The 10th Amendment to the US Constitution empowers state and local districts to control curriculum and school operations. The federal Department of Education’s (DOE) mission is to ensure access to equal educational opportunities, support and improve the quality of education, and coordinate educational programs while holding those programs accountable.

The current administration has been working to gut the DOE. A new presidential administration must undo this harm while enacting reforms in eight critical policy areas.

The first priority must be to rescind Executive Order 14242, which shifts all authority over education to the states, thus potentially increasing educational inequality.

These eight critical policy areas must also be addressed through federal action:

Cellphone Use During School Hours
Aligning All Publicly Funded Schools With Accountability Standards
Artificial Intelligence (AI) In Schools
Teacher Recruitment/Retention
School Funding
Civil Rights and Discriminatory Censorship
School Safety, Climate, and Student Mental Health
Personal Finance and Financial Literacy Education

Included here are explanations of each issue, proposed executive agendas for Day One and First 100 Days’ action, and a Legislative Agenda.

Introduction

The federal role in education policy is constrained by the Tenth Amendment, which empowers states and local school districts to control curriculum and school operations. The US Department of Education’s mission is to assure access to equal education opportunities, support and improve education quality through research and information sharing, coordinate and manage educational programs and activities, and hold education programs accountable. Combined, spending by the Department of Education and other Federal departments, including the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture, comprises approximately 8% of national spending on primary and secondary education.

Despite this relatively small role in the national education system, the current administration has been determined to shrink the federal role in education by effectively gutting the Department of Education.

On Day One of a new administration, a future President must first act to undo this harm, then turn to a series of eight areas critical for federal education policy. For each of these eight areas, we provide an overview of the importance of the problem and present policy responses for both the executive and legislative agendas. Within the Executive Agenda for each policy area, we identify policy responses to be implemented on “Day One” of a new administration, and those to be implemented in the medium term of its ‘first 100 days.

Day One Priority One: Rescind Executive Order 14242

On day one of a new administration, the President must rescind Executive Order 14242, known as "Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities." Despite its title, this order, signed on March 20, 2025, sought to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, a vital federal agency that helps ensure equal access to quality education across the country, particularly for historically underserved communities. By shifting all authority over education to the states, the order risks deepening educational inequality, as state-level funding and priorities vary widely and may not sufficiently support low-income districts, students with disabilities, or English language learners.

The Department of Education enforces civil rights laws in schools and administers programs that help millions of students afford higher education through Pell Grants and federal loans, functions that could be severely disrupted or unevenly implemented without federal oversight. Additionally, the Executive Order’s language targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as “illegal discrimination” and condemning “gender ideology” enables a rollback of protections and support for marginalized student populations, including LGBTQ+ youth and students of color.

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Cellphone Use During School Hours

Declining academic performance among K-12 students, as reflected in recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, combined with growing evidence that cellphone use during school hours undermines student learning, well-being, and school climate, presents an urgent challenge for federal education policy. The 2024 NAEP results released in early 2025 showed that reading scores fell 5 points for both 4th and 8th graders relative to 2019, with continued declines from 2022 levels, while the September 2025 release revealed 12th grade math and reading scores each dropped 3 points since 2019—with 45 percent of 12th graders scoring below NAEP Basic in math, the highest share ever recorded.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 53 percent of public school leaders report that cellphone use has negatively impacted student academic performance, while even larger majorities cite harm to student mental health (72 percent) and attention spans (73 percent). UNESCO’s 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report found that the mere proximity of mobile phones was enough to distract students, with research indicating it can take up to 20 minutes to refocus after a phone-related disruption. This is reinforced by Pew Research Center data showing 72 percent of U.S. high school teachers identify cellphone distraction as a major classroom problem.

This is an area of emerging bipartisan consensus. As of December 2025, 35 states and Washington, D.C. have enacted laws or policies restricting student cellphone use, with 22 of these laws enacted in 2025 alone. At the school level, 77 percent of public schools already maintain policies banning cellphone use in the classroom. Multiple bipartisan federal bills have been introduced, including the Focus on Learning Act (S. 404 / H.R. 1275), which would direct the Surgeon General to study cellphone use in K-12 classrooms and establish a pilot grant program for secure phone storage—and the UNPLUGGED Act (H.R. 2700), which would require state educational agencies to adopt policies prohibiting student phone possession during school hours, reflecting congressional appetite for federal action.

International models reinforce the case for action. France prohibited cellphones in primary and lower secondary schools beginning in 2018 and has since extended a "digital break" pilot to nearly 200 schools; the Netherlands implemented a national classroom ban in January 2024, with a Dutch government evaluation finding that 75 percent of high schools reported improved student concentration and 59 percent reported an improved social climate; and Hungary enacted a nationwide school phone ban in September 2024 under Government Decree No. 245/2024. Peer-reviewed quasi-experimental research from Spain, where Galicia and Castilla-La Mancha banned phones in schools in 2014–2015, found significant reductions in bullying incidence and PISA score gains in Galicia equivalent to roughly 0.6–0.8 years of learning in math and nearly a full year in science—suggesting national-level restrictions can meaningfully reduce bullying and improve learning outcomes.

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

Issue a Presidential Memorandum on Phone-Free Schools

Direct the Secretary of Education to update and strengthen the Department’s 2024 cellphone guidance by establishing a clear federal recommendation that all K-12 public schools adopt “bell-to-bell” phone-free policies. This memorandum should signal executive branch support for the growing state-level movement while respecting local control over implementation details.

