State and Legislative Updates from SEF’s Government Affairs Team

The weeks of 8/3 – 8/14

Greetings all,

As students return to classrooms across the South, early care and Pre-K issues at both the state and federal levels have taken center stage over the last couple of weeks. This week, a landmark 20-year study from Florida reports new evidence that high-quality Pre-K can improve academic outcomes well into a student’s K-12 pathway. Meanwhile, Kentucky leaders are keeping the spotlight on early learning, with renewed calls for universal Pre-K and expanded pilot programs despite funding setbacks. However, one of the most consequential new developments comes from the Trump Administration, which proposed sweeping federal changes to long-standing Head Start standards. If adopted, the proposal could eliminate or substantially reduce detailed federal requirements governing areas such as teacher-child ratios and group sizes, staff training and coaching, health and mental health services, developmental screenings, parent and family engagement, and other aspects of service delivery. The administrative change could strain operational functions, particularly for smaller programs.

At the K-12 level, some states in the region continue to struggle with inadequate resources and sustainable funding to support public education and face difficult decisions. In Mississippi, state leaders are considering school consolidations and thinking through how combining school districts will impact not only students but also their communities. In Missouri, public schools are heading into the new school year with less state funding than many districts expected. While Missouri’s budget maintained K-12 funding at last year’s level, education leaders estimate the state’s formula is still about $190 million short of full funding. And in West Virginia, Democratic lawmakers continue to renew calls to their governor for a special session to alleviate the financial crisis facing the state’s public school system, which is also experiencing increased school consolidations and closures.

The items outlined above are critical updates to keep in mind as we head into a significant midterm election year and consider the priorities of the future governors and state superintendents, who each have tremendous influence over their respective state’s education system and relevant funding and resources.

As always, we hope you find our newsletter helpful and meaningful as you support learners across the South.

The Latest from SEF

  • SEF’s Southern Center for Opportunity and Access released a new Report: Digital Connectivity Landscapes in the Southeastern United States – As communities across the South invest billions in broadband expansion, a new report from the Southern Center for Opportunity and Access, informed by data analysis from InnovateEDU, reveals that internet access alone is no longer the primary challenge. Instead, affordability, adoption, and digital readiness are emerging as the biggest barriers. Read the full report here.
  • SEF’s Director of Research and Policy, Dr. Max Altman cited in Atlanta News First article: Data shows proposed Atlanta school closures target Black communities – Atlanta Public Schools is proposing to close 16 campuses, citing lower enrollment and higher operational costs. But an analysis found the closures would fall disproportionately on Black and lower-income communities, and advocates said the district is working against the neighborhoods it serves. Dr. Altman said the SEF’s research found school closures frequently do not deliver the financial benefits districts expect, and the consequences of school closures extend beyond students. Read the full article here.
  • SEF’s Sr. Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, Fred Jones, cited in Atlanta Journal-Constitution article: How decades of underfunding has shaped life at HBCUs – For generations, unequal public and private investments have left many historically Black colleges and universities struggling to maintain aging campuses. The result is a cycle of deferred maintenance that students say has become part of everyday life, from mold and broken elevators to failing HVAC systems and recurring plumbing problems. Jones explained that endowments are among the best tools for offsetting deferred maintenance costs; however, most HBCUs do not have sizable endowments to consistently do so. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Subscription Required) Read More

State Updates

Alabama

  • Why Alabama still has dozens of school desegregation cases – and why some want to end them – Nearly six decades after a federal court ordered Alabama to dismantle its racially segregated public school system, almost four dozen local school systems are still subject to federal desegregation cases, orders, or injunctions. (Alabama Daily News) Read More

Arkansas

  • Federal judge dismisses part of lawsuit against state’s classroom ‘indoctrination’ ban – A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed an equal protection claim in a lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ ban on “indoctrination” in public schools and ordered additional briefing on whether the statute is unconstitutionally vague. (Arkansas Times) Read More
  • State lottery to present $114M scholarship check to higher education department – The state Scholarship Lottery will present more than $114 million to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. The funds were raised by the sale of lottery tickets for in-state student scholarships. (KNOE 8 News) Read More

