The , published Thursday by the left-leaning , polled 309 K-12 teachers from 38 states and Washington, D.C., with fewer than five years of experience in February about educator retention. 

The issues that have been driving teachers away have worsened in recent years, said Wead茅 James, one of the survey report鈥檚 authors. 

鈥淭eachers are expected to be all things to their students. Not just an instructor, but also a counselor 鈥� and then when you factor that into the changes we’ve seen in our economy 鈥� teachers cannot afford to live,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’ve seen this issue become more prominent in the last 10 or 15 years.鈥�

Nearly 70% of respondents said they have considered quitting or have already left their teaching job. When asked why, 77% said working conditions, including student behavior; 73% chose lack of support, such as professional development; and 69% said insufficient compensation. Other reasons included low student achievement and limited advancement opportunities.

While nearly two-thirds said they received resources or programming from their school during their initial year in the classroom, the majority still felt unprepared to properly teach English learners and students with disabilities.

鈥淢any induction programs are one year,鈥� James said. 鈥淵ou get that intensive support in your first year only, and [schools] neglect to recognize that new teachers are still developing and honing their skills through year five.鈥�

About 80% of respondents said their induction programs included mentorship, and 78% said they received professional development. After their programs ended, teachers felt the most prepared to foster relationships with students, provide data-informed instruction and assess progress in learning.

When it came to compensation, about 64% of teachers surveyed said they disagree or strongly disagree that their pay reflects their area鈥檚 cost of living. Only 16% said they are adequately paid for the work they do, while 15% said their salary is high enough to support their family.

Respondents were asked to rank policy issues in order of importance for improving early-career teacher retention. Their top three were pay, benefits and mental health support. Teachers surveyed also want access to affordable housing, high-quality professional development and career advancement.

The most popular solution to low pay, chosen by nearly half of respondents, was to increase salary floors for all positions. With the national average starting teacher salary at $46,526, many educators are making less than what they need to live comfortably in any state, according to the survey. Salary floor increases were in New Mexico, where teachers now make between $55,000 to $75,000, depending on their license.

Other suggestions for improving compensation included eliminating student debt, giving additional pay for performing extra duties and providing raises for teachers in hard-to-staff schools and subject areas.

Teachers surveyed said an increase in sick time would be the best employee benefit a school could offer. Respondents also wanted more paid time off, lower health insurance costs, better insurance coverage, parental leave and a retirement account with employer contributions.

The survey found that teachers with access to paid maternity or parental leave were 11% less likely to consider quitting than those without either option. 

The most common suggestion about how to support teacher well-being was to include time off for mental health days in employee contracts. In 2022, Illinois that allowed teachers to use sick time for mental health days. 

Teachers surveyed said they also need mandated planning time during the day 鈥� a change that can improve working conditions, said report co-author Paige Shoemaker DeMio.

鈥淲hen teachers don’t have enough time in their days to do other aspects of their job 鈥� planning for the instruction, grading, contacting parents, analyzing student data 鈥� that is really impactful on their working conditions,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s causing a lot of stress, and it’s also causing teachers to spend a lot of time outside of their day doing additional work.鈥�

Barren cupboards at home during the summer. Empty stomachs at school in the fall. Advocates predict that may soon be the reality for many of the nation鈥檚 children after passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which calls for dramatic cuts in federal food aid.

Signed by President Donald Trump after squeaking through the House and Senate, the massive bill will reduce funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, by roughly 鈥� approximately 20% 鈥� between 2025 and 2034. And new rules are expected to make it harder for needy families to obtain the aid.聽

The result: Some will lose at least some benefits, including 800,000 children, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute.

The controversial bill, which delivers tax breaks to the , comes just a few months after the agriculture department slashed from programs that allowed schools and food banks to buy locally produced goods. 

And it arrives at the same time that 13 GOP-led states, including Texas, are , rejecting federal dollars to feed children during the months when they are most vulnerable, citing .