Direct the Department of Defense to Implement Bell-to-Bell Phone Bans in DoDEA Schools

Building on the bipartisan REFOCUS DoDEA Act provisions included in the FY 2026 NDAA, direct the Secretary of Defense to ensure that all 160+ Department of Defense Activity (DoDEA) schools worldwide implement comprehensive phone-free policies. With 65,000 students enrolled, DoDEA schools can serve as a federal model for the implementation of best practices.

Establish an Interagency Task Force on Youth Digital Well-Being

Issue an executive order creating an interagency working group drawing on the Department of Education, the Surgeon General’s office, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the administration's approach to children’s screen time, social media use, and cell phone policies in schools. This task force should be charged with delivering a comprehensive policy framework within 100 days.

Direct the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) to Adopt Phone-Free Policies

As a federally operated school system, BIE schools fall directly under executive authority. Direct the BIE to develop and implement cellphone restriction policies across its network of schools, providing another proof of concept for federal action.

The First 100 Days

Establish a Federal Regulatory Framework for Cellphone Ban Policies

The Department of Education should develop regulations requiring school districts receiving federal funding to adopt and implement cellphone ban policies. Drawing on the Center for American Progress recommendation, these regulations should establish a policy baseline while providing flexibility for states to design implementation plans suited to their contexts, including exemptions for students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), 504 plans, medical needs, and emergency situations. The framework should incorporate equity safeguards to ensure fair enforcement across student populations.

Launch a Competitive Grant Program for Phone-Free School Implementation

Using existing discretionary grant authority, the Department of Education should establish a grant program to help states and districts design, implement, and evaluate cellphone restriction policies. Modeled on the bipartisan Focus on Learning Act’s pilot program structure (which authorized $5 million annually over five years), grants should cover the costs of secure device storage solutions (ex. Yondr pouches, locked cabinets), staff training, parent communication systems, and policy evaluation. State programs like New York’s $13.5 million allocation and New Jersey’s $3 million Phone-Free Schools Grant demonstrate the demand for implementation funding at scale.

Commission National Research on Cellphone Policy Effectiveness

Direct the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to conduct a comprehensive national study on the academic, behavioral, and mental health effects of school cell phone policies. As the Center for American Progress and the Focus on Learning Act both emphasize, there is a significant gap in US-based research on the effectiveness of different policy models. The study should evaluate the comparative impact of classroom-only restrictions versus bell-to-bell bans, different storage approaches, and enforcement mechanisms. Findings should be reported to Congress and made publicly available to inform state and local policy design.

Develop a Model Policy Toolkit and Technical Assistance Program

The Department of Education should develop a comprehensive Model Policy toolkit that provides states and districts with evidence-based templates, implementation timelines, stakeholder engagement guides, and equity checklists. The toolkit should draw on successful state models such as Virginia’s Executive Order 33 guidance, New York’s bell-to-bell implementation framework, and Florida’s FOCUS Act structure. The Department should also provide ongoing technical assistance through regional education laboratories.

Integrate Cellphone Policy Guidance into Existing Federal Programs

Direct the Department of Education to incorporate cellphone policy recommendations into existing program guidance for Title I, Title IV-A, and the Full-Service Community Schools Program. Title IV-A funds, in particular, can already be used for school safety and digital literacy purposes and should be explicitly flagged as a resource for cellphone policy implementation.

Issue Updated Surgeon General’s Advisory on Youth Screen Time and School Environments

Direct the Surgeon General to issue an advisory specifically addressing the impact of cellphone and social media use in school settings, building on the 2023 advisory on social media and youth mental health. This advisory should specifically address the emerging evidence base for phone-free school environments and provide medical justification for in-school cellphone restrictions, strengthening the public health foundation for both executive and legislative action.

Legislative Agenda

Pass the Focus on Learning Act.

Support the bipartisan Focus on Learning Act (reintroduced in the 119th Congress) that would require a federal study on the effects of cellphone use in schools and authorize a $5 million annual pilot grant program for phone-free school environments over five years. The legislation enjoys bipartisan support and provides the foundational research and implementation funding that both federal and state policymakers need.

Enact the UNPLUGGED Schools Grant Act

Support the bipartisan Mission UNPLUGGED Act that would amend Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to create a dedicated federal grant program for states that adopt bell-to-bell phone-free policies. The grant funds would be allocated based on Title I formulas and used for secure storage solutions, staff training, and parent outreach. This would directly address the implementation costs that are the primary barrier for many districts.

Establish a National Education Trust Fund for Digital Citizenship

Advocate for legislation creating a trust fund capitalized by fines levied against tech and social media companies for privacy violations and infractions against children. As proposed by the Center for American Progress, these funds should be distributed to state and local education agencies to support digital citizenship education, responsible technology use curricula, and phone-free school implementation costs. This creates a self-sustaining funding mechanism that holds tech companies accountable while investing in student well-being.

Require Social Media Mental Health Warning Labels

Advance the Surgeon General’s recommendation by supporting legislation requiring social media companies to display mental health warning labels on their platforms. California and Minnesota have passed their own versions, but federal legislation would provide national uniformity and withstand First Amendment challenges that have complicated state-level efforts. Warning labels complement phone-free school policies by addressing the broader environment of digital harms affecting youth.

