Ten Ways to Expand Opportunity in Education in 2025

Earlier this month, a majority of lower-income Americans voted for President-elect Trump. With a new Republican-controlled Congress, the Overton window may soon be open for many of the policies that the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) has been developing and recommending to improve the lives of Americans living on the bottom half of the socioeconomic ladder. 

For incoming lawmakers looking to expand equal opportunity in education in 2025, here are FREOPP’s top ten recommendations: 

1. Expand the supply of new nonpublic schools and child care centers. 

The Federal Employer-Provided Child Care Credit was created to encourage employers to expand the availability of affordable child care for their employees. The Treasury Department should issue guidance clarifying that employers using this credit could also provide educational instruction at child care facilities, which could help establish new schools that provide both child care and educational services to children.

2. Establish new education tax credits to expand school choice options. 

Offering parents and taxpayers benefits that provide flexibility to choose new schools or contribute to scholarship funds would improve American education by expanding choice and opportunity.

For example, the Education Choice for Children Act, legislation introduced in the House and Senate last year, would make $10 billion in tax credits available to taxpayers to contribute to organizations that award scholarships to children from lower-income families for private school tuition and tutoring. That’s enough to fund $10,000 scholarships for one million children.

3. Help lower income Americans access federal education savings accounts. 

The next administration and Congress should enact new reforms aimed at helping low- and middle-income families control more resources to provide for their children’s educations. 

For example, in 2022, Senators Maggie Hassan (D., N.H.) and Susan Collins (R., Maine) introduced the Helping Parents Save for College Act, which would have expanded the existing “Saver’s Credit” to allow for federal tax credits for contributions into 529s—accounts that can now be used for both higher education and K-12 expenses. According to Sens. Hassan and Collins, the change would have allowed a credit worth up to 50 percent, or $4,000, of 529 account contributions made by low-and-middle income families.

4. Repeal the Biden administration’s burdensome charter school regulations. 

A recent Stanford University evaluation found that children attending public charter schools received the equivalent of 16 days of learning more than their peers in traditional public schools. Low-income and English learner students in charter schools also demonstrated stronger growth than their traditional public school peers. 

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has warned that federal regulations enacted during the Biden administration “will discourage potential applicants from applying and burden charter school leaders and grantees with compliance requirements contrary to the mission of charter schools.” Public charter schools offer  high-quality options for many families and the new administration should repeal unnecessary regulations that prevent charter school growth.

5. Reform the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Community Services Block Grant program to expand parental choice.

In late 2020, President Trump issued an executive order to “allow funds available through the [HHS] Community Services Block Grant program to be used by grantees and eligible entities to provide emergency learning scholarships to disadvantaged families,” citing the need to access in-person learning during the pandemic. This program received $770 million in FY 2023. 

This executive order was not implemented, but the incoming administration now has an opportunity to reissue it, letting states use this funding to provide new and better options to disadvantaged children.

6. Improve transparency about K-12 public school performance and spending. 

The White House should direct the Department of Education to improve spending and performance transparency to give parents better information about their children’s schools and schooling options.  

Under federal law, states are required to publish school report cards with information about school spending and students’ academic achievement. But these report cards are often published too late or in formats that make it difficult for parents to use them.  The Department should ensure that state education agencies comply with federal law and publish student test results and public school per-student spending levels on the Department’s website. 

This information should be published before the school year starts so that parents can choose the best learning environment for their children. 

7. Reauthorize and reform the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Congress should reform ESEA and IDEA to grant states and local education agencies more flexibility to use federal funding to expand parental choice in education. 

For example, reforming the federal Title I program to allow funds to follow students to a school of their parents’ choice would improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. 

Congress should also reauthorize IDEA, which was last reauthorized in 2004, to establish a student right-of-exit if parents are unhappy with their children’s learning environment.

8. Expand education options in the nation’s capital. 

Twenty years ago, Congress established the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program to provide private school scholarships to children from lower-income families living in D.C. In 2025, Congress should reauthorize and expand this program to offer scholarships or education savings accounts to additional families. Moreover, it should increase appropriations for the program and expand eligibility to include children with disabilities, foster children, and other at-risk students. 

Expanding educational choice in Washington, D.C., would provide a model for other states and school districts across the country.

9. Reform the Head Start program by establishing Head Start accounts.

Congress last reauthorized the Head Start program in 2007. This was five years before HHS published the final evaluation that revealed that by third grade any discernible benefits to Head Start children had disappeared entirely. 

Congress should hold hearings, conduct oversight, and take legislative action to reform the Head Start program to ensure that it provides better value and services to economically disadvantaged children and their parents. 

For example, Congress could reform the program to establish Head Start Accounts to provide direct funding to low-income families to pay for child care, preschool, and related services. This approach to reforming Head Start could involve providing transition subsidies to current Head Start providers to allow them to transition into independent fee-based child care centers that receive payments from Head Start Account holders and other parents seeking preschool and child care services for their children.

10. Expand parental choice in child care and eliminate unnecessary regulations that drive up costs. 

The White House should issue an executive order to expand access and reduce the cost of child care and preschool by expanding parental options and encouraging states to eliminate unnecessary regulations that drive up costs. 

Within the federal government, there is a growing recognition that the government needs to expand the supply of child care providers to meet growing demand. For example, the Department of Defense and Congress recently established a pilot program to help military families access in-home child care options due to a lack of supply at center-based care facilities. 

The White House could direct federal agencies to take steps to reform existing government child care and preschool programs to increase supply and parental options, while also directing HHS to conduct a national review of state child care regulations to determine opportunities to streamline red tape while maintaining health and safety rules to expand the supply of child care providers. HHS and other federal agencies should issue best practices and encourage states to update regulations to help more families access high-quality and affordable preschool and child care. 

Don’t forget to register for Freedom and Progress 2024! 

Want to talk about these ideas and more with others who believe in the American Dream and want to ensure that it endures? Join us at our annual Freedom & Progress Conference at the Park Hyatt in Washington, D.C., from November 17-19.

It’s not too late to register—simply visit the conference page at FREOPP.org to view the latest agenda and to sign up. We hope to see you in D.C. next week!

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