Center for Education Policy

Mar 03, 2025

Dear Colleague,

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

The Heritage Foundation, in collaboration with education experts and public officials, introduced The Phoenix Declaration: An American Vision for Education at the Conservative Vision of Education Conference in Phoenix. This Declaration calls for reclaiming American education to prioritize, once again, virtue, excellence, and civic responsibility. It emphasizes parental choice, transparency, truth, cultural transmission, character formation, academic rigor, and civic education.

Read the full declaration here.

‘D-Minus’ for Public Schools, but Catholic Schools Shine in Latest Academic Assessment

The Daily Signal, Matthew Ladner

The National Center for Education Statistics gives academic exams to random samples of students in all 50 states, producing what is known as the annual “Nation’s Report Card.” The latest release of fourth and eighth grade mathematics and reading results from the report card, officially known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, show that America’s public schools got a D-minus...

Be Not Afraid, NH; School Choice Benefits Everyone

New Hampshire Journal, Jason Bedrick and Ed Tarnowski

There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and scaremongering that school choice will destroy public education. Whenever a state legislature is considering a measure to create a new education choice policy, or expand an existing one, the proverbial Chicken Littles inevitably start squawking that the sky is falling...

Who’s Afraid of School Choice—and Food Trucks—in Wyoming?

The Daily Signal, Jonathan Butcher

Teacher unions are racing to stop greater education choice from spreading to Wyoming. But parents there already know that more education options would be valuable for them, and special interest groups’ latest dirty political tactics only make them look desperate...

Future of Charter Schools Jeopardized by Their Own Political Shortsightedness

The Daily Signal, Jay P. Greene and Ian Kingsbury

A decade ago, charter schools were heralded as the crowning achievement of bipartisan education reform efforts. But during last week’s National School Choice Week observations, charters were barely an afterthought...

Lies, Damn Lies, and University Research Overhead Costs

The Daily Signal, Jay P. Greene

Over the weekend, the National Institutes of Health announced that it would be cutting the rate at which it pays universities for overhead on federal research grants from an average of about 60% to 15%. Not surprisingly, there were howls of protest from university staff and their fellow-travelers in the media...

The End of the DEI Era

The Martin Center, Jonathan Butcher

The University of Michigan’s recent about-face on DEI is both encouraging and instructive. Yes, even high-profile institutions with long records of supporting racial favoritism and radical ideological movements can show common sense...

Trump’s Antisemitism Order Puts Foreign Students—and US Colleges—on Notice

The Daily Signal, Jason Bedrick

After 15 months of terrorist-supporting thugs engaging in acts of violence and intimidation against Jews with impunity, America finally has a president who takes combating antisemitism seriously...

An Education Reconciliation Agenda for the 119th Congress: 12 Reforms

Lindsey Burke, Ph.D, and Madison Marino Doan

By leveraging the budget reconciliation process, the 119th Congress has a unique opportunity to enact targeted education reforms that appropriately reduce federal intervention in education while also addressing inefficiencies and restoring trust in the use of taxpayer funds. Strategic measures, such as imposing an excise tax on contributions to universities from countries or entities of concern and clawing back grants for indirect costs, ensure fiscal responsibility while also safeguarding national interests. Additionally, establishing a payroll tax on salaries from diversity, equity, and inclusion offices that receive federal education funds and ending Unrelated Business Income Tax loopholes demonstrate a commitment to eliminating unnecessary federal expenditures and workarounds.

Read the full report here.

Apply Now for Heritage's Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prizes! The program provides awards of $15,000 to current faculty members who are engaged in scholarship that explores topics related to The Heritage Foundation’s priority issue areas, as well as broader questions around freedom and opportunity.

In addition to the financial award, prize winners will participate in a colloquium in the summer of 2025 that convenes the winners with Heritage scholars and other thought leaders in Washington, D.C.

Click here for more information on how to apply. Last chance to submit your application is Monday, March 3rd!