Weekly commentary on the legal questions shaping the sector. Current matters before federal and state regulators, developing case law, policy shifts, and practical guidance on what it all means for mission-driven organizations.
The Beacon.
Connecticut Is Building a Special Education Teacher Pipeline. Can Your School Plug Into It?
A $4.7 million federal grant will pay for special education apprenticeships. It’s written around school districts, and no one has said yet whether charter schools, independent schools, or private special education programs can take part.
Strings Attached: The IRS’s New Private School Rule Meets the Supreme Court’s Preschool Case
A proposed IRS rule would treat race-based scholarships and admissions preferences as disqualifying for private school tax exemption, and the Supreme Court hears a religious preschool case the same day comments close. Here is what schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and D.C. should do now.
What 2026’s Education Laws Mean for Schools in Connecticut and New York
Connecticut's 2025 session reshaped special-education funding and rules, held ECS harmless for overfunded towns, and touched charters; a shorter 2026 session added new charters and paraeducator provisions. New York moved mostly through budget and regulation. Here's what school leaders should track.
EEOC Adopts New National Enforcement Plan for FY 2025–2029: Key Implications for Nonprofit Employers
The EEOC rescinded its prior Strategic Enforcement Plan on June 4 and replaced it with a new National Enforcement Plan for FY 2025–2029. The new plan shifts enforcement emphasis toward intentional discrimination and DEI-related employment practices, deprioritizes disparate impact, and ties enforcement discretion expressly to current executive branch policy.
Treasury Signals a More Transparent Form 990: A Watch Item for 501(c)(3) Organizations
Treasury has announced that the IRS plans to revise Form 990 to require clearer reporting on government grants, contracts, and fiscal sponsorship. Nothing is final yet, and proposed regulations with a public comment period will come first.
Many Changes Afoot for Nonprofit Organizations at Internal Revenue Service
Three IRS developments — Form 8976's move to Pay.gov, a possible precedent revisiting regarding race-based selection criteria, and looming Johnson Amendment guidance — are reshaping the ground under paired (c)(3)/(c)(4) structures before the June 30 window closes on IRS/Treasury priority program guidance.
Primary Season Is Coming to NY, DC, MA, and CT — What Your Charity Can (and Can’t) Do at a Candidate Forum
Primary season is opening across NY, DC, MA, and CT, and your charity is being asked to host forums, rent space, and invite electeds to speak. Here is what is permitted, what is prohibited, and the small adjustments that keep routine activity clean.
DOJ Proposes to Shield Its Attorneys from State Bar Oversight
DOJ has proposed exempting federal prosecutors from state professional-conduct rules in any state where they practice, which would make federal attorneys uniquely unaccountable to the same ethical regime that governs every other lawyer in the jurisdiction.
DOGE and the Debate over Nonprofits
As DOGE proposes deep cuts to federal grant programs that fund a substantial share of nonprofit operations, the question isn't only what gets cut, but whether the public-private partnership model that built the modern sector survives the next budget cycle intact.
Resurrecting the U.S. Department of Education?
A Massachusetts federal court ordered the Trump administration to reinstate hundreds of Department of Education employees, reviving the broader constitutional question of whether the executive branch can effectively eliminate a Cabinet-level agency that Congress created.
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