The perfect storm is brewing in education, forcing school systems to confront three significant challenges head-on: catastrophic pandemic impacts on learning, declining enrollment, and looming fiscal cliffs. 

A better-funded or lightly tweaked version of the status quo won’t solve these problems. Instead, policymakers must develop politically viable solutions responsive to the needs and preferences of parents and students.  

Bellwether’s new brief, From Midterm Wins to Weathering a Mounting Storm: Policymakers Must Put Families, Not Politics, at the Center of 2023 Legislative Agendas, offers ideas for state leaders as they address the interrelated educational challenges facing schools right now. The brief highlights Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona, showing that while each state may look different politically, all have opportunities to put family empowerment — not politics — at the center of their agendas in the 2023 legislative session. 

We’ll continue to track trends in parent opinions about education issues in our Parent Perception Barometer — updated today with new data.