Erin Hysom, senior child nutrition policy analyst at the Food Research & Action Center, said the cuts and eligibility changes to SNAP 鈥� the deepest since its as the food stamp program 鈥� put students鈥� well-being and education at risk. 

鈥淐hildren’s learning will be disrupted and their health will be jeopardized,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s really going to be devastating. Every state will be affected by this.鈥�

Currently, people without dependents are limited to three months of SNAP benefits in a three-year period unless they work at least 80 hours per month and continue to do so until age 54. The new law . 

Under current rules, SNAP recipients responsible for a child under 18 are exempt from the work rule. The new bill .

Mia Ives-Rublee, senior director for the at The Center for American Progress, a left-of-center think tank, said the work-related rules, which require extensive documentation, will pose an administrative hurdle some families might not overcome. 

鈥淎 lot of people who get cut off from these services are people who are working but don鈥檛 have the time or energy to fill out all of this paperwork,鈥� she said. 

But perhaps the most significant change to SNAP is a shift in financial responsibility for the program from the federal government to the states. All 23 Democratic governors warned Congress in June that they were unprepared to shoulder this new 鈥� some noted they from the program completely 鈥� and food banks are  

Child and family health advocates were relieved to see at least one of their fears was not realized: The , which reimburses tens of thousands of schools that provide free breakfast and lunch to all students, was expected to lose billions. Those changes were not included in the bill鈥檚 final version.

SNAP eligibility among children is a trigger for schools to provide free meals. As fewer kids qualify for food aid at home, those children will not get the nutrition they need and their classmates will also lose access, advocates say.

鈥淎s SNAP enrollment drops, fewer schools will be able to offer all students free meals,鈥� Hysom said. 鈥淪o, we’ll see a rise in stigma in the cafeteria, a decrease in school meal participation, the return of for many schools and increased hunger in the classroom.鈥�

Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Children鈥檚 Defense Fund, is worried about the kids who will be pushed out of the program despite their ongoing food insecurity, noting that children of color might be .  

Wilson said schools moving toward universal free meals in recent years 鈥� delivered without students having to apply 鈥�  The changes brought about by the new bill mark a major step backward, he said.  

鈥淲e believe we will see a shift back to an individual eligibility model, which costs more and means fewer students will have access to it,鈥� he said. 

Beginning in fiscal year 2028, any state that has a payment error rate 鈥� the percentage of people given benefits who did not qualify or who were denied aid despite meeting the requirements 鈥� must contribute a 5% match for the cost of SNAP program allotments. 

State contributions rise incrementally as the error rate increases: those reaching 10% or higher will be required to kick in 15%, though questions loom about how this will be implemented. as soon as others. 

The paperwork requirement is not only burdensome for families, but for those who process the documents, child advocates say. The task comes as the federal government also plans to drastically reduce what it spends on SNAP鈥檚 administrative costs, from 50% to 25%, leaving states responsible for the rest.

Gina Plata-Nino, the Food Research & Action Center’s deputy director for SNAP, fears states will not be prepared to properly administer the benefit program. 

鈥淭his will cost state agencies a lot of time 鈥� and time is money,鈥� she said, adding new applicants might have to wait to be processed. 鈥淭he state agencies are already at capacity.鈥� 

Plata-Nino said the related calculations will be more complex, especially for families with children. 

The bill also eliminates , an evidence-based program that 鈥渉elps people make their SNAP dollars stretch, teaches them how to cook healthy meals, and lead physically active lifestyles,鈥� according to the USDA. 

Correction: An earlier version of the story incorrectly reported that the bill changed the work exemption for able-bodied adults with children from those with dependents under age 18 to those with kids under 7. The reduction to age 7 was in the House version of the bill, but was changed to age 14 in the Senate version that was ultimately approved.

