When schools close, federal education funding should follow students |
When schools close, federal education funding should follow students
Earlier this month, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) introduced legislation in their respective chambers titled “Kids in Classes Act.” The bill is straightforward: If a public school closes due to a public health emergency or a teachers’ labor union strike, parents would gain direct access to their child’s share of federal Title I funds to spend on educational services.
Schools eligible for Title I funds are the ones in higher-poverty communities. These funds are intended to boost student achievement.
Parents could use those funds for tutoring, online learning programs, school tuition, or other educational providers capable of keeping students on track while their local school remains closed.
The proposal comes at a timely moment. Earlier this month, a teachers’ strike in San Francisco resulted in four days of canceled instruction, affecting more than 50,000 students. Teachers in other districts across California have recently staged strikes or voted to authorize them.
The president of the California Teachers Association even acknowledged that these strikes were intended to garner public attention and flex political muscle. But when schools close as part of labor disputes, it is the students and families who pay the price.
And these strikes are not limited to California. The Defense of Freedom Institute has tracked the effects of teacher union strikes since 2010 and found that there have been 858,517 employees on strike, 140 strikes in 30 states and the District of Columbia, and 672 days of lost instruction — the combined equivalent of nearly four school years.
School closures hurt students and their families, especially those with limited means, as Georgetown’s Edunomics Lab director Marguerite Roza has pointed out, because they have less options for childcare and more to lose from academic disruptions.
The pandemic illustrated just how damaging prolonged school closures can be. Beginning in March 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that states and local authorities close classrooms. Although some states reopened classrooms relatively quickly, others kept schools them for extended periods, even after the evidence was clear that long-term closures resulted in the greatest educational loss.
Congress responded by sending an unprecedented $190 billion in federal taxpayer funds — the largest infusion of federal education funding in U.S. history. Despite that spending, the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, showed that most fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores were below pre-pandemic achievement levels.
If another public health emergency arises, or if schools close due to labor disputes, families should not again find themselves helpless while their children fall behind.
Portability of Title I funds is not a new idea. One version would allow parents to access the money for educational expenses through micro-Education Savings Accounts. In 2015, Scott and then-Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.), introduced proposals to give states the option to make their share of Title I funds portable and allow those funds to follow students to any school type. Unfortunately, their proposals weren’t approved for floor debate and didn’t make it into the final version of the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act reauthorization bill, which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the primary source of federal funding for K-12 education.
Beyond Title I portability, Congress should consider broader reforms that return educational autonomy and funding to the states. Legislation such as the APLUS Act, most recently introduced in the 119th Congress, would allow states to exercise fiscal control over federal funds authorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act for educational purposes, as directed by the state. After the initial introduction, APLUS was referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce but has since stalled in committee.
The Kids in Classes Act offers a practical solution. Because Title I funds are intended to support disadvantaged students, allowing those dollars to follow children ensures that federal education aid continues to serve its intended purpose even when schools are closed. Policies like this also move federal education policy toward shifting authority away from Washington and toward families and states, an approach that aligns with broader efforts to ultimately eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.
Federal education funding should serve students first, and not systems. When schools close their doors, the funding meant to help children should follow them to wherever learning continues.
Madison Marino Doan is a Policy Analyst for Heritage’s Center for Education Policy.
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