As 2024 comes to a close, we wanted to share that the state campaigns of the 50CAN network achieved 25 policy victories over the last year, with each policy goal designed to advance our Believe In Better vision across the country.

The Education That’s Right For You

CarolinaCAN built on last year’s win of a statewide ESA by passing an over $450 million expansion of the program to clear the 55,000 students on the waiting list and recurring funding for the program.

DelawareCAN gave charter schools greater flexibility to hire the school leaders that work best for their school through SB311, legislation that gives charter schools autonomy in hiring administrators.

GeorgiaCAN expanded educational opportunities so that more families could access the school of their choice by passing SB233, the state’s first ESA, which provides $6,500 for students in low-performing schools.

GeorgiaCAN also improved the regulatory environment and facilities funding for charter schools, by moving charter school oversight to the charter commission and ensuring that districts cannot skim funding from charters or disobey charter laws through regulatory mispractice.

HawaiiKidsCAN worked to expand access to high-quality charter seats. The team passed a study from the House as House Resolution H64. The bill asks the board to work with the charter commission to address charter facilities access.

JerseyCAN successfully addressed inequities in charter school facilities funding through the creation of a low-interest, revolving loan fund for charter and renaissance schools.

In order to deliver every family the choice of school that best fits their needs, Louisiana Kids Matter passed the first universal ESA Program in the state. The ESA award is based on a scale, with low-income and students with special needs receiving more than the affluent, and the program also requires participating schools to ensure students take the state assessment or a norm-referenced test.

NewMexicoKidsCAN successfully defeated efforts to revert the state’s educational governance from a governor appointed secretary of education back to an elected state board of education – which would have caused chaos, increased politicization and spurred misalignment across the state’s education systems.

NewMexicoKidsCAN, together with their coalition, cleared the path for the approval of several new charter schools and enrollment expansions that create thousands of high quality charter school seats.

TennesseeCAN secured additional investments in facilities funding for charter schools by securing an additional $15 million grant from the state for facilities.

Tutoring and Care for All

ConnCAN fully implemented the Multilingual Learner Bill of Rights, passed last year, with the Department of Education issuing guidelines for schools and a set of tools to help them adhere to the new legislation.

DelawareCAN worked to secure an additional $2 million in the approved budget to support 20 literacy coaches statewide. Literacy coaches will provide much needed professional development assistance to ELA instructors as the state moves toward full science of reading implementation.

GeorgiaCAN built on prior years’ passage of bills to ensure students would be taught with science-based reading strategies by passing $10 million for literacy screeners and literacy coaches, while also refining the list of approved screeners for schools.

JerseyCAN continued a multi-year effort to align New Jersey’s literacy approach to the science of reading by passing a package of bills that establish a statewide literacy screener, a working group to guide and provide recommendations on literacy implementation to the Department of Education, professional development for teachers and a reading intervention program for struggling students based on foundational literacy.

As a result of Louisiana Kids Matter’s advocacy, Louisiana became the first state to pass a K-3 math universal screener and a $30M statewide tutoring program embedded in the school day for students not achieving mastery in literacy or math, with over 300,000 students eligible for participation. The team also passed the Steve Carter Tutoring Program to provide students with $1,500 for tutoring in reading and math after-school or over the summer, with $5 million invested and 19,000 students already enrolled.

TennesseeCAN increased access to high-quality tutoring services for all students by renewing $130 million in funding in order to provide over 100,000 kids with continued services in grades K-9.

A World of Open and Connected Learning

Transform Education Now expanded direct aid to families for outside-the-classroom learning and extracurricular opportunities by securing $5 million from the Denver City Council to expand afterschool support through the MySpark program.

A Parent’s Right to Know What’s Working

GeorgiaCAN also ensured the state maintains a high-quality system of assessments and evaluation by requiring the state to produce “single score grading” in its school accountability system, making it easier for parents to interpret scores.

TennesseeCAN successfully advocated for the release of an A-F grading scale for school performance, adding to the comparative information available to parents.

TennesseeCAN supported parents having an understanding of how their school is spending money by ensuring their access to TISA spending data, which has now been released to all Tennesseans.

A Clear Path to a Career

CarolinaCAN worked to remove unnecessary teacher license credential barriers that prevent teachers of color from entering the profession by eliminating the PRAXIS test as a prerequisite to continue within the college of education.

ConnCAN worked to clarify school funding allocations for agricultural and vocational-technical schools by passing legislation that ensures these schools will receive clear financials from the Department of Education on how much money they will receive per student.

GeorgiaCAN strengthened career pathways by enacting a suite of four career pathways bills that came out of a study commission on dual-enrollment. Collectively, the bills make it easier for companies to hire apprentices, allows more students to fast-track their education through dual-credit courses, improves the alignment of courses with high-demand jobs, and ensures that higher-education credits are transferable between institutions.

HawaiiKidsCAN achieved a win in their efforts to guarantee a year-round counsellor for college and career by passing HR 170, a resolution requiring the Board of Education and Department of Education to explore best practices for year-round counselling, which will lay the groundwork for 2025 and higher rates of FAFSA completion.

JerseyCAN also worked to create new pathways into the teaching profession through teacher apprenticeship programs by working with legislators to form a new teaching apprenticeship commission that will take on the issue over the coming months.

Louisiana Kids Matter also helped pass legislation to restructure the Workforce Investment Council from 53 members to a working advisory committee. The new advisory committee will develop a job forecast to align the newly passed state accountability system, the most robust accountability system in the country, with industry certifications to ensure students secure a high-wage high-demand job upon graduation from high school or a postsecondary institution.