As 2025 comes to a close, we are thrilled to share that the state campaigns of the 50CAN network achieved 29 policy victories over the course of the year, with each goal bringing us closer to our Believe In Better vision for the education all kids deserve.

The Education That’s Right for You

ConnCAN cemented funding for charters and magnet schools, preventing a series of cuts that had been proposed in the state budget.

DelawareKidsCAN fought and won approval for a new dual language charter school in Sussex County: Las Américas ASPIRA.

GeorgiaCAN incentivized local school districts to approve high-quality charter school petitions, resulting in the first new district-approved charter schools in seven years.

GeorgiaCAN also launched the state’s Georgia Promise Scholarship ESA program, fully funding it to the tune of $141 million in its first year.

Louisiana Kids Matter created a charter school revolving loan program.

NewMexicoKidsCAN defeated a constitutional amendment that would have brought back an elected school board, which would have had ramifications for quality charter school authorizing.

NewMexicoKidsCAN ensured a new charter school was created in Las Cruces, a community with limited school options, and ensured that three additional high-performing charters could expand their seatcount.

CarolinaCAN secured over $400 million to move every student off the waiting list for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship.

TennesseeCAN obtained additional financial resources for charter schools, including $5 million for an Equitable Facilities Fund and $20 million for additional charter school facilities.

TennesseeCAN expanded education options for families by enacting the Tennessee ESA, securing $143 million for 20,000 seats in the first year.

Battle Born Kids Matter created an open enrollment program in Nevada that will allow students to attend a public school outside their designated attendance zone.

Battle Born Kids Matter passed a provision that allows an increase in the enrollment cap for charter schools if they serve students who are zoned for schools labeled as low-performing, persistently underperforming or overcrowded.

Tutoring and Care for All

ConnCAN expanded on their literacy reform work by securing advanced literacy training for 500 K-12 teachers each year.

DelawareKidsCAN increased funding for literacy coaches by securing an additional $1 million in the state budget.

DelawareKidsCAN ensured that the students’ demographics will be a weighted factor in the student-funding formula as the final recommendation of the Public Education Funding Commission to the legislature.

GeorgiaCAN passed a package of literacy reform bills, including a ban on three-cueuing, funding and training of literacy coaches, and more aligned supports for students with dyslexia.

GeorgiaCAN also passed the Distraction-Free Education Act, a bill restricting cell phone usage by K-8 students during the school day.

JerseyCAN acquired an appropriation of $6 million in the state budget for literacy coaches and coordinated a state deployment and instructional coherence strategy.

NewMexicoKidsCAN ensured all educator preparation programs will include science of reading instruction, as well as pre-service training in the field to practice instructional skills.

CarolinaCAN removed the Praxis as a requirement for alternatively certified and lateral entry educators.

Battle Born Kids Matter required teachers to complete coursework in foundational literacy and aligned teacher preparation programs with the science of reading.

A World of Open and Connected Learning

Transform Education Now found a permanent home for Denver’s innovative MySpark afterschool program, with the city council approving an additional $1 million.

A Family’s Right to Know What’s Working

DelawareKidsCAN passed legislation requiring that school report card data is easily accessible on the state’s website, with additional data points that weren’t previously available to parents.

TennesseeCAN protected the state’s framework for assessment and accountability after it was targeted legislatively by anti-accountability groups.

Louisiana Kids Matter ensured that as a portion of the evaluations of career programs, the programs will be assessed on their alignment to state workforce needs.

A Clear Path to the Career You Choose

GeorgiaCAN helped to enact the Governor’s Top State for Talent Act, which included an evaluation of high demand careers and created a system to determine the ROI, for both the state and the student, of career pathway programs in relation to high demand careers.

GeorgiaCAN supported an expansion of the state’s need-based financial aid program, which provides students who are at-risk of lapsing on college tuition payments with the assistance to complete their degrees.

HawaiiKidsCAN created an inter-agency working group to build a new cradle-to-career data system in Hawaii, which will enforce data sharing at the state level, track students beyond high school and assess success in placing them in high-demand jobs that better enable them to afford living in Hawaii.

Louisiana Kids Matter passed the career pathways return-on-investment analysis bill, which allows for the collection of data critical to evaluating the relationship between industry-based credentials and careers.