Strengthen Children’s Online Privacy Protections

Support legislation raising the minimum age for personal data collection on social media, extending Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)-style privacy protections to a broader group of young users. States like Texas, Utah, and California have moved to require age verification and parental consent for use of the app by minors, but federal legislation would provide a consistent national standard and prevent a patchwork of state-by-state requirements that are difficult for platforms and families to navigate.

Codify Federal Funding Conditions for Phone-Free Policies

Pursue legislation in which Congress would condition the receipt of Title IV-A (Student Support and Academic Enrichment) funds. Its statutory purpose already includes improving school conditions for student learning and promoting responsible technology use. Modeled on South Carolina’s approach of tying state aid to policy adoption, this would create an incentive structure while preserving state flexibility over the specific form of restrictions. The legislation should include a reasonable compliance timeline and provide implementation support funding.

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Aligning All Publicly Funded Schools with Accountability Standards

The proliferation of microschools during the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth of charter schools over the past decade, and the recent implementation of statewide voucher programs have led to a significant increase in students enrolled in schools operating outside traditional school structures. These schools are generally not held to the same accountability standards as traditional public schools regarding fiscal transparency, student outcomes, services for students with disabilities and English learners, and compliance with anti-discrimination laws.

Research suggests that charter schools can disrupt system coherence, affect the ability to reduce child poverty and disadvantage, impede efforts to limit racial segregation, and impact the responsible stewardship of public funds. The current legal climate favors charter schools and voucher programs, reducing the ability of the federal government to regulate them without proactive policy action.

Executive Priorities

Day 1 Actions

Issue Executive Guidance on Anti-Discrimination Compliance for All Publicly Funded Schools

Direct the Department of Education to issue Day 1 guidance reinforcing that any school-charter, private, or microschool - receiving federal funds must comply with Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Establish a clear enforcement posture signaling that waivers or exceptions will not be granted.

Launch an Interagency Review of Charter School Program Grant Compliance

Direct the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General to initiate an immediate audit of active Charter School Program grantees for compliance with fiscal transparency, oversight, and accountability requirements, as mandated under the existing Charter School Program (CSP) authorizing statute.

Reinstate and Strengthen IDEA Enforcement in Charter Schools

Issue a “Dear Colleague” letter reaffirming that charter schools must fully comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including due process rights, manifestation determination reviews, and the provision of a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment.

Direct NCES to Begin Scoping a Microschool Data Collection Framework

Task the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) with developing a plan to define, identify, and collect enrollment and outcomes data on microschools nationwide, laying the groundwork for a formal data collection initiative.

Establish a Federal Interagency Task Force on School Choice Accountability

Convene a cross-agency task force to review gaps in federal oversight of charter schools, private voucher-accepting schools, and microschools, with a 90-day reporting deadline for recommended regulatory and enforcement actions. This task force could consist of a core group drawn from the Department of Education, the Government Accountability Office, and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. A broader range of departments could also include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of the Treasury. Release the findings of the interagency task force, including a gap analysis of current federal authority, recommended legislative vehicles, and a proposed accountability framework applicable to all publicly funded school types.

Freeze Expansion of CSP Grants Pending Accountability Review

Impose a temporary moratorium on new Charter School Program (CSP) grant awards until the interagency audit referenced above produces initial findings, ensuring no new federal dollars flow to charter operators without verified accountability structures.

The First 100 Days

Publish a Comprehensive Federal Definition of Micro Schools

Through notice-and-comment rulemaking, adopt a federal definition of microschools that clarifies enrollment thresholds, instructional models, and the federal and state education laws that apply to them. This definition will anchor all subsequent data collection and compliance requirements.

Propose Revised CSP Regulations Requiring Enhanced Fiscal Transparency

Publish a proposed rule strengthening Charter School Program (CSP) regulations to require annual public financial audits, disclosure of management organization contracts, and itemized reporting of per-pupil expenditures for all CSP-funded schools.

Release NCES Micro School Data Collection Standards

Publish proposed data collection and reporting standards for microschools through the National Center for Education Statistics, including enrollment demographics, teacher qualifications, student outcome measures, and compliance with federal education laws.

Issue Regulatory Guidance on Required Services in Charter Schools

Publish guidance clarifying that charter schools receiving federal funds must provide equitable access to food and nutrition programs, transportation, English learner services, and special education programming comparable to traditional public schools in the same district. This requirement would apply uniformly to all states receiving Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) formula funds, implemented through their existing state plan certification process. States would be required to include in their ESSA plans an assurance that charter schools receiving federal funds provide equitable access to these services, with flexibility to determine whether the charter school, the authorizing district, or a third-party provider delivers them consistent with each state’s charter school legal framework.

Legislative Agenda

Enact a Public Funds, Public Accountability Act

Pass legislation requiring any school (public, charter, private, or microschool) that receives federal funds through any mechanism (direct grants, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, Title I portability) to comply with the same accountability, transparency, and anti-discrimination standards as traditional public schools.

These standards include, but are not limited to:

Participation in statewide academic assessments and accountability systems
Compliance with IDEA, Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504
Public reporting of per-pupil expenditures and student outcomes disaggregated by subgroup
Teacher certification requirements
Non-discriminatory admissions policies
Fiscal transparency under federal audit standards

As the Center for American Progress Framework has documented, private schools participating in voucher programs are currently exempt from nearly all of these requirements. Fewer than half of the states require voucher school teachers to hold a bachelor’s degree, and fewer than a third publicly report voucher student outcomes on state assessments.

