Education Department Stops Updating Key School Data After Cutting Research Arm

Key federal databases that tracked American schools since 1962 is now running on outdated numbers. After Education Department gutted their research arm last year, large portions of the Digest of Education Statistics (covering per-student spending, teacher pay, enrollment, and student safety) have not been refreshed in more than a year.

The Department says new contracts are coming, but the public (and researchers) are operating without current school data in the meantime.