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• By Morgan Craven, J.D. • IDRA Newsletter • November-December 2024 •

IDRA believes in the inherent value of all children, the power and promise of public education as a critical public good, and the right of every child living in this country to attend an excellent public school. We are committed to achieving equal educational opportunity for every child through strong public schools that prepare all students to succeed in college and life.

Much of education policy and practice is shaped in states and local communities. But the federal government plays a critical role in ensuring all children have access to an excellent public education.

Though a shift in presidential administrations and congressional leadership can result in changes to the policies and procedures of the federal government, it does not change the core rights and protections guaranteed to every student in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Education is not a service agency that simply administers programs and hands out funding. Its functions are not easily diminished, dissolved or shifted to other departments or states.

Among the most important responsibilities of the department are to:

• implement policies and support innovative programs that improve teaching and learning;
• distribute targeted funding, particularly for programs designed to level the playing field for all children and ensure fair access to education;
• collect data that give an accurate picture of student needs; and
• protect the rights of all children by investigating potential violations and enforcing federal laws.

Though a shift in presidential administrations and congressional leadership can result in changes to the policies and procedures of the federal government, it does not change the core rights and protections guaranteed to every student in the United States.

As we enter into a new presidential administration and Congress in 2025, IDRA will continue to pursue a vision for public education that values the academic and social well-being of all students, particularly those who are disproportionately impacted by harmful education policies, including Black and Latino children, emergent bilingual students, immigrant students, and poor students.

This vision encourages strong partnerships between schools, families and communities. It provides relevant and rigorous academic and extracurricular opportunities. And it invests fully in public schools.

To achieve this vision, we will work to advance research-based, community-centered policies and protect students’ rights at the federal level, including in the following areas.

Ensure Public Schools Have the Resources they Need to Serve Every Student

All U.S. public schools should receive enough funding to provide every student an excellent education. But many schools are chronically under-resourced, leaving students without access to high-quality curricula and instructional materials, technology and equipment, extracurricular activities, qualified teachers, and safe physical spaces that enable them to learn and thrive.

Although public schools receive the majority of their funding from state and local sources, federal funding provides critical support to schools. This is particularly true for those in poorer communities – rural, suburban and urban – and in states that do not allocate sufficient resources to meet the costs of educating all students.

For more than 50 years, IDRA has engaged in ground-breaking research, training and policy advocacy to ensure that schools have the funding they need to serve all children. IDRA urges the new administration and Congress to continue the important work of providing targeted funding to support student learning and well-being, including the following.

• Increase federal financial support for public schools, specifically targeted at evidence-based strategies, STEM initiatives, teacher workforce initiatives, and college-oriented coursework and instructional practices;
• Focus public dollars on the public schools that educate the vast majority of our children, not on programs that funnel public money toward or provide tax incentives to a few families to send their children to private schools. Voucher schemes, including education savings accounts and tax credit initiatives that benefit “scholarship granting organizations,” are only accessible to a small number of families, and are an inefficient and ineffective way to ensure we meet our shared goal of excellent public schools for all children; and
• Strengthen and fully fund federally-operated programs that provide resources and support to U.S. public schools to serve vulnerable children, including poor children, emergent bilingual students, and children with disabilities who live in every community across the country.

Strengthen Pathways to College for All Students

A college education expands learning, career and life opportunities. Attending a two-year or four-year college is increasingly necessary for all young people to live the fulfilling lives that are the promise of this country. People with bachelor’s degrees earn 1.6 times more than those with only a high school diploma (NCES, May 2024). Those who attend college are better able to pursue opportunities for themselves and their families, weather economic downturns, and confront unexpected challenges without breaking the bank.

Students who attend college are better able to pursue opportunities for themselves and their families, weather economic downturns, and confront unexpected challenges without breaking the bank.

IDRA has engaged in research and policy development and worked with families, schools, and education agencies to identify initiatives and programs that expand access to college. Many of these can be supported through strong federal policy, agency guidance, targeted federal funding, and technical assistance, including programs and initiatives that do the following.