From balancing a packed schedule to not always having the means to buy groceries, Brownlee is grateful her Virginia school continued to provide free breakfast and lunch for all students despite the expiration of federally funded pandemic school meals at the start of the 2022-23 academic year.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 have one of those stay-at-home mom lives where I鈥檓 able to pack their lunch every day,鈥� Brownlee told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淪o even if I know the food isn鈥檛 everything they might want, it鈥檚 at least something to get them through the day.鈥�

Although Virginia has not passed free school meals legislation in the absence of the federal program, Virginia and many other states are now participating in the , or CEP 鈥� an Obama-era program that allows schools with high poverty rates to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.

According to a report from the , CEP participation soared in the 2022-23 academic year with 40,235 schools nationwide taking part 鈥� an increase of 6,935 schools, or 20.8 percent, compared to the previous year.

CEP began through the where any district, group of schools or individual school with 40 percent or more students eligible for free school meals can participate.

Today, 19.9 million children across the country attend a school that has CEP 鈥� an increase of nearly 3.7 million children, or 22.5 percent, compared to the previous year.

Participation rates vary significantly state-by-state, from nearly 100 percent of eligible schools in Wyoming, California and the District of Columbia to under 30 percent of eligible schools in New Hampshire, Colorado and Kansas.

Crystal FitzSimons, the director of school and out-of-school time programs at the Food Research and Action Center, said CEP participation has grown in almost every single state.

鈥淢ost schools did not want to go back to the way school nutrition programs operated prior to the pandemic so they really leaned into community eligibility,鈥� FitzSimons told 蜜桃影视.

Cheryl Johnson, the director of child nutrition and wellness at the Kansas Department of Education, said the state鈥檚 low 28.8% CEP participation stems from how it negatively affects schools鈥� finance formula.

鈥淢any school districts are hesitant to move away from using meal applications because it can greatly impact their at-risk funding for students,鈥� Johnson told 蜜桃影视.

Johnson added how schools participating in CEP lose important student data from no longer having to fill out applications for those receiving free or reduced price meals 鈥� thus causing schools to potentially receive less funding from the state.

But FitzSimons said Johnson鈥檚 concerns are not the case.

鈥淎 lot of times school districts would distribute Title I funds using free and reduced price eligibility, but they don’t have to do it that way,鈥� FitzSimons said. 鈥淲hen community eligibility passed, the U.S. Department of Education actually came out with guidance to help districts come up with ways to distribute these funds among their schools.鈥�

A U.S. Department of Education spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. 

Allie Pearce, a K-12 analyst at the Center for American Progress, added how schools shouldn鈥檛 shy away from CEP because there is a need to change how schools structure their finance formulas.

鈥淔ree and reduced price eligibility is an imperfect measure of students’ socioeconomic status but it鈥檚 the predominant one that鈥檚 used,鈥� Pearce told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淲e really need to move away from free and reduced price eligibility as this proxy measure and move towards other measures that are more representative of students and their families.鈥�

Pearce recommends schools look at household income, students鈥� Medicaid participation and neighborhood poverty rates from the U.S. Census Bureau among other data points.

鈥淭here are a lot of things we can use, and it probably makes the most sense to use a mixed measure as much as possible since that will paint a clearer picture,鈥� Pearce said.

Frank Edelblut, the New Hampshire Education Commissioner, noted how the state鈥檚 low 14.3% CEP participation comes from having few schools eligible.

鈥淚t’s just hard to get a whole broad swath of schools that are going to participate because they don鈥檛 qualify,鈥� Edelblut told 蜜桃影视.

To address this concern, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed a rule in March 2023 to lower the CEP eligibility threshold from .

