🛝 Federal Oversight Collapse, Teen Hacker Exposes EdTech Gaps, Self-Regulation Crisis

Welcome to Playground Post, a bi-weekly newsletter that keeps education innovators ahead of what's next.

This week's reality check: Federal agencies that oversee special education and civil rights are being gutted just as a teenager demonstrates how vulnerable school systems really are. Meanwhile, teachers are dealing with a student self-regulation crisis that no one seems equipped to solve.

💎 Data Gem

Roughly 1 in 3 teachers already use AI in teaching, but ~70% worry AI enables plagiarism and cheating, according to the OECD's TALIS 2024 report. The gap between adoption and trust creates ongoing tension in classrooms worldwide.

Education Department Layoffs Hit Offices Overseeing Special Education and Civil Rights

The Education Department just laid off 466 staffers - nearly a fifth of its remaining workforce. 

The agency now employs fewer than 2,000 people, down from 4,100 when Trump took office in January.

The cuts aren't distributed evenly. 

According to the union representing department workers, all employees except top officials are being fired from the office that implements the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The Office for Civil Rights, which investigates discrimination complaints, is also losing unknown numbers of staff.

Several grant oversight teams are being eliminated or heavily depleted. 

That includes offices managing Title I funding for low-income schools, 21st Century Community Learning Centers (the primary federal source for after-school programs), TRIO programs for first-generation college students, and funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Parents are already becoming more reluctant to file complaints because they believe no one will investigate, according to Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc disability rights group. 

More schools are delaying evaluations or steering parents toward plans with fewer services.

When federal oversight disappears, someone still needs to help districts navigate compliance, interpret regulations, and respond to parent concerns. 

Private compliance services, training platforms, and advocacy support tools may need to fill gaps that federal offices once covered.

The Teen Hacker Behind the PowerSchool Breach

Matthew Lane was 19 when he hacked PowerSchool, stole data from millions of students and teachers, and demanded $3 million in extortion.

But this wasn't beginner's luck. 

Cybersecurity firm Cyble's analysis, provided to The 74, shows Lane had been targeting organizations since 2021 while still in high school.

His targets included an alcoholic beverage company, a major U.S. supermarket chain, an Indonesian telecommunications company, and the Colombian armed forces. 

Federal prosecutors say he hacked at least eight entities total, including foreign governments.

The PowerSchool attack wasn't an isolated incident - it was "a predictable escalation" using advanced techniques, according to Cyble's research.

The breach exposed how vulnerable education technology infrastructure really is. 

PowerSchool serves millions of students across thousands of districts, yet a teenager with years of experience could compromise the system.

Districts need cybersecurity solutions that assume sophisticated threats rather than casual opportunists. Educational institutions also need incident response plans and vendor security audits that match the actual risk level they face.

A Self-Regulation Crisis Is Overwhelming Elementary Schools

Three-quarters of K-12 educators identify lack of focus as a moderate to severe barrier to learning, according to a National Center for Education Statistics survey. 

Parents report 27% of preschoolers struggle with self-regulation.

The most concerning data comes from a longitudinal Massachusetts study presented at the Society for Research in Child Development conference in May 2025. 

Growth in young children's executive function skills stalled during the pandemic and still hasn't recovered.

Executive function skills - managing attention, behavior, and emotions - are more critical for school readiness than IQ or entry-level reading and math skills, according to research. 

They predict achievement, health, and quality of life throughout life.

The challenge is that most interventions fail because of lack of "far transfer." 

Children who learn self-regulation skills in one situation struggle to apply them elsewhere.

Effective approaches integrate executive function skill-building into everyday activities rather than standalone lessons. 

Clean-up time, for example, becomes practice in planning and sustained effort. Classroom transitions become opportunities for retrospective and prospective reflection.

Schools need tools and training that help teachers recognize these opportunities without adding to their workload. The market need is for solutions that build self-regulation skills across contexts rather than teaching isolated techniques.

⚡️More Quick Hits

This week in education:

• AI use explodes despite inadequate training  -  85% of teachers and 86% of students used AI in 2024-25, but only 48% of teachers received training. Major concerns include weakened student-teacher connections and reduced critical thinking

• Federal budget proposals threaten massive K-12 cuts  -  Three competing FY2026 proposals show stark differences, with cuts ranging from 15% to $4.7 billion in Title I funding. Average districts face $35-46 million in cuts

• College tuition rising while institutions cut programs  -  Colleges raising tuition 2-10% while cutting staff and programs. Major systems increasing tuition 4-7% while reducing budgets 7-18%

• Stricter cellphone policies correlate with happier teachers  -  UPenn survey of 20,000+ educators shows policies requiring phones at home, in locked pouches, or lockers most effective. Currently 34 states plus DC have restrictions

🔎 Worth Checking Out

Monthly roundup of resources you might like:

• State of Computer Science 2025 — State-by-state tracking showing 32 states now require high schools to offer CS courses and 12 mandate CS for graduation.

• K-12 Lens 2025 — Report showing teacher shortages declining to 66% of districts (down from 81%), but persistent gaps remain in special education and substitute roles

• Universal Connectivity Imperative — Data on the "homework gap": 84% of students have school devices in class, but many districts no longer allow take-home access

• National AI in K-12 Survey — Full survey data showing declining public support for AI tools across multiple use cases.

To stay up-to-date on all things education innovation, visit us at playgroundpost.com.