Center for Education Policy

Jan 31, 2025

Dear Colleague,

Welcome back. We are excited to share the latest from The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy.

Trump Directive Gives Military Families New Reason to Celebrate National School Choice Week

The Daily Signal, Jonathan Butcher

Two welcome changes from the new White House in its first weeks are the turn away from diversity, equity, and inclusion in education and a fresh look at school choice. A great example is President Donald Trump’s executive order Wednesday on education choice for military families, just in time for National School Choice Week...

When Head Start Fails Our Children: A Wake-Up Call for Reform

The Daily Signal, Madison Marino Doan

Imagine sending your child to a federally funded early-childhood program, thinking they’re in a safe, nurturing environment, only to discover they’ve been repeatedly exposed to hazardous mold.

Imagine hearing that a teacher entrusted with your child’s care grabbed him or her by the hood of his or her jacket and slammed him or her to...

2025 Will Be the Tipping Point for School Choice

The Daily Signal, Jason Bedrick

As the nation celebrates National School Choice Week, the school choice movement is on the cusp of hitting a major milestone. By the end of 2025, it is likely that more than half of K-12 students nationwide will be eligible for private school choice. In the past five years, the number of students...

The Pork Barrel Politics of the Department of Education

The Daily Economy, Jay P. Greene

As part of the debate over whether to dismantle the US Department of Education, some have argued that the department should be disbanded because it has completely failed in achieving its purpose. Student test scores have not significantly risen over the last 42 years. Gaps in achievement between different racial and income groups have not closed. Educational attainment has risen, but this largely seems to...

Arizona’s ESA Needs Improvement

Arizona Daily Independent, Jason Bedrick 

Arizona’s trailblazing Empowerment Scholarships Account policy is at a crossroads. Although the ESA policy is highly popular with families who benefit from it, a new survey of Arizona ESA families by The Heritage Foundation finds they are also highly dissatisfied with the way it is currently being administered. Fortunately, the Arizona Department of Education is listening to ESA parents and taking important steps to make the program more...

Why Is Congress Funding the Failing Department of Education?

The Daily Signal, Kevin D. Roberts and Lindsey M. Burke

Since its creation in May 1980, the Left has demanded Republicans justify opposing federal intervention in U.S. education. However, with President-elect Donald Trump‘s Department of Government Efficiency now promising to “outright delete” the Department of Education, it’s time to...

Trump Has Clear Advantage Over Universities and Should Seize It 

The Daily Signal, Jay P. Greene

The Donald Trump administration is starting with a bang as it issued an executive order ending diversity, equity, and inclusion in government and severely curtailing it in the private sector. I expect that opposition to this effort will crumble quickly and most organizations will rapidly abandon the racial...

Ivy League Faculties Fail The ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ Test of Having 10 Righteous Inhabitants

The Federalist, Jay P. Greene

Elite universities have been so thoroughly captured by the left that they are no longer capable of reforming themselves to offer an ideologically balanced and intellectually diverse education.

Declaring that institutions are beyond repair should not be done lightly. The Bible offers an instructive lesson on this. Before judging the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah...

Education Department Cancels Loan Cancellation Scheme

The Daily Signal, Adam Kissel

The U.S. Department of Education announced that it will be withdrawing both parts of its "Plan C" for student loan cancellation. One part involves various ways the department would have declared that a borrower has a "hardship" deserving of complete loan cancellation. The other part would have identified additional...

Liberal Education’s Antidote to Indoctrination

Rachel Alexander Cambre

Liberal education, the best preparation for self-government, must be distinguished from indoctrination, a grave threat to democracy. Indoctrination results when certain concepts and ideas are taught dogmatically, but it can also result from peer pressure—perhaps less obvious in adulthood, but no less powerful. And while it is crucial for schools to refrain from pushing propaganda on children, American parents, citizens, and lawmakers concerned about indoctrination must also seek out an education for children that sharpens their intellects through engagement with “the best that has been thought and said in the world,” thus preparing them to think independently, pursue truth honestly, and exercise citizenship responsibly.

Read the full report here.

Education Choice at a Crossroads: A Survey of Arizona Families Who Use Empowerment Scholarship Accounts

Jason Bedrick

Arizona’s trailblazing education savings accounts (ESAs) are at a crossroads. Although the ESA policy is extremely popular with families who benefit from it, they are also highly dissatisfied with how it is administered. The state’s education department should bring back ESA debit cards, provide immediate payment to approved vendors for pre-approved purchases, and eliminate the supplementary-materials curriculum requirement. The department should streamline the approval process, ensure more thorough and consistent training of employees, and improve the quality and consistency of communications with ESA families. The department should also make it easier to track spending and manage multiple ESA accounts for different children and admit as many vendors as possible. These changes would address ESA families’ main concerns and likely restore the program’s historically high level of user satisfaction.

Read the full report here.

Congress Need Not Panic: Debunking Fears of a “Fiscal Cliff” as School Districts Face ESSER Spending Deadline 

Madison Marino Doan and Benjamin Scafidi, Kennesaw State University

Concerns over an impending “fiscal cliff” for public school districts as federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER I, ESSER II, and ARP ESSER) funds near their expiration are misplaced. Due in part to federal pandemic aid, most state budgets are flush with cash, with record-high rainy-day funds, positioning them to absorb any future financial challenges. From extra federal aid, public school districts completed long-term projects and also bolstered reserves. At the same time, districts benefitted from rising home values. Districts now have an opportunity to streamline non-essential administrative roles and optimize existing resources for students and teachers—especially given that most districts are serving fewer students. School districts are well equipped to maintain financial stability without additional federal taxpayer spending.

Read the full report here.

The Heritage Foundation awards the Innovation Prizes to financially support innovative solutions to the most pressing issues facing America. The Heritage Innovation Prizes recognize and provide substantive financial awards that, in total, amount to $1 million annually to results-oriented non-profits for projects involving research, litigation, education, outreach, or communications.

The Innovation Prizes are intended to spark creative disruption within the conservative movement, particularly in the following key areas: empowering parents to make education choices, securing America’s borders and reducing crime, ensuring free and fair elections, reducing the growth of spending and inflation, countering the threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), holding Big Tech accountable, protecting unborn life and family formation, and promoting leadership development. New areas this year include restoring American wellness, unleashing American energy, and meaningfully advancing the good life.

For more information on how to apply, click here.