鈥淭his proposed rule will make CEP available for about 20,000 more schools,鈥� a USDA spokesperson told 蜜桃影视 in an emailed statement. 鈥淯SDA estimates that about 2,000 schools with roughly 1 million children enrolled will opt into CEP because of this rule.鈥�

But Pearce strongly believes 鈥渢he logical and equitable next step is a universal system full stop.鈥�

鈥淓xpanding community eligibility now is needlessly regressive when it comes to the pandemic era waivers we’ve already offered,鈥� Pearce said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 address the ongoing meal debt burdens or some of the longstanding struggles associated with the meal application process in schools.鈥�

Johnson agreed, adding that despite Kansas鈥� low CEP participation, free school meals for all students would be a 鈥渨in-win鈥� situation. 

鈥淚t would reduce paperwork and reduce stigma dramatically within the state if universal free meals were ever considered by Congress,鈥� Johnson said.

Kerri Link, the nutritions program supervisor at the Colorado Department of Education, said the state addressed the low 27% CEP participation by passing free school meal legislation starting in the upcoming 2023-24 academic year.

Colorado now joins California, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico and Vermont that have acted to independently .

Until statewide measures transition to federal investment, Pearce said CEP participation still serves as an incremental step forward.

鈥淚t may not go far enough to meet the needs of schools across the country, but in general, it鈥檚 a great step towards free meal access for more students,鈥� Pearce said.

Despite overwhelming support from the Rhode Island Senate, free lunch and breakfast for all public school children will likely not be available, according to state legislators.

The Rhode Island Senate voted on May 16 in favor of the federal government doesn鈥檛 already cover 鈥� with opposition coming from Senate Republicans.

Rhode Island Democratic senator Jonathan Acosta said momentum to offer the meals will likely end once the bill is presented to the House of Representatives.

鈥淣obody wants to be the asshole to say 鈥榥o we鈥檙e not going to feed kids at school鈥� so my guess would be that the House will protect itself by avoiding a public vote,鈥� Acosta told 蜜桃影视.

LeeAnn Sennick, communications director for the Rhode Island Senate minority office, declined 蜜桃影视鈥檚 request for comment on Acosta鈥檚 remarks.

According to the , of the state鈥檚 137,452 public school students, more than 70,000 receive a free or reduced-price lunch; and around 29,000 receive a free or reduced-price breakfast.

During the pandemic, the federal government funded free school meal programs for children throughout the country. The program expired at the start of the 2022-23 school year, leaving state governments to decide whether to pick up the cost. 

Rhode Island House of Representatives communications director Larry Berman told 蜜桃影视 in an emailed statement 鈥渢here is no money in the budget that just passed the House Finance Committee in regards to free lunch and breakfast鈥� for all public school children.

The House of Representatives began to vote on the state budget Friday and will adjourn on June 30th.

Acosta said the House of Representatives has other spending priorities, such as funding housing. 

According to the , California, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico have funded universal school meals after federal funds ran out.

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Nevada have passed temporary legislation in the absence of continued federal investment.

鈥淗unger is one of the very first things that needs to be addressed. It’s one of the biggest barriers to learning and one that’s honestly pretty easy to solve,鈥� Allie Pearce, a K-12 education policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, told 蜜桃影视.

Under set for the 2023-24 academic year, a student from a household of three is eligible for free lunch if they made $32,318 or less in annual income and for reduced-price lunch if they made $45,991 or less. A student from a household of six is eligible for free meals at $52,364 or less in annual income.

鈥淭hose are just students that we know have filled out applications or that have been directly certified,鈥� Pearce said. 鈥淭here are probably so many more students that have not been able to fill out those applications or their families are in difficult or uncertain financial situations and may not qualify.鈥�

The bill, sponsored by Acosta, would require Rhode Island public schools to provide free lunch and breakfast to all students instead of requiring them to only provide meals for those covered by the federal government.

鈥淲ith the pandemic we saw a rise in economic and food insecurity across our state,鈥� Acosta said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e started moving back to this world where we saw the issue of lunch shaming鈥o in light of that we picked up where some of these folks left off and introduced this legislation.鈥�

Pearce noted that deprioritizing free school meals will do a disservice to all Rhode Island public school students, especially those who receive reduced-price meals.

