Investment and Funding Equity for Public Education

The Center for American Progress knows that money matters in education. Funding affects every aspect of a high-quality, well-rounded education, and there are both racial and socioeconomic disparities in investment and opportunities. States and districts are facing extreme inequities in funding, and at the same time, federal investment in education currently covers only about 8 percent of funding. We are fighting for a dramatic increase in investment and more equitable funding systems so that schools and students receive the resources they deserve.

One major CAP proposal in this priority area is Public Education Opportunity Grants. This federal grant program would significantly increase federal funding for K-12 education and target it to schools that need it the most.

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A Minnesota Tribal College Teaches Law Enforcement in Effort To Put More Native Americans ‘Behind the Badge’ Article
Jamie Allen of the White Earth Police Department conducts a demonstration for LLTC students.

A Minnesota Tribal College Teaches Law Enforcement in Effort To Put More Native Americans ‘Behind the Badge’

In the second installment in a three-part series on Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), the Center for American Progress and American Indian College Fund look at Leech Lake Tribal College’s law enforcement degree program and the college’s work on cultural revitalization and basic needs insecurity.

Marcella Bombardieri, Dina M. Horwedel

Budget Reconciliation Must Support a Quality Education for All Students Report
Third grade students take part in class at Julia A. Stark Elementary School in Stamford, Connecticut, on March 10, 2021.

Budget Reconciliation Must Support a Quality Education for All Students

Ensuring a quality education for America’s students during the COVID-19 pandemic will require a range of federal and state supports, as well as efforts to build a robust economy that works for everyone.

Khalilah M. Harris, Jessica Yin, Arohi Pathak, 3 More Laura Dallas McSorley, Marshall Anthony Jr., Jill Rosenthal

Future of Testing in Education: Artificial Intelligence Report

Future of Testing in Education: Artificial Intelligence

Technology and artificial intelligence can vastly improve the types of assessments teachers use to guide students in their learning.

Laura Jimenez, Ulrich Boser

Future of Testing in Education: The Way Forward for State Standardized Tests Report

Future of Testing in Education: The Way Forward for State Standardized Tests

There are valid criticisms about the current structure of state standardized testing in schools; the solution is not to get rid of these assessments but rather to design them differently.

Laura Jimenez, Ulrich Boser

How To Ensure Equitable Access to Great Teaching Report
 (The Los Angeles Unified School District interim superintendent spends time with a kindergarten student to celebrate the first day of in-class instruction at an elementary school in Los Angeles, August 2021.)

How To Ensure Equitable Access to Great Teaching

The Center for American Progress proposes a new grant program to address the working conditions that contribute to job dissatisfaction and high turnover among the nation’s K-12 teachers in order to increase equal access to highly qualified teachers.

Bayliss Fiddiman, Lisette Partelow

How Students Can Help Build Better Education Policy Report
 (A student raises a hand during a seventh and eighth grade math tutoring workshop in Fullerton, California, November 2014.)

How Students Can Help Build Better Education Policy

The Education Department has an opportunity to reimagine the policymaking process by committing to incorporating student voice.

Ashley Jeffrey, Sadie Bograd

Social and Emotional Supports for Educators During and After the Pandemic Report
 (Two female teachers are pictured in an empty classroom talking and bent forward looking at a laptop screen; picture is taken from the other side of a door with a glass pane with a

Social and Emotional Supports for Educators During and After the Pandemic

As K-12 districts and schools plan for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that providing social and emotional supports for educators is a key part of the conversation.

Megan Ferren

Preparing Students of Color for the Future Workforce Report

Preparing Students of Color for the Future Workforce

Community members in Indiana and New Mexico provide context on how Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students should be fully prepared for the future workforce.

Ashley Jeffrey, Laura Jimenez

5 Ways To Include Student Voice in Education Policymaking Article
A Los Angeles high school student attends a press conference on the health risks of reopening schools without strong safety measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, October 2020. (Getty/Los Angeles Times/Francine Orr)

5 Ways To Include Student Voice in Education Policymaking

Student voice must be included at every level of education policymaking to ensure that all students’ needs are being served during and after COVID-19 and that every student has access to a quality education.

Megan Ferren

A First 100 Days Agenda for K-12 Education Report
 (A school bus drives down a street in Waitsfield, Vermont, February 2013.)

