Public Institutions & Associations

Berlin/Magdeburg – September 13, 2026 -- Germany's six leading welfare umbrella associations, representing more than 5 million volunteers and paid staff nationwide, issued a joint pledge to defend human dignity and social cohesion following the state election results in Saxony-Anhalt.

BAGFW President Warns Against Election-Driven Discrimination

Achim Meyer auf der Heyde, president of the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Freien Wohlfahrtspflege (BAGFW), said the organization stands with anyone threatened by exclusion, hostility or discrimination, regardless of election outcomes or shifting political majorities.

Berlin – September 13, 2026 -- Schule Global, the German intercultural education initiative, has enrolled its 100th member institution, admitting Humboldt-Realschule Bönen into its nationwide network.

Humboldt-Realschule Bönen becomes the 100th school in Schule Global's network

The school has maintained a partnership with Indonesia since 2018, intensifying ties through exchange trips starting in 2022. By joining Schule Global, the school aims to expand this Indonesia partnership and integrate global education more deeply into curricula and daily school life.

Berlin – September 13, 2026 -- German Education Minister Karin Prien is preparing cabinet proposals for an age restriction on social media platforms, citing a direct link between screen time and Germany's weak PISA test results.

Prien ties declining literacy to social media use

Speaking on rbb24 Inforadio on Wednesday, the CDU politician said children's shrinking attention spans, lack of endurance, and inability to read for comprehension are connected to social media and screen time. She argued the digital and AI era demands stronger safeguards against declining critical thinking among students.

Cabinet proposal expected within weeks

Prien confirmed she will present concrete legislative proposals to the German cabinet in the coming weeks, combining an age restriction with expanded media literacy education in schools.

Los Angeles – September 13, 2026 -- Changing Perspectives, a national non-profit focused on K-12 inclusion, will be featured on "All Access hosted by Andy Garcia," with filming scheduled for September 13, 2026, according to a production announcement.

Broadcast targets systemic gaps in special education resourcing

The segment examines how schools use qualitative and quantitative metrics to identify institutional needs and address shortages in special education support. Traditional rigid classroom models struggle to support varied cognitive, behavioral, and communication profiles, according to the organization, leaving reactive, siloed interventions in place of proactive institutional design.

Wiesbaden – September 13, 2026 -- Germany's youth welfare authorities granted 174,000 integration assistance measures for children and young adults with mental disabilities in 2024, more than double the 80,800 recorded in 2014, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Spending on integration aid triples to €3.5 billion in a decade

Federal, state and municipal expenditure on these measures for minors reached €3.5 billion in 2024, up from €1.1 billion in 2014. Their share of total child and youth welfare spending on individual and group assistance rose from 8% to 12% over the same period. Overall child and youth welfare spending climbed 108% to €78.8 billion between 2014 and 2024.

San Diego – September 13, 2026 -- Regpack, an online registration and payment platform, has launched Program Insights, a real-time dashboard that tracks enrollment and family retention while a program season is still underway.

Dashboard tracks enrollment fill rates and returning families in real time

Program Insights lets directors watch enrollment percentages populate by class as sign-ups come in, identify which sessions are nearing capacity, and see which families from the previous season have re-enrolled and which have not.

Tool flags exact drop-off points in registration forms

The platform identifies where prospective participants abandon the sign-up process. If a class loses most of its interest at a specific step, that step becomes visible, allowing directors to adjust the form, wording, or pricing and measure whether subsequent sign-up groups complete registration.

Lincoln, Nebraska – September 13, 2026 -- Nelnet Government Services said its ADA Web Accessibility Consulting services are now listed on Civic Marketplace, letting state and local agencies procure compliance work without issuing a new request for proposal ahead of Department of Justice deadlines set for April 2027 and April 2028.

Cooperative contract removes the RFP bottleneck for public agencies

Nelnet's services were awarded through the Alliance for Innovation (AFI) cooperative purchasing program, meaning they have already been competitively solicited under public procurement rules. Listing on Civic Marketplace lets eligible cities, counties, school districts, and other public agencies access Nelnet's pre-negotiated pricing directly, cutting a process that typically consumes about a year down to an immediate purchase.

Bethesda, Md. – September 12, 2026 -- EPS Learning has secured SOC 2 Type II attestation for its EPS Connect platform following an independent audit by SC&H Attest Services, P.C., providing school and district partners formal assurance over student data protections.

Independent auditor validates security controls over a sustained period

The SOC 2 Type II review, based on the AICPA's Trust Services Criteria for security, examined the design and operating effectiveness of EPS Learning's controls over time rather than at a single point. Auditors assessed policies, procedures, risk management, incident response, disaster recovery processes, and information and communication systems tied to EPS Connect.

Englewood, Colo. – September 12, 2026 -- Stefano S. McGhee, a Massachusetts technology executive who most recently served as Senior Director of Technology Operations for Harvard Business Publishing, has been elected to the Board of Directors of Toastmasters International, taking on a one-year term following the organization's 2026 International Convention in Vancouver, held Aug. 19-22.

McGhee brings enterprise IT leadership experience to a 245,000-member global network

At Harvard Business Publishing, McGhee led a team of cloud engineers, architects, integration engineers and help desk technicians responsible for the availability and stability of critical applications, including Harvard Business Review. Toastmasters International, headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, operates more than 14,000 clubs in nearly 150 countries.

Frankfurt – September 12, 2026 -- German students perform worse today than they did a quarter-century ago, despite the country spending above-average sums per pupil compared with international peers, according to the latest PISA assessment results.

Education inequality widens despite two decades of reform

The gap in educational outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged students has grown larger since the first PISA shock in 2001, reversing gains made in the years that followed. Performance had improved steadily through 2015 after policymakers overhauled curricula and teaching standards in response to that initial wake-up call.

High spending fails to translate into learning outcomes

Germany allocates more funding per student than the international average, yet results now trail behind comparable economies, raising questions about the efficiency of current educational spending and resource allocation within the school system.