Child care enables parents and caregivers to participate in the workforce, attend school and training programs, and take care of other responsibilities while their children are cared for in safe and stable early education programs. Despite its value, child care has historically been underfunded and inaccessible for the majority of those who need…

As of the 2022-23 school year (SY), approximately 1.37 million pre-K through Grade 12 students in the United States -- nearly 3% of the total pre-K through Grade 12 population -- were identified as experiencing homelessness. Homelessness affects a diverse range of young people across America. Students experiencing homelessness often face far…

In this brief, the authors illustrate New Hampshire and Vermont's different responses to supporting the early childhood education and care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine the limited publicly available data on pandemic relief funds through the lens of the interstate Upper Valley region. While data limitations preclude the authors…

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (COVID-19), Congress passed three relief acts within a 1-year period that provided more than $276 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19, including $5.5 billion for the Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools (EANS) program. The purpose…

Between March 2020 and March 2021, the federal government distributed an unprecedented amount of money to American public schools to address the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. About $6 billion was distributed in three waves to the state of Michigan alone. This report uses data provided by districts to the state government to analyze how…

Child care enables parents and caregivers to participate in the workforce, attend school and training programs, and take care of other responsibilities while their children are cared for in safe and stable early education programs. Despite its value, child care has historically been underfunded and inaccessible for the majority of those who need…

Approximately 1.3 million public school students in the United States were identified as experiencing some form of homelessness in 2019-20. Due to their unstable living situations, students experiencing homelessness often have additional educational, social, emotional, and material needs compared to their stably housed peers. Housing instability…

This First Look report introduces new data for national and state-level public elementary and secondary revenues and expenditures for fiscal year (FY) 2022. Specifically, this report includes the following school finance data: (1) revenue and expenditure totals; (2) revenues by source; (3) expenditures by function, subfunction, and object; (4)…

Between the 2020-21 and 2022-23 school years, the number of students experiencing homelessness increased by 25 percent, to 1.4 million. With $800 million in pandemic relief funds, Congress in 2021 supplemented traditional funding for these students. States were to spend their allocations by January 31, 2025. To make informed choices going forward,…

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, emerging evidence provides a deeper understanding of the pandemic's impact on the more than 8 million young people with disabilities. This includes youth who receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or who qualify under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973…

Early care and education (ECE) programs can provide a lifetime of benefits to children and families, but a lack of public support leaves these valuable services vulnerable to collapse during economic downturns. The COVID-19 pandemic was a particularly intense emergency for ECE providers: closures due to illness or shelter-in-place ordinances…

The early care and education (ECE) system has been under-resourced and undervalued since well before the pandemic. Low pay and poor working environment have long plagued the ECE industry as key drivers of chronic high turnover rates and teacher staffing shortages in the field. Additional disparities within the system place providers on vastly…

Since 2003, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has produced the annual State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report to broaden understanding and enable analysis of state-level and national funding and enrollment trends over time. The SHEF report provides the earliest possible review of state funding for higher…

More Latino students are attending college than ever before, bringing urgency to remove financial barriers that stand in the way of their academic goals and the promise of the American Dream. As the fastest-growing group within the national and postsecondary population, Latinos are vital to our nation's prosperity and progress. Seal of…

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on college and career preparation opportunities and the ability of students to successfully transition into postsecondary education. The purpose of this letter is to describe how states and local educational agencies (LEAs) can continue to respond to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by…