Amend IDEA to Cover All Publicly Funded School Types

Legislatively close loopholes by amending IDEA to explicitly require charter schools, voucher-accepting private schools, and microschools to meet all IDEA provisions, including Child Find obligations, least restrictive environment mandates, and procedural safeguards for families.

Reform the Charter School Program Authorizing Statute

Reauthorize the Charter School Program (CSP) with provisions restricting federal funding to charter schools that are authorized by entities with demonstrated oversight capacity, such as meeting the professional standards established by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA); are aligned with the goals of the local public education system, demonstrated through evidence that the proposed school addresses unmet community needs rather than duplicating existing offerings; and meet heightened accountability standards commensurate with their operational autonomy, including financial transparency and reporting requirements equivalent to those governing traditional public schools under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

Establish a Federal Impact Aid Program for Districts Losing Students to Charter Expansion

Create a targeted federal funding stream to support school districts experiencing enrollment and revenue losses due to charter school growth, helping districts maintain programming and staffing levels for remaining students.

This proposal could be modeled on the existing Federal Impact Aid program, which has compensated school districts for revenue losses caused by federal policy decisions since 1950, most notably districts hosting tax-exempt military installations and Indian lands. The base realignment and closure (BRAC) rebasing component of that program is instructive: it provides targeted transitional funding to districts experiencing significant enrollment shifts due to base closures and realignments, recognizing that the federal government bears responsibility when its policy choices disrupt local enrollment patterns and revenue streams tied to them.

Codify Federal Microschool Data Collection and Accountability Standards

Enact legislation requiring the Department of Education to maintain a national registry of microschools, collect annual data on enrollment and outcomes through the National Center for Education Statistics, and condition any federal funding eligibility on compliance with reporting requirements and anti-discrimination laws.

Pass a Charter School Transparency and Equity Act

Legislate requirements for all charter schools to publicly disclose governance structures, management contracts, enrollment and discipline data disaggregated by race and disability status, and financial audits. Include provisions mandating equitable access to food, transportation, and wrap-around services.

Disclosure should occur through two complementary channels. First, charter schools receiving federal funds should be required to publish annually on their own websites the same categories of information that traditional public schools report through ESSA state and local report cards, including governance structures, management contracts, financial audits, and enrollment and discipline data disaggregated by race, disability, and socioeconomic status. Second, state education agencies should compile and report this data to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education as a condition of CSP grant eligibility. This ensures federal oversight without creating a redundant reporting infrastructure. California’s SB 126, which requires charter schools to comply with the same open meetings, public records, and conflict-of-interest laws as traditional public schools, offers a working state-level model for this approach.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Schools

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are entering K–12 classrooms at a pace that far outstrips the development of regulatory guardrails. According to a 2025 report from the Center for Democracy and Technology, 85 percent of teachers and 86 percent of students used AI during the 2024–25 school year. Yet fewer than one in three teachers report having received training on how to use AI tools effectively, and only 17 percent of students have received any guidance on the risks of using AI. This rapid, largely unguided adoption raises serious concerns about equity, transparency, student data privacy, and instructional quality.

The absence of consistent federal guidance has left states to fill the gap unevenly. As of mid-2025, at least 28 states and the District of Columbia had issued AI guidance for schools, but these vary widely in scope, specificity, and enforceability. The U.S. Department of Education’s own AI and the Future of Teaching and Learning report has emphasized the risks of algorithmic discrimination and the need for evidence-based adoption, warning that biases embedded in AI systems can introduce or sustain unjust discriminatory practices when used for enrollment decisions, early intervention identification, or academic integrity monitoring. An umbrella review of 102 systematic reviews on AI in K–12 education identified four major categories of challenges: technological limitations, pedagogical hurdles, ethical risks, and systemic barriers.

Perhaps most critically, research suggests that the rush to integrate AI into schools may be undermining the very skills education is meant to build. Seventy percent of teachers report concern that AI weakens critical thinking and research skills, and educators describe AI as damaging the ability of students to develop meaningful relationships with teachers. Without a coherent federal framework, schools are left to navigate these risks individually—often under pressure from vendors and policymakers who promote AI adoption without adequate evidence of its effectiveness or safeguards for its responsible use.

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

Federal Guidance on Responsible AI Adoption

Direct the Secretary of Education to issue a memorandum providing higher-level guidance, oversight, and regulatory frameworks to support school staff and district administrators in evaluating and adopting AI tools. This guidance should establish minimum standards for transparency, bias auditing, and data privacy before any AI tool is deployed in a classroom setting.

Moratorium Advisory on Unvetted AI Applications

Issue a Dear Colleague letter advising districts to refrain from adopting additional AI-based educational applications until appropriate regulatory structures are established, citing documented equity, privacy, and transparency concerns. This advisory should be accompanied by a checklist of minimum safeguards districts should have in place before proceeding.

Reframing Federal Communications on AI

Direct the Department of Education to cease uncritical promotion of AI as a means to transform and modernize schools and to reframe federal communications to emphasize evidence-based, cautious adoption. All federal guidance should foreground the documented risks of algorithmic bias, data misuse, and the erosion of critical thinking alongside any potential benefits.

State Guidance Coordination Initiative

Launch a federal coordination initiative to support the 22+ states that have not yet issued AI guidance for K-12 schools, providing model frameworks, technical assistance, and research summaries to help states develop consistent, evidence-informed AI policies.

The First 100 Days

Black Box AI Prohibition Rulemaking

Initiate a formal rulemaking process to prohibit schools from using “black box” AI models whose operations are not transparent to regulators, students, and families. The rule should require that any AI system used in a school setting be auditable, explainable, and subject to bias review prior to deployment.

