You could be taxed after your student debt is forgiven.

This applies to borrowers in seven states. [View this email online]( [NPR Education]( September 11, 2022 This week, we looked at why some student loan borrowers could be taxed when they have their debts forgiven. We also look at why one school district is asking families to rent rooms to teachers. Plus, a look at the “stolen year” in education. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sesame/Getty Images Happy Sunday, When federal student loan borrowers take a breath from celebrating the cancelation of some or all of their federal student loans, millions of them could be in for a nasty surprise: While President Biden's sweeping student debt relief won't be subject to federal income tax, in seven states borrowers may have to pay state income tax on all those canceled loans. Before 2021, student debt cancelation was generally considered a form of income, and therefore taxable both at the federal and usually state level. But in March of 2021, the American Rescue Plan changed that, at least temporarily: Until the end of 2025, Congress said, the U.S. government will not consider canceled student loan debts to be taxable income. Now that the Biden administration has unveiled its sweeping new debt cancelation plan, this federal exemption is a really big deal. That's because most places follow the federal government's lead when it comes to income tax. "The majority of states that have an income tax essentially say, 'Whatever the federal government says is gross income, we say the same thing,' " explains John Brooks, a Fordham University professor who studies both tax policy and student loan law. But seven states are out of step with federal tax policy and have either said they will tax debt relief or still have policies that could require it, barring a change in state law. [Read the full story here](. — [Cory Turner]( Correspondent, NPR Ed Let’s get into this week's news… A cyberattack hits the Los Angeles School District, raising alarm across the country. A ransomware attack targeting the huge Los Angeles school district prompted an unprecedented shutdown of its computer systems as schools increasingly find themselves vulnerable to cyber breaches at the start of a new year. The attack on the Los Angeles Unified School District sounded alarms across the country, from urgent talks with the White House and the National Security Council after the first signs of ransomware were discovered late Saturday night to mandated password changes for 540,000 students and 70,000 district employees. Though the attack used technology that encrypts data and won't unlock it unless a ransom is paid, in this case the district's superintendent said no immediate demand for money was made and schools in the nation's second-largest district opened as scheduled on Tuesday. [Read more here](. — The Associated Press --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- A California school district is asking families to rent rooms to teachers. A Northern California school district is testing out a novel solution to its housing shortage for teachers: asking community members to rent them rooms. The Milpitas Unified School District put out the call to families in late August in response to staff losses and sky-high housing costs that have made it difficult for educators to live near where they work. Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said in a statement to NPR that the district had already gotten 55 responses to its request. It was proof that district staff members were "valued by our Milpitas community members, parents and caregivers," she said. Spokesperson Scott Forstner said the district had not yet heard from any employees who had secured a unit through the roughly week-old request to families. The median home price in Milpitas, located just outside San Jose, is $1.3 million, according to Realtor.com. [Read more here](. — Joe Hernandez, Newsdesk Hunger advocates want free school meals for all kids. It's a tough sell in Congress. When the government made school meals temporarily free to virtually all public school students in 2020, the intent was to buffer children and families from the spike in hunger and economic hardship caused by the pandemic. It also inadvertently turned out to be a pilot project for something anti-hunger groups had been pushing for years: making school food free, permanently, for all public school students, regardless of income. Once free meals were in place, albeit temporarily, many advocates thought that they would at least remain that way for the rest of the pandemic—if not longer. That didn't turn out to be the case; this spring, Republicans blocked an extension of the waivers that allowed schools to serve free meals to all, which made the prospect of legislation establishing universal school meals remote. [Read more here](. — Bridget Huber, NPR Contributor And before you go, what can we learn from the pandemic? PublicAffairs In 2020, when the pandemic spread, Anya Kamenetz was covering education for NPR. You know this because a lot of her work has been featured in this newsletter. In her new book, she explores how politics and the pandemic magnified inequality in education. The book is called The Stolen Year and it's out now. [You can listen to her interview with Steve Inskeep here](. See you next week. --------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Listen Live]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( What do you think of today's email? 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