• Expand access to high-quality, rigorous curricula that prepare all students for college, including coursework that emphasizes problem-solving and critical thinking, higher-level math courses, and programs that develop STEM skills;
• Grow district-wide early college high school programs to promote college-going cultures, expand dual credit opportunities, provide college-focused counseling across grade levels and develop school district-college partnerships;
• Increase school partnerships with families and community-based providers to design and implement college-going activities and practices that build on the assets of students and their families;
• Strengthen diploma seals and distinctions to ensure they align with college credits; and
• Support pipeline programs, funding and training resources for academic counselors and support staff to have the capacity to focus on supporting students’ access to college and meaningful post-college career opportunities.

Support Schools to Proactively Address Absenteeism and Dropout Challenges

In 1986, IDRA developed a ground-breaking research methodology to understand the extent and impact of school attrition in Texas.

Now in its 38^th year, IDRA’s annual public school attrition study has helped to reveal the magnitude and nature of the student dropout problem. The findings of this decades-long research are particularly relevant today when many schools are reporting issues of rising chronic absenteeism among students and are searching for effective programs to keep students in school.

IDRA has developed proven student support programs and training for teachers, school leaders and school district staff to enact findings from the IDRA attrition studies, including many that federal leaders can support.

• Strengthen teacher pipeline, training and recruitment and retention strategies to ensure all students have highly qualified and engaged teachers;
• Invest in research-based dropout prevention, intervention (for students who have already left school) and college readiness initiatives that increase student engagement with academic learning, leadership opportunities and extracurricular activities; and
• Support research-based family engagement programs that encourage strong, authentic partnerships between schools and all families in the school community.

Promote Safe, Welcoming Schools for all Students

Our schools must feel safe and welcoming for all students. They should be places that center student learning and relationship-building, take a proactive approach to protecting the safety of all students, and limit the use of practices that push young people out of school and off pathways to college.

The research on what works to create safe and welcoming schools is clear. IDRA urges federal support for research-based, prevention-focused practices that promote student safety, learning and well-being, including the following.

• Provide resources and technical support to schools to use best practices to ensure safety, limit punitive discipline and keep students in their classrooms learning with their teachers and peers;
• Support legislation to ban physically abusive practices in schools, including corporal punishment and seclusions and restraints;
• Provide guidance and resources to schools on how to prevent and address bullying and harassment, particularly bullying that is based on students’ backgrounds or identities;
• Ensure complaints of discrimination – including discrimination based on students’ race, gender, religion, national origin and disability status – are treated seriously, investigated, and resolved swiftly and meaningfully; and
• Ensure all public schools comply with federal laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination, including laws that protect access to public education for every child living in the United States, regardless of immigration status.

At IDRA, we have never been more certain of the necessity of our mission and the strength of our vision for excellent public schools. We believe every child is valuable; none is expendable. We trust in research and are guided by evidence. We rely on the wisdom and assets of our diverse communities. And we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with partners to advance these values.

Get a copy of the full federal priorities brief at: https://idra.news/FedVision25.

For more information about IDRA’s education policy work, including our federal research, policy, advocacy, and legal work, please contact National Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement Morgan Craven, J.D., at morgan.craven@idra.org.

Resources

Craven, M. (September 2024). What You Need to Know About the ESSER Funding Cliff – How Schools Will Be Impacted by the End of Federal COVID-19 Relief Funding. IDRA.

Duggins-Clay, P., & Lyons, M. (April 2023). Identity-based Bullying in Texas Schools: Policy Recommendations. IDRA.

NCES. (2024). Title I Fast Facts. National Center for Education Statistics.

NCES. (May 2024). Annual Earnings by Educational Attainment. National Center for Education Statistics.

Quintanilla-Muñoz, C., & Sánchez, J. (October 2024). Schools Struggle to Hold on to Students: Preview of IDRA’s 38th Annual Texas Public School Attrition Study. IDRA Newsletter.

Morgan Craven, J.D., is the IDRA national director of policy, advocacy and community engagement. Comments and questions may be directed to her via email at morgan.craven@idra.org.

[© 2024, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the November-December edition of the IDRA Newsletter. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]