Interagency AI in Education Task Force

Convene an interagency task force including the Department of Education, FTC, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to develop federal standards for equitable AI use in schools, including procurement guidelines, bias auditing requirements, and student data privacy protections. The task force should produce actionable recommendations within 90 days.

Data Reporting Burden Reduction

Direct the Department of Education to reduce data reporting requirements that create pressures on schools to adopt AI in administrative systems prematurely, recognizing that administrative convenience should not drive the adoption of tools with unresolved equity and privacy concerns.

Federal Evidence Review on AI in Education

Commission and publish a comprehensive federal research review on the current evidence base for AI in tutoring and personalized learning, identifying both promising applications and documented risks, and providing districts with reliable, independent information to inform adoption decisions.

Legislative Agenda

Pass an AI in K-12 Schools Act.

Pass comprehensive legislation establishing federal regulations for AI use in K-12 schools, including mandatory transparency requirements, equity impact assessments, student data privacy protections, and prohibitions on opaque algorithmic decision-making systems. The legislation should establish enforcement mechanisms and penalties for noncompliance.

Establish a Federal AI in Education Research Fund.

Establish dedicated federal funding for independent, longitudinal research on AI in education, including studies of student outcomes, equity impacts, instructional quality effects, and long-term consequences of AI-mediated learning on critical thinking and relationship development.

Authorize AI Literacy and Teacher Training.

Authorize and fund a national AI literacy initiative providing professional development to educators on understanding how AI systems work, identifying bias, monitoring AI outputs, and integrating AI responsibly.

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Teacher Recruitment/Retention

The United States faces a teacher shortage of historic proportions. According to the Learning Policy Institute’s 2025 national scan, at least 411,500 teaching positions nationally are either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments—representing approximately one in eight of all teaching positions in the country. This figure has increased every year the data has been collected. NCES data confirm that 74 percent of districts had difficulty filling open positions for the 2024–25 school year, with special education, science, and foreign language positions most likely to go unfilled. The crisis is most acute in the schools that need the most support: 57 percent of schools in high-poverty neighborhoods report being understaffed, compared to 42 percent of low-poverty schools, and schools with the highest concentrations of students of color are four times as likely to employ an uncertified teacher compared to schools with the lowest concentrations.

At the root of the shortage is a compensation crisis that has deepened over three decades. The Economic Policy Institute reported in September 2025 that the teacher pay penalty—the gap between the weekly wages of teachers and other college graduates—reached a record 26.9 percent in 2024, meaning teachers earned just 73 cents for every dollar earned by similarly educated professionals. This penalty exceeds 25 percent in 20 states and has grown dramatically from just 6.1 percent in 1996. When total compensation, including benefits, is considered, teachers still face a 17.1 percent gap. The teaching workforce also lacks racial and ethnic diversity: only 20 percent of teachers are people of color, despite more than half of students being students of color.

These trends are self-reinforcing. Low pay, heavy workloads, and poor working conditions drive high turnover. These rates reached 14–16 percent in sampled states during 2023–24, while interest in entering the profession among high school and college students has fallen to its lowest level in decades. Only 30 percent of teachers consider the profession rewarding, and just 19 percent consider it sustainable. The result is a vicious cycle in which the most vulnerable students are served by the least experienced and least prepared educators, compounding existing achievement gaps and deepening educational inequality.

Breaking this cycle requires more than pay increases. A growing body of evidence points to working conditions, particularly the non-instructional burden teachers carry, as a central driver of attrition, and three load-reducing interventions stand out as candidates for federal investment. First, class size reduction remains the most rigorously evidenced lever, with the Tennessee STAR experiment and subsequent replication work demonstrating both achievement gains and improvements in the day-to-day conditions that shape teacher retention. Second, federally funded paraprofessional and instructional aide programs, targeted to high-need classrooms and inclusion settings, can distribute the behavioral, logistical, and special-education-adjacent demands that disproportionately drive exits among teachers serving the most vulnerable students. Title I and IDEA already provide partial vehicles for this support, but neither is structured as a dedicated, sustained paraeducator investment.

Third, federal grant support for school-based health centers and wellness centers offers a wraparound strategy that reduces the share of student needs that teachers are expected to absorb alone. The most rigorous evaluations, includingKim and colleagues' nationally representative analysis in JAMA Network Open, find that school-based health centers expand access to care and reduce income-based health disparities among low-income children, with associated gains in attendance and engagement. Direct causal evidence linking these centers to teacher retention is limited, and implementation research (Hoover et al., 2018) documents real operational and partnership challenges. But the indirect mechanism is well-supported: when student mental health crises, unmanaged chronic conditions, and unmet basic needs are addressed by clinical staff rather than by classroom teachers and overstretched counselors, teachers can devote more of their day to instruction and less to triage. Existing federal vehicles, HRSA's school-based health center expansion authority, ESSA Title IV-A flexibility, and reforms to Medicaid school-based billing modeled onCalifornia's CYBHI multi-payer fee schedule provide a foundation on which a dedicated federal grant program could build.

Taken together, these interventions reframe retention not as a problem of individual teacher resilience but as a structural problem of the load the profession is asked to carry. A federal strategy that pairs compensation reform with class size reduction, paraprofessional investment, and wraparound student supports addresses both the conditions teachers cite when they leave and the student needs that make those conditions untenable.

