Advancing Equity With Policy
How to build fairer schools through smarter policy
Blog Posts
Jean-Pierre Jacob, M.Ed., MS, is a freelance policy writer and AP Biology Teacher.
Tag: politics
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Because Vermont centralizes its education funding at the state level, it is frequently cited as one of the most equitable school finance systems in the United States. While the state has successfully eliminated wealth-based disparities in funding, the persistence of outcome gaps suggests that its education funding does not meet the goals of increased equity…
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Vermont offers a useful case study for policymakers, as its school finance system is often cited as one of the clearest examples of how court intervention can fundamentally reshape how public education is funded. Today, Vermont spends nearly $27,000 per pupil on education, second only to New York. For context, Vermont spends more than twice…
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Source: Senator Doug Mastriano via facebook Pennsylvania is currently facing a sustained decline in student academic performance, with recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showing continued erosion in both mathematics and reading scores. At the same time, the state is maintaining a teacher compensation system that is disconnected from teaching effectiveness. If…
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For the Per-Pupil Spending Chart: Smith, A. G., & Campbell, J. (2025, November 20). Table 1: K-12 public school funding per student in every state. Reason Foundation A common assumption in American education finance is that the quality of students’ education is a direct result of the dollars invested in their school building. For decades,…
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Over the past two decades, New York has made a sustained and costly commitment to public education. Per-student school spending has risen sharply, placing the state well above the national average and ahead of nearly every peer state. Yet during the same period, student math achievement, measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP),…
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Background Structural Barriers to STEM Equity Concentrated poverty is a policy-constructed condition under which economically marginalized families and students are clustered into under-resourced neighborhoods. This spatial segregation correlates strongly with race and ethnicity due to discriminatory housing practices, exclusionary zoning, and disinvestment in communities of color over time. This spatial segregation is deeply racialized and…
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Executive Summary New York currently has an educational system in which access to rigorous STEM coursework is primarily determined by residential ZIP code, race, and class. This disparity in access is due to concentrated poverty and racial segregation, which have been driven by decades of exclusionary housing practices. These discriminatory public policies have resulted in…
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On January 29th, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order that mandated educational institutions eliminate DEI programs or risk losing federal funding. The Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling Executive Order recommended eliminating all federal funding sources that “support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of discriminatory equity ideology”. This order prevents federal…
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American education is facing more than one crisis right now as attendance rates are slipping, literacy scores are falling, the Department of Education is shrinking, and on top of all that, arts education and extracurricular activities are vanishing from our schools. These enrichment opportunities are often dismissed as extras but they’re not. They’re experiences that…
Advancing Equity With Policy 