The Great Recession left nearly all states with severe budget deficits as state tax revenues plummeted. Simultaneously, there has been a dramatic increase in demand for public services as families also struggle to stay afloat. These budget realities have forced at least 21 states to propose deep cuts in pre-kindergarten and K-12 spending. United for a Fair Economy recently published a report that takes a state’s current distribution of state and local taxes by income quintile and flips the quintiles to make a regressive tax structure progressive. This model results in significant revenue for states that could be used to fully fund education, job growth and other economic stimulants.

Download the report

The 2010 State of Preschool Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten programs during the 2009-2010 school year.

Since the release of the documentary Waiting for Superman there has been much media coverage and public discussion surrounding issues raised by the film. The film poses charter schools as a panacea—even though they serve less than 4% of America’s children, and research shows the vast majority don’t outperform public schools. These Talking Points are a tool that can help you reframe the discussion in your community and networks to create an echo chamber focused on systemic solutions that will provide a fair and substantive opportunity to learn for all children, not just a few.

Tools you can use: This toolkit can help you frame the education debates/discussions in your community - to focus on systemic solutions that ensure all children have a fair and substantive opportunity to learn, instead of solutions that may be popular with some but lack a positive track record and are not scalable.

Nearly a decade after federal law was enacted to ensure that low-income students and students of color had a fair shot at being assigned to strong teachers, students in high-poverty schools are still disproportionately taught by out-of-field and rookie teachers.

The school turnaround strategies being implemented through the School Improvement Grants program are time-tested and flawed. While the Obama Administration is right to call for dramatic action and to recognize that significant progress is not possible without added resources to support school improvement, it’s time to look at new directions.