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

Accelerate Loan Forgiveness Processing

Issue executive guidance prioritizing expanded and expedited loan forgiveness processing for teachers in high-needs fields and schools under existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Teacher Loan Forgiveness programs. Administrative backlogs and processing delays have prevented eligible educators from receiving relief they have already earned.

Reform the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant

Direct the Department of Education to reform TEACH Grant administration by ending automatic cuts to award amounts and reforming the harsh loan conversion penalty that has discouraged participation. Typically, if TEACH Grant obligations are not met, it is converted into a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan with interest calculated retroactively from the date the funds were initially disbursed. Currently, minor paperwork errors can convert grants into these loans, creating a punitive system that undermines its own recruitment purpose.

Issue ESSA Title II Guidance for Pipeline Programs

Issue guidance encouraging states to use ESSA Title II funds for Grow Your Own teacher pipeline programs, teacher residency programs, and National Board Certification subsidies in underserved communities, directing existing resources toward the most effective recruitment and retention strategies.

Establish an Educator Diversity Data Initiative

Direct the Department of Education to establish improved data collection and public reporting on educator workforce diversity, including annual tracking of the racial and ethnic composition of new teachers entering the profession, to inform targeted recruitment efforts.

Launch a Joint ED-HHS Strategy on Teacher Working Conditions and Student Supports

Issue an executive order directing the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to develop a coordinated federal strategy on teacher working conditions and student wraparound supports, naming school-based health centers, paraprofessional capacity, and class size as priorities. Direct Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)in parallel to issue updated guidance encouraging states to adopt multi-payer billing arrangements for school-based behavioral health services modeled on California’s CYBHI fee schedule.

The First 100 Days

Expand the Teacher Quality Partnership

Expand the Teacher Quality Partnership Program through existing Title II of the Higher Education Act authority, with priority funding for preparation programs serving critical shortage areas and high-needs schools. This program has demonstrated effectiveness in producing well-prepared teachers who remain in the profession.

Establish a Clinical Preparation and Residency Initiative

Launch a federal initiative to fund, study, and disseminate effective clinical preparation models, including teacher residency programs modeled on medical residencies, which research shows produce teachers who are more effective and more likely to remain in the profession, particularly in high-needs schools.

Minority Serving Institution Investment

Direct increased investment in education programs at minority-serving institutions to build a more diverse teaching pipeline, recognizing that these institutions play a disproportionate role in preparing teachers of color who serve high-needs communities.

Develop a Teaching Housing Support Program

Develop a federal housing support program for teachers, including planning grants to states for down payment assistance and housing incentive programs targeting high-cost and rural areas where housing affordability is a significant barrier to teacher recruitment.

Issue Community Responsive Credentialing Guidance

Develop supplemental credentialing guidance that values locally designed teacher assessments responsive to community and school needs, alongside standardized requirements, ensuring that credentialing systems recognize diverse forms of expertise and cultural knowledge.

Expand HRSA School-Based Health Center Grants and Launch a Class Size Reduction Demonstration.

Expand HRSA’s school-based health center grant competition with priority for rural and high-poverty districts, requiring applicants to demonstrate partnerships with the host local education agency (LEA) on student support coordination. In parallel, launch a federal size-reduction demonstration grant under existing ESSA Title II authority, targeted at the highest-need districts, to generate updated outcome and retention evidence at scale.

Legislative Agenda

Establish an Educator Tax Credit Act

Support the establishment of a refundable income tax credit for educators on a sliding scale based on the poverty level of the school where they teach, ranging from $5,000 to $12,500. This direct financial incentive would help close the pay gap for teachers in the highest-need schools without requiring changes to state or local salary schedules.

Restructure Teacher Loan Forgiveness

Support restructuring the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program so the federal government funds the monthly loan payments for teachers during their service period, then retires the debt completely upon meeting the service requirement. This eliminates the financial burden during the critical early-career years when teachers are most likely to leave the profession.

Pass the TEACH Grant Educator Pathways Act

Support the authorization and funding of Grow Your Own initiatives that help high school students earn college credit before completing a teaching program at a partner university, creating a debt-reduced pathway into teaching that is particularly effective in rural communities and communities of color.

Authorize Federal Teacher Housing

Make federal housing support available to teachers through legislation authorizing grants to states for down payment assistance and housing programs, addressing one of the most significant non-salary barriers to teacher recruitment in high-cost metropolitan areas and rural communities.

Establish a School-Based Health and Wellness Center Grant Program and Expand Title II Paraprofessional Investment

Authorize a dedicated federal School-Based Health and Wellness Center Grant Program, jointly administered by HHS and DOE, providing sustained operational funding rather than one-time capital grants and addressing the patchwork funding problem that constrains current centers. Pair this with reauthorization of ESSA Title II to include a dedicated paraprofessional and instructional aide funding stream, distinct from teacher professional development, with formula allocation weighted toward high-poverty and high-inclusion districts.

Hello, World!

School Funding

Public schools in the United States are among the most inequitably funded of any industrialized nation. According to a 2025 Learning Policy Institute analysis, only 18 states provide at least 10 percent more funding to high-poverty districts than to low-poverty districts, and nearly one-third of states provide less funding to high-poverty districts than to their wealthier counterparts. On average, school districts serving the highest proportions of students of color receive $2,700 less per student in state and local funding compared to those with the fewest students of color. The Education Law Center’s Making the Grade 2024 report found that per-pupil funding disparities between the highest- and lowest-funded states have persisted at $13,000–$14,000 per pupil over the past decade, while several low-funded states have simultaneously enacted tax cuts and universal voucher programs that further divert resources from public schools.

