Amid the ongoing pandemic, school librarians across the country have been facing a different kind of battle, one that has been going on for years in some cases: the fight for every student to benefit from the instruction and carefully curated resources a certified school librarian can provide. Several states are working to introduce or retain…

2021 was a great year for charter school students and families across the country. Several states passed legislation to allow more schools to open and promote fiscal equity. In other states, charter school advocates were able to defeat a number of bills that would have imposed significant and unnecessary burdens on charter schools. In our 2021…

The fourth school year impacted by the pandemic is more than halfway complete, and school district leaders across the country are working hard to invest remaining ESSER dollars strategically to support learning recovery. With the ESSER spending window closing soon, however, many leaders are spending funds to meet the deadline, rather than…

S3434 was signed by Governor Murphy on June 16, 2021. It allows students who turned 21 during the 2020-2021 to continue to receive special education, related services, and transition services through at least the 2021-2022 school year. These services must be provided to those students during the 2021-2022 school year when the Individualized…

Financial support provided by the Legislature helps to ensure Washington children have access to healthy school meals. In fiscal year 2022, the Legislature provided $11.5 million to eliminate the co-pay for reduced-price meals, support summer meal programs, provide school districts with financial support for breakfast meal service, and provide…

In March 2021, the Legislature enacted HB 4048, which amended the State School Aid Act to appropriate supplemental funding for public education, including approximately $1.5 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II) funds awarded to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) by Congress under the Federal Coronavirus…

This Policy Snapshot provides examples of legislation in 13 states that have proposed or enacted legislation addressing the following principles of K-12 funding models: attendance and enrollment, revenue, and equity-based initiatives. All 50 states allocate K-12 funding in different ways. Refer to this two-page reference guide, which defines and…

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of digital connectivity for learning--while revealing serious inequities in access to broadband and computing devices. For the 2021-22 school year, California has focused on getting as many students as possible back to the classroom. But digital access at home remains essential. As digital tools for…

In 2021, legislators in 45 states introduced 361 bills to govern the use of data about education or the workforce, and leaders in most states (38) enacted a new education data law. This level of legislative activity that is focused on education data collection, use, protection, and reporting is nothing new. But the ongoing pandemic left unique…

This report identifies the statutory requirements, including programs, reports, evaluations, and accountability measures, impacted by the assessment waiver and describes how each statutory requirement is impacted by the assessment waiver. It discusses the data which the State Board has not collected or will not collect because of the assessment…

In 2020, state legislators have remained focused on making data available to address education challenges. More and more, policymakers are introducing bills that would address the information needs of students, educators, parents, and the public, though most new education data laws do not systematically support data use. As the COVID-19 crisis…

While the United States is simultaneously recovering from a global pandemic and facing a national reckoning of racial injustice, the effects of COVID-19 continue to exacerbate academic and opportunity gaps that were decades in the making in K-12 systems. Most students are performing worse than before the pandemic. For students of color, there is a…

The Whole-Child Task Force was created by Public Act 101-0654. The Whole Child Task Force Report provides recommendations in establishing an equitable, inclusive, safe, and supportive environment in all schools for every student in Illinois pursuant to PA 101-0654. This report includes: (1) Summary of task force; (2) Background information; (3)…

The Running Start Summer School Pilot program was established in 2020 by House Bill 2864 and enacted as Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 28A.630.600. To determine whether the summer term should be funded under the Running Start Program, a summer pilot was created to evaluate interest in and barriers to expanding the Running Start program to…

The Washington Social Emotional Learning Committee was established in 2019 through Senate Bill (SB) 5082 to address the growing body of evidence that shows the need for improving not only a student's academic abilities, but also their social and emotional competencies which are critical to every child's development. SB 5082 requires the Committee…