A First 100 Days Agenda for K-12 Education

The next presidential administration must take immediate, bold action to provide a quality education for every child.

Scott Sargrad, Khalilah M. Harris, Lisette Partelow, 2 More Neil Campbell, Laura Jimenez

Public Education Opportunity Grants Report
Illustration by Jon Reinfurt

Public Education Opportunity Grants

The Center for American Progress is proposing a new federal grant program to dramatically increase the federal investment in K-12 education and make education funding more equitable at the federal, state, and local levels.

Scott Sargrad, Lisette Partelow, Jessica Yin, 1 More Khalilah M. Harris

The Opportunity and Counseling Corps: Helping K-12 Students and Young Adults Recover From the Coronavirus Crisis Report
A first-grade teacher works with a student during an English literacy class at a school in Boston, April 2016. (Getty/The Boston Globe/Jonathan Wiggs)

The Opportunity and Counseling Corps: Helping K-12 Students and Young Adults Recover From the Coronavirus Crisis

Investing in an Opportunity and Counseling Corps would provide tutoring, counseling, and other supports to students as well as employment and skill development for young adults to help them recover from the effects of the coronavirus.

Neil Campbell, Abby Quirk, Roby Chatterji

Congress Needs To Ensure Educational Equity in the Wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic Article
Volunteers and teachers in Boston deliver homework to students as schools shut down amid the COVID-19 outbreak, March 2020. (Getty/The Boston Globe/David L. Ryan)

Congress Needs To Ensure Educational Equity in the Wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic

The federal government must take action in order to address the immediate-, medium-, and long-term fallout from the coronavirus crisis on pre-K, K-12 and higher education.

Viviann Anguiano, Marcella Bombardieri, Neil Campbell, 4 More Antoinette Flores, Steven Jessen-Howard, Laura Jimenez, Simon Workman

Trump’s K-12 Education Budget Article
Children at an elementary school in Pacoima, California, walk across the schoolyard, February 2019. (Getty/Frederic J. Brown/AFP)

Trump’s K-12 Education Budget

The Trump administration’s K-12 education budget eliminates important programs and cuts billions from public schools.

Neil Campbell, Abby Quirk

A Quality Approach to School Funding Report
Middle school students use microscopes to conduct a scientific experiment. (Getty/Hero Images)

A Quality Approach to School Funding

Past school finance ligation shows that future reform must focus on the quality of education.

Carmel Martin, Ulrich Boser, Meg Benner, 1 More Perpetual Baffour

Fixing Chronic Disinvestment in K-12 Schools Report
A middle school science teacher sets up her classroom in  Scarborough, Maine, August 2018. (Getty/Portland Press Herald/Gregory Rec)

Fixing Chronic Disinvestment in K-12 Schools

States and the federal government must reverse a decade of disinvestment and give students and teachers the resources they need to be successful.

Lisette Partelow, Sarah Shapiro, Abel McDaniels, 1 More Catherine Brown

Trump and DeVos Continue to Undermine Public Education with Their Proposed Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Article
President Donald Trump, with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, gestures as he walks, November 2017 (Getty/Jabin Botsford)

Trump and DeVos Continue to Undermine Public Education with Their Proposed Fiscal Year 2019 Budget

With their proposed fiscal year 2019 budget, President Trump and Secretary DeVos have demonstrated, once again, that they are eager to drain public education funds in order to push their privatization schemes.

Stephenie Johnson, Neil Campbell, Scott Sargrad

Related Priorities

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

We pursue climate action that meets the crisis’s urgency, creates good-quality jobs, benefits disadvantaged communities, and restores U.S. credibility on the global stage.

Restoring Social Trust in Democracy

Restoring Social Trust in Democracy

Democracy is under attack at home and abroad. We must act to ensure it is accessible to all, accountable, and can serve as a force of good.

Building an Economy for All

Building an Economy for All

Economic growth must be built on the foundation of a strong and secure middle class so that all Americans benefit from growth.

Advancing Racial Equity and Justice

Advancing Racial Equity and Justice

We apply a racial equity lens in developing and advancing policies that aim to root out entrenched systemic racism to ensure everyone has an opportunity to thrive.

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