Federal funding, while critical, constitutes only about eight percent of total K–12 spending and remains inadequately targeted to the schools with the greatest need. Title I funding formulas have been widely criticized for failing to sufficiently account for the intersection of district poverty levels and state spending patterns, resulting in high-poverty districts in low-spending states receiving less support than similarly situated districts in wealthier states. Research published in Education Finance and Policy found that the incentives embedded in the Education Finance Incentive Grant formula are “in fact negligible” and that federal policy should be more attentive to differences in state fiscal capacity. More than 63 percent of traditional public schools and 62 percent of public charter schools were identified as Title I-eligible in the 2021–22 school year, suggesting that funds are being spread too thin across too many schools.

A large and growing body of evidence demonstrates that increased, equitable investment in education produces measurable returns. The Learning Policy Institute reports that a 20 percent increase in per-pupil spending for low-income children sustained over 12 years increased educational attainment by a full year, while a 10 percent increase resulted in a seven percent rise in high school graduation rates and nearly a 10 percent increase in adult wages. Federal pandemic relief funding produced similar results, narrowing the achievement gap between high- and low-poverty districts by approximately a month of learning. Rural districts face compounding challenges including limited taxable property, difficulty recruiting teachers, and insufficient broadband infrastructure—all of which require targeted federal intervention.

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

Review the Title 1 Formula.

Direct the Department of Education to begin a comprehensive review of Title I funding formula allocation patterns, with particular focus on high-poverty districts in low-spending states where the intersection of local poverty and state disinvestment produces the most severe resource gaps. The review should identify specific formula modifications that would improve targeting.

Issue Anti-Diversion Guidance

Issue guidance to states clarifying that federal education funds may not be diverted to private schools or home education through vouchers, tax credit scholarship programs, education savings accounts, or homeschool subsidies, reinforcing the statutory intent of Title I and other federal programs to support the public schools that serve the vast majority of the nation’s students.

Invest in Rural Digital Infrastructure

Direct the Department of Education to prioritize digital infrastructure investments in rural communities through existing program authorities, recognizing that the digital divide is both an educational equity issue and an economic development barrier for rural districts.

The First 100 Days

Expand the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP)

Increase funding allocations to rural districts through REAP, including the Small, Rural School Achievement Program and the Rural and Low-Income School Program, targeting resources to districts facing the compounding challenges of limited tax bases, teacher recruitment barriers, and geographic isolation.

Establish a Federal Commission on School Finance

Establish a federal commission on school finance to examine funding at all levels of government, solicit public feedback, and provide ongoing research, recommendations, and support for more equitable and adequate funding systems. The commission should produce annual reports tracking progress toward funding equity.

Develop State Finance Restructuring Grants

Develop competitive grant systems to support state efforts to restructure school finance systems and require states to track progress toward equity through ESEA, incentivizing states to move from regressive to progressive funding models.

Establish Equity and Infrastructure Incentive Grants

Create incentive grants for states that increase equitable spending, adopt regional equity funding strategies, and commit to infrastructure investments addressing facility issues related to ventilation, safe drinking water, lead and asbestos abatement, and technology needs.

Legislative Agenda

Reform Title 1 Funding Formula

Reform the Title I funding formula to direct federal dollars based on student need rather than on state per-pupil spending levels. The current formulas incorporate a state expenditure factor that channels more federal money to high-spending states and less to low-spending states, even when the latter serve higher concentrations of children in poverty. A reformed formula would weight allocations by actual concentration and depth of student poverty in each district, paired with strengthened maintenance of effort requirements to ensure federal investment supplements rather than replaces state and local funding.

Fully Fund the Federal Share of IDEA

Increase federal funding for students with disabilities under IDEA toward the full 40 percent federal share originally promised when the law was enacted, closing a gap that has forced districts to divert general education funds to meet mandated special education obligations.

Enact a Public School Fund Protection Act

Legislate to stop the diversion of public school funds to private and home education through vouchers, tax credit scholarship programs, education savings accounts, and homeschool subsidies, ensuring that public funds are invested in the public schools that serve roughly 90 percent of the nation’s students.

Enact an Early Care and Education Investment Act

Increase investments in early care and education by providing matching funds to states for high-quality child care and preschool free for families earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, building the foundation for student achievement before children enter the K–12 system.

Enact a Rural Schools and Communities Act

Increase funding through the Secure Rural Schools Program for counties with large amounts of national forest land, and invest in rural-serving universities, community colleges, and regional public universities struggling due to demographic changes.

Enact a Digital Equity Act

Close the digital opportunity gap through comprehensive legislation investing in digital infrastructure for rural underserved communities, ensuring that geographic isolation does not determine a student’s access to 21st-century learning resources.

Hello, World!

Civil Rights and Discriminatory Censorship

Racial and economic segregation in American schools has worsened to levels that rival those of the pre-civil rights era, with federal tools that once supported desegregation now weakened or abandoned. More than one-third of American schoolchildren attend schools where 75 percent or more of the student body is of a single race or ethnicity, and roughly one in ten Black students attends a school that is 90 percent or more Black. Meanwhile, current data show that majority-Black and Latino schools offer fewer courses in mathematics and science than schools with lower enrollments of Black and Latino students, and in underfunded districts where desegregation mandates have lapsed, Black students are far more likely to be taught by inexperienced teachers, face larger class sizes, and have less access to advanced coursework.