鈥淭hose students will continue to have to pay a lesser amount but one that adds up for sure,鈥� Peace said. 鈥淚t also doesn’t work to address the stigma a lot of students go through when it comes to the meal debt that they may accrue.鈥�

Rhode Island Republican senator Jessica de la Cruz has argued this bill is unnecessary because children from low-income families already receive free school meals.

鈥淲hat you are doing is financing free lunches for the affluent,鈥� Cruz told . 鈥淚 would be in favor of widening the eligibility, but I cannot support the lunches of the affluent.鈥� 

Rhode Island Republican senator Gordon Rogers agreed with Cruz.

鈥淚’m not against feeding children and kids that need it in school,鈥� Rogers told . 鈥淭his will cost the state of Rhode Island [up to] $40 million, not just one time, but continuing, escalating forward.鈥�

In the meantime, Acosta is hopeful conversations around free school meals will be revived in the coming year.

鈥淭he people in our state are our most valuable asset and the more that we develop them the better the returns are going to be for all of us,鈥� Acosta said.

That was before the pandemic, before tests were cancelled in 2020, and before many parents opted their children out of tests in 2021. Because states now lack the year-to-year results they typically rely on to make decisions, determining which schools need the most help will be complicated.

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But the pandemic has made such determinations more important than ever. While incomplete, the data states collected last spring showed declines for students in reading and math, according to a summary from the New Hampshire-based Center for Assessment, and COVID-19 is now disrupting the third school year in a row.

鈥淟et鈥檚 assume we have a normal year,鈥� said Allison Timberlake, deputy superintendent for assessment and accountability at the Georgia Department of Education. 鈥淎t best, we have strong 鈥�22 data, pandemic-impacted 鈥�21 data and no 鈥�20 data. How do we identify the right schools? The ones we identified before the pandemic are not necessarily the ones we should identify after the pandemic.鈥�

Education advocates and civil rights groups say it鈥檚 important for states to resume the process of naming their lowest-performing schools so districts can best target resources, including federal relief funds. States identify those schools on annual report cards and mandate interventions from providing free tutoring to bringing in new leaders to turn schools around.

Fifteen organizations argued in a recent to U.S Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona that parents and educators need to know where their schools stand, urging him not to grant waivers from ESSA鈥檚 accountability provisions this Spring as he did last school year.

鈥淲e felt like we needed to put a mark in the sand,鈥� said Jim Cowen, executive director of the Collaborative for Student Success, a nonprofit advocating for strong accountability systems. 鈥淭his is very concerning from an equity standpoint.鈥� An education department spokeswoman confirmed receipt of the letter and said officials welcome input from others.

The groups also noted wider interest in making long-needed changes to assessment and accountability systems, but argued that 鈥渘ow is not the time to open up the Every Student Succeeds Act to rethink the strong assessment requirements of the law.

鈥淗owever,鈥� they added, 鈥渨e acknowledge a desire from diverse stakeholders across the country to consider new types of assessment systems and designs.鈥�

The Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank and one of the groups signing the letter to Cardona, discussed some of those new approaches in on assessments released this week. Those models might get more attention as states emerge from the pandemic.

鈥淭his is not going to be the last time we have such a major disruption to education,鈥� said Laura Jimenez, the director of standards and accountability at the Center.

The approaches include having students demonstrate what they know through complex projects and testing students on a sample of questions to reduce the amount of time schools spend on assessment. California, for example, has already announced to shave one to two hours off testing time next spring by giving shorter versions of the Smarter Balanced tests, which measure students鈥� knowledge of Common Core standards in reading and math. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced plans to retire the end-of-year Florida Standards Assessments and move toward a 鈥減rogress monitoring鈥� system throughout the year.

Uneven participation rates

Federal law requires states to test at least 95 percent of their students, but rates last year varied widely. In Georgia, participation ranged from a high of 79 percent in third grade to a low of 55 percent in high school, especially in the metro Atlanta area where schools didn鈥檛 open for in-person learning until later that spring.

