The Massachusetts state budget has been finalized and public education leaders say students came out on top.
More than $1 billion generated by the state's "millionaire's tax" allowed for increased per-student funding for districts, greater literacy education and most notably, free community college for all students.
Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, called it an important step toward providing quality, debt-free, higher education for all.
"We can tell a fifth grader, 'You can go on to college. You will not have to pay tuition and fees,'" Page emphasized. "That's a crucial statement to those students and their families that this is truly affordable."
Page noted educators were essential to passage of the Fair Share Amendment, which allows for a 4% surtax on income of more than $1 million, to pay for public education and transportation. Massachusetts has some of the highest education costs in the country.
Students do better in school when they have teachers they can relate to. The budget continues to fund the Tomorrow's Teachers program, which aims to increase and diversify the educator workforce with scholarships up to $25,000 per year toward college tuition.
Page pointed out it also includes $170 million to guarantee access to free school meals for every student.
"It's an amazing investment," Page stressed. "It's made possible by these Fair Share monies and it will not only be good for the health of these students, it's also good for their education. Hungry kids are not able to learn."
Page added because the Legislature vastly underestimated just how much the Fair Share Amendment would raise, lawmakers will have an additional billion dollars to spend on one-time investments in the fall. He would like to see improvements to college campus infrastructure across the Commonwealth and a pay raise for faculty and staff.
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A New York bill would require schools to teach about the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The bill calls for all K-12 students to be taught about the event, with the state determining how best to incorporate the events into history classes. Since 2021, public opinion on the U.S. Capitol attack has dulled because President Donald Trump and his supporters have downplayed it since then
Asm. Charles Lavine, D-Glen Cove, the bill's sponsor, said it is important not to whitewash the facts.
"The problem with whitewashing history is that students in those states are not going to learn to be the critical thinkers that we really need in order to confront the great dilemmas that will face us in the future," Lavine contended.
Though initial polls found people equated the Capitol attack with an attack on democracy, some polls show people approve of Trump's actions. Many groups have teaching tools so educators can accurately answer students' questions about Jan. 6.
While the bill is relatively new, it has garnered positive feedback. It is under review by the Assembly's Education Committee.
The bill comes several weeks after President Donald Trump pardoned everyone prosecuted for participating in the Jan. 6 attack. Polls show most people disapprove of the pardons.
Lavine acknowledged one challenge for the bill is finding an impartial way to teach about a politically polarizing event, adding it will be left to the state's education experts.
"Those are the members of the Board of Regents, in consultation with the state's Education Department, to make the determination about what is taught particularly in subject matters," Lavine outlined. "What this bill simply does is add to a list of major subject areas that should be instructed in our public schools."
Along with the Capitol attack, the bill also calls on teachers to educate students about patriotism, citizenship, civic education, values and America's history with diversity and religious tolerance. Lavine noted one goal of the bill is to ensure children learn about good and bad parts of history, from slavery and the Holocaust to the Irish potato famine.
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With cost at the forefront of prospective students' minds, higher education institutions in North Carolina are rethinking how to overcome one of the biggest barriers to enrollment.
William Peace University in Raleigh has launched its "Peace Pledge," a program offering 100% tuition coverage for qualifying students.
Damon Wade, vice president for enrollment management and marketing at the university, said school officials took a hard look at the enrollment challenges students faced.
"Cost was a major factor in their decision-making for them and their families," Wade observed. "We wanted to do our level best to try to mitigate that and remove cost as a barrier to their education as reasonably as we possibly could."
Qualifying students must be first-time, traditional undergraduate students who reside in North Carolina. They also must come from households with incomes of $75,000 or less, be eligible for federal Pell Grants and have a high school grade-point average of 3.25 or higher.
Other colleges in North Carolina are also offering free tuition, including Duke University, which covers tuition for families with incomes less than $150,000. Wade pointed out colleges are closely considering the cost students face.
"A lot of institutions around the country and then particularly in North Carolina have given thought to the cost associated with education and have come up with different pathways for students to enroll," Wade explained.
Wade added students want to enroll in programs to prepare them for the workforce or graduate school.
"But they want to do it in as cost-effective as possible," Wade emphasized. "We hear that from them and their parents, and they understand that mom and dad or their guardians don't always have the capacity to cover the cost."
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Connecticut education advocates feel Gov. Ned Lamont's 2026-2027 budget proposal continues a history of underfunding education.
While the new budget increases special education spending by $40 million, some feel it's not enough, as Connecticut is in the third year of a statewide teacher shortage.
Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, said education funding must change to benefit the whole system.
"What we tend to do is say, 'The costs were $260 million, we'll budget $160', without realizing districts across the state have to absorb $100-million in expenses," she explained.
She added if special education needs $260 million in funding, that's what should be included in the budget.
Another issue includes reviewing the Education Cost Sharing formula which hasn't kept up with the rate of inflation. Dias said adding more dollars to school districts can help retain educators and expand a dwindling workforce.
Underfunding of education has left Connecticut with larger class sizes and lower wages for all educators, making it harder to recruit new teachers. A 2024 survey finds 97% of educators are concerned about burnout because they're wearing many hats. But Dias said proving there's a problem is a challenge to get more education funding.
"One of the challenges we face is, ironically, our educators do a really good job of overcoming some of these barriers. We have teachers who put their own money back into their classrooms. As a result our test scores -- our national ranking if you will -- has not gone into the toilet," she continued.
This comes as federal education dollars are imperiled by President Donald Trump's agenda. Beyond executive orders initiating a total federal funding freeze, his plans to dismantle the Department of Education worry Dias, who believes as Connecticut's budget planning continues, the state of the federal government lurks in the back of her mind.
"Connecticut's not going to be able to cover for the federal government. It will be a loss of services to families and children, and that's the bottom line. In the education space, the loss of federal funds is a reduction in school lunch. We're not going to be able to provide school lunches," she concluded.
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