022. But the news is more grim for 13-year-olds, who didn’t make any significant progress between 2022 and 2025 in reading or math. While 9-year-olds are scoring higher on the reading and math test than 9-year-olds in the 1970s, that’s not entirely the case for the older cohort.

The number of teacher preparation programs providing a foundation in teaching kids how to read using the science of reading has doubled in three years. Still, only more than half of teacher prep programs are using methods based in the science of reading, according to a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality. Many programs continue to teach outdated methods, and even strong programs spend little time on supporting English learners, students with disabilities and struggling readers.

There’s a new iteration of bullying that revolves around school lunch: Students are taking pictures of each other eating lunch — and maybe not looking so great or looking lonely — and sharing on social media, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

But who looks good with a mouthful of green beans? Students said the unbecoming photos plastered online have forced them to find isolated places to eat or avoid eating.

There’s a few layers to this.

School lunch has long been the subject of shame and stigma. From students of color made fun of for eating food specific to their culture to the stigma of school lunch debt (some schools have policies requiring students to be served “basic” meals if their debt hits a certain point, leading to stigma).

Some states have worked to erase debt, or implement universal school meals. That means anyone can get free lunch or breakfast, which advocates say will lead to less stigma around getting free lunch.

The other layer is how this latest round of lunch shaming is being perpetrated: through phones. Though there’s been a wave of cellphone bans across the country, not all bans are known as bell-to-bell bans that restrict phone use for the entire school day. While a majority of teens oppose bell-to-bell bans, according to recent surveys, the availability of phones during free periods may help encourage this kind of behavior.

The research into whether bans help prevent cyberbullying is not conclusive. One study released in March found little evidence that the bans affect online bullying.

That’s how many teacher work days with no student contact are included in the calendar for Wake County Public School System in North Carolina. That compares to 177 school days for students. Education Next highlighted these numbers in a piece calling out the “quiet erosion of the five-day school week.” 

While the phenomenon of four-day school weeks has been much studied, school districts that just don’t have that many full weeks of school are less noticed. While many teachers and administrators say these teacher work days provide valuable time for planning and collaborating, the balance with student learning time may be getting off-kilter, North Carolina State Professor Anna Egalite writes. 

That’s John Gianakakis, a Massachusetts father defending his son and his teammates after they were made to forfeit a state championship semifinal lacrosse game because they were photographed with what looked like cigars after their graduation.

Gianakakis says they weren’t cigars, and shares a very detailed account of what he claims actually happened with a local CBS affiliate, including how he crafted fake cigars for the graduation tradition by consulting with a local cigar shop.

Happy graduation season! Hopefully your photo traditions don’t cost anyone a state championship.