鈥淚t is essential that these results be interpreted in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated learning disruptions, along with differences in participation,鈥� said an Aug. 16 press release from the state education department. Georgia Superintendent was among those who argued against testing last school year.

Colorado 鈥� another state that saw over whether to test students last year 鈥� had participation rates of less than 60 percent in some districts. But other states, particularly in the South where higher percentages of students attended school in person, saw much higher rates. , and had statewide rates well over 90 percent.

Tennessee added an incentive to increase participation, exempting schools from receiving a grade or a ranking if they tested at least 80 percent of their students. Every district met or exceeded that goal, according to the state education department.

from the University of Missouri shows that a single year of missing data is not enough to throw off accurate measures of student performance trends at individual schools. But if two years of data are missing, it gets harder because in most cases, students would have either moved on from elementary to middle school or from middle to high school. Only the District of Columbia received for two years.

Similar challenges face states such as that opted to hold off on standardized testing until this fall.

鈥淚t takes time just to figure out which students are in which school,鈥� the authors of a from the Center for Assessment wrote last January. They added that teachers and students aren鈥檛 ready for state testing in the fall, given the other activities involved in beginning a new school year.

Cory Koedel, an economist at the University of Missouri, said errors could result from using the data from districts that had low test participation last year. But he added it鈥檚 a mistake not to work with what鈥檚 available.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 an error of pretending we don鈥檛 know anything鈥� about student performance, he said.

Where students spent most of the 2020-21 school year 鈥� remotely, at school or combination of both 鈥� affected their performance and that鈥檚 important for the public to know, experts said.

They point to a recent report on as an example of how to provide a nuanced look at the impact of remote learning on results. Ohio State University researchers found that as in-person learning increased during the period from November through April, so did test scores.

In Florida, DeSantis鈥檚 plan to end the state鈥檚 existing testing program will likely draw more attention to newer models for assessing students. But Scott Marion, executive director of the Center for Assessment, said the current federal law requiring states to test students every year hinders efforts to try some of the new approaches described in the Center for American Progress papers.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have both innovation and strict accountability. Something鈥檚 got to give,鈥� he said. The states he works with, he added, aren鈥檛 asking Cardona to completely waive accountability requirements as he did for the 2020-21 school year, but they are 鈥渟aying we need some flexibility to do things differently.鈥�

Educators welcome President Joe Biden鈥檚 plan to spend $20 billion 鈥� on top of the federal government鈥檚 current funding for high-poverty districts 鈥� to address the needs of schools with the greatest concentrations of disadvantaged students.

But with the new administration already getting a late start on the budget process and Republicans cringing at the size of Biden鈥檚 infrastructure and family policy proposals, it鈥檚 unclear where the additional funding will come from.

The president鈥檚 for fiscal year 2022 would reverse 鈥測ears of underinvestment in federal education programs,鈥� Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters last week. But some Republicans are calling it , considering the other relief bills Congress has passed to address the pandemic.

The current federal budget runs through the end of September. If Congress doesn鈥檛 agree on a new budget by then, lawmakers would likely pass a continuing resolution to keep funding the government, leaving open the possibility they won鈥檛 act on Biden鈥檚 new proposals this year. Meanwhile, the administration continues to in an effort to find a compromise over Biden鈥檚 infrastructure plan, but it鈥檚 possible Democrats would plow ahead and pass much of the president鈥檚 agenda on their own.

鈥淒emocrats hold control and they want to help the president fulfill his priorities,鈥� said Danny Carlson, associate executive director for policy and advocacy at the National Association of Elementary School Principals. 鈥淗e obviously campaigned on tripling Title I.”

As they did with the March relief bill, Democrats could use the reconciliation process, which allows them to pass spending bills without a single Republican vote. With the Senate split 50-50, Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, could once again end up casting the deciding vote. If the administration aims for a bipartisan deal, Biden will need the support of at least 10 Republicans.