Compounding the resegregation crisis, a wave of state-level censorship laws has created hostile educational environments across the country. According to legal scholars Feingold and Weishart, writing in the Tulane Law Review, between January 2021 and January 2024, state and local officials enacted over 240 discriminatory censorship laws regulating K–12 classrooms, directly affecting more than 1.3 million educators and over 20 million students—roughly half of the country’s public school students. The National Education Policy Center found that these laws increase the risks of race- and sex-based harassment while creating a “climate of fear and anxiety that effectively coerces teachers to shun critical inquiry” and promoting “whitewashed and heteronormative narratives of American history and culture.”

The current federal posture has made the situation worse. The Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education—historically the primary enforcement mechanism for federal civil rights protections in schools—has seen its capacity and authority diminished. Rather than reinforcing protections, federal policy has moved in the opposite direction: the Department of Education has directed schools to end programs that promote racial diversity and has weakened the enforcement infrastructure needed to monitor and address discrimination. Without a restoration of federal leadership, the twin forces of resegregation and discriminatory censorship will continue to erode the promise of equal educational opportunity.

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

Reinstate School Diversity Guidance

Reinstate Obama-era federal guidance from the Department of Education and the Department of Justice to states and localities on voluntarily supporting school diversity and reducing racial isolation, providing districts with the legal clarity and federal backing needed to pursue integration initiatives.

Issue Civil Rights Legal Guidance for Censored Educators

Issue legal guidance for educators and intervene to protect the civil rights of students and educators in states and districts where discriminatory censorship laws have created hostile environments, clarifying that federal civil rights protections remain in force regardless of state-level censorship regimes.

Streamline the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Complaint Mechanism

Create a streamlined mechanism for students and educators to file complaints with the OCR when discriminatory censorship laws create hostile educational environments, reducing the procedural barriers that currently discourage reporting.

Expand OCR Authority

Direct the Office for Civil Rights to expand collaborative work with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and assume a larger role in approving and monitoring state ESEA plans, ensuring that civil rights considerations are embedded in state accountability systems rather than treated as a separate enforcement track.

The First 100 Days

Issue Title 1 Integration Guidance

Issue new guidance on using ESSA Title I school improvement funding for school integration initiatives, and expand federal tools supporting state and local diversity efforts, providing districts with clear authority and practical models for using existing resources to reduce racial and economic isolation.

Support Interagency School Integration Coordination

Align and coordinate with HUD and other federal agencies to support school integration through housing policy and community development initiatives, recognizing that school segregation is inextricable from residential segregation and requires cross-sector solutions.

Implement a Charter School Desegregation Requirement

Require that charter schools receiving federal dollars must demonstrate efforts to reduce racial segregation as a condition of continued funding, ensuring that publicly funded schools of choice do not exacerbate the racial isolation they were sometimes designed to alleviate.

Refine Civil Rights Data-Driven Targeting

Require states to target funding and support to schools identified through Civil Rights Data Collection as demonstrating significant racial and disability-based disparities in school discipline, including disproportionate rates of suspension, expulsion, referral to law enforcement, restraining and seclusion, and in access to advanced coursework such as AP, IB, dual enrollment, and gifted and talented programs. This converts existing federal civil rights data into actionable interventions for the schools where disparities are most severe.

Legislative Agenda

Codify School Diversity Tools in ESEA

Incorporate the Obama-era federal guidance on school diversity into ESEA reauthorization, providing states and districts with permanent, codified, evidence-based tools to promote racial and socioeconomic integration. This includes statutory codification of the 2011 Department of Education and Department of Justice joint guidance on the voluntary use of race to achieve diversity (rescinded in 2018), the 2014 joint guidance on the nondiscriminatory administration of school discipline (rescinded in 2018), and authorization of a permanent successor to the Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunities, and Stronger Together grant programs to fund district integration efforts. Codification ensures these tools are not subject to the political whims of changing administrations.

Enact a Magnet Schools and Interdistrict Solutions Act

Invest in the Magnet Schools Assistance Program and enable states to pursue interdistrict solutions to desegregation, which research shows are among the most effective mechanisms for reducing racial and economic isolation in schools.

Hold Congressional Hearings on Discriminatory Censorship

Encourage Congress to hold hearings on discriminatory censorship laws and their documented impact on students, teachers, and public education, creating a formal record of the educational harm these laws inflict and building the legislative case for federal intervention.

Enact a Culturally Responsive Educator Workforce Act

Provide a diverse, well-prepared, and culturally responsive teaching workforce through expanded scholarships, loan forgiveness, teaching residency programs, and recruitment incentives codified in legislation, addressing both the diversity gap and the quality gap in the teaching workforce.

Day One and Beyond: Federal Education Policy Actions for 2029

Introduction

Day One Priority One: Rescind Executive Order 14242

Cellphone Use During School Hours

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

The First 100 Days

Legislative Agenda

Aligning All Publicly Funded Schools with Accountability Standards

Executive Priorities

Day 1 Actions

The First 100 Days

Legislative Agenda

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Schools

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

The First 100 Days

Legislative Agenda

Teacher Recruitment/Retention

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

The First 100 Days

Legislative Agenda

School Funding

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

The First 100 Days

Legislative Agenda

Civil Rights and Discriminatory Censorship

Executive Agenda

Day 1 Actions

The First 100 Days

Legislative Agenda

Project 2029

hopeis@project2029.me