, released May 28, would keep funding for the existing Title I program at the current level of $16.5 billion but would create a new formula for distributing $20 billion in 鈥渆quity grants鈥� to states that work to close gaps between rich and poor districts and between those serving primarily white students and those that enroll more students of color.

, an advocacy organization that ceased operating last year, showed that despite decades of school finance lawsuits, there was still a $23 billion gap between white and nonwhite school districts as of 2016.

Under the administration鈥檚 plan districts would need to spend the additional funds on priorities Biden promoted during his campaign 鈥� increasing teacher compensation, expanding students鈥� access to advanced courses and providing preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds.

But many questions about the proposal remain, particularly how the federal government would hold states and districts accountable for the money, said Khalilah Harris, managing director of K-12 education policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. Some of those answers would come if the plan is approved when the Department of Education creates rules for the program, according to the proposal.

鈥淚t will be important not to just have surface-level conversations about equity and access,鈥� Harris said, adding that she expects Republicans to keep a close eye on how districts spend any increase in funding and that education is likely to be a 鈥渉uge issue鈥� in next year鈥檚 midterm elections.

She said the Title I equity proposal complements Biden鈥檚 plan to increase funding for community schools to $443 million 鈥� almost 15 times the current level 鈥� and would help students with the greatest needs, including homeless students, children in foster care and those with disabilities.

The additional dollars, however, wouldn鈥檛 change the fact that most funding for schools still comes from the state and local level. Zahava Stadler, a special assistant for state funding and policy at The Education Trust, an advocacy organization, said the new equity grants can serve as a 鈥減owerful incentive鈥� for states to address long-standing funding disparities.

鈥楾hink about sustainability鈥�

Another challenge is that the appropriations bill covers not just education, but also the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. Republican members of the House appropriations committee expressed shock that Biden is asking for almost $103 billion for the education department 鈥� a 41 percent increase.

鈥淎pparently math was not his strong suit when it came to his education because this budget he has put forward is so far out of whack,鈥� Congressman Ben Cline (R-Va.) said last month during an appropriations hearing. 鈥淭his level of an increase in spending in the same year that Congress has allocated extensive funds to mitigate the effects of COVID is highly irresponsible.鈥�

If the new program becomes a reality, district leaders say it could allow them to continue the programs they鈥檙e launching with relief funds to address students鈥� learning and social-emotional needs brought on by the pandemic.

鈥淥ne of the challenges of hiring staff is you have to be able to think about sustainability,鈥� said Robert Tagorda, the executive director of equity, access, and college and career readiness in the Long Beach Unified School District, the fourth largest in California. 鈥淭hat makes it hard for us to think about long-term investments.鈥�

And John Sasaki, spokesman for the Oakland Unified School District, said even though the funds would come with restrictions, 鈥渢hey are intended to help low-income students overcome obstacles that their peers do not face.鈥�

Michael Magee, CEO of Chiefs for Change, said district leaders have talked about using federal relief funds either for one-time expenses, such as facility improvements, or innovative programs that they 鈥渉ope attract state and local dollars over time.鈥� With the equity grants, they could do both, he said.

The budget also includes a new $100 million competitive grant program for middle and high school career-and-technical education programs, separate from the Title I proposal. Biden, however, isn鈥檛 asking for any funding increases for the national Charter Schools Program 鈥� a mistake, Magee said, since charter schools have been reporting enrollment growth in many states since the beginning of the pandemic.

And Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said charter schools should have been included in the president鈥檚 equity agenda, considering they predominantly serve children of color. The alliance is pushing for an increase in funding to $500 million in next year鈥檚 budget.

In a statement, Rees said, 鈥淭he administration鈥檚 pledge to lift all forms of excellence in education cannot be fully achieved without explicit support for all public schools 鈥� both charter and district.鈥