Delaware

  • First State Educate launches onboarding initiative for new school board members – First State Educate has launched a statewide onboarding initiative that provides governance resources, professional learning and ongoing support for Delaware’s newly elected school board members. (Delaware Live) Read More

Florida

  • State could bar undocumented students from career education programs – The Florida Department of Education is developing rules to adopt enrollment requirements that would make CTE programs only available to citizens or students lawfully present in the United States. (WUSF News) Read More
  • New 20-year study shows pre-K impacts a child’s academic future – A new study following 400,000 Miami-Dade County public school students through high school showed students who attended public prekindergarten performed better on standardized tests and earned higher grades throughout their academic careers. (Florida International University) Read More

Georgia

  • Trump administration plan to roll back Head Start regulations could impact over 350 Georgia centers – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to rescind over 1,400 rules under a new proposal, and the impact could be felt across Georgia’s 350 Head Start centers. (Georgia Recorder) Read More
  • As new school year begins, state launches push to rescue struggling readers – The state is launching a sweeping $70 million early literacy overhaul aimed at rescuing struggling readers, as state data reveals nearly two-thirds of third-grade students cannot read proficiently. (Atlanta News First) Read More

Kentucky

  • Beshear vows to keep fighting for universal pre-K after lawmakers reject funding – Gov. Andy Beshear is renewing his call for universal pre-K after the Kentucky General Assembly declined to fund the proposal during the 2026 legislative session. (LEX18) Read More

Louisiana

  • Most parents in the state can’t access critical early childcare, lawmakers call for more funding – During a recent press conference, child advocates, early child care providers and elected officials called for more public investment in Louisiana’s early childhood care to increase access for infants and toddlers in need. (Verite News) Read More

Maryland

  • Maryland and Delaware join lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education – Last month, Maryland and Delaware Attorneys joined 13 other attorneys general to prevent the U.S. Department of Education from terminating congressionally approved school-based mental health programs. (WMDT News) Read More

Mississippi

  • Child care aid boosts recruitment, report finds – Mississippi employers that offer childcare assistance, paid parental leave and flexible work schedules are more likely to save money and keep workers, according to a new report from the Mississippi Early Learning Alliance. (Mississippi Public Broadcasting) Read More
  • State lawmakers consider school consolidation – State lawmakers are considering school consolidation. Current and former K-12 superintendents who have worked through previous consolidations told lawmakers how those decisions impacted their schools and communities. (WJTV News) Read More

Missouri

  • State public school leaders aim to ‘keep reductions as far away from children as possible’ amid state funding shortage – Public schools are heading into the new school year with less state funding than many districts expected. While the state budget keeps K-12 funding at last year’s level, education leaders estimate Missouri’s Foundation Formula is about $190 million short of being fully funded. (KSDK News) Read More

Oklahoma

  • Governor Kevin Stitt selects Lindel Fields to serve as Cabinet secretary – Rather than choosing a new education secretary for the final five months of his term, Gov. Kevin Stitt announced that he tapped Oklahoma’s state superintendent to serve as his top adviser on school policy. (Oklahoma Voice) Read More
  • Faith and politics shape state superintendent Republican runoff – Oklahoma’s state superintendent office has been under a national spotlight for the past three years after Ryan Walters tried to infuse extreme right-wing politics into public education and turned teachers against the state department meant to guide them. (The Oklahoman – Subscription Required) Read More

Texas

  • Which families are using ESAs? Here’s what we know about Texas’ first school vouchers – More than 85,000 families are participating in Texas’ private school voucher program during its first year, a number that could increase as state officials finalize enrollment data, according to a new state report. (The Texas Tribune) Read More
  • Child advocates urge families to keep children in Head Start amid reported federal rule changes – Texas early childhood advocates stressed during a recent virtual press conference that no official changes have been made to Head Start regulations and encouraged families not to panic while awaiting any formal action from the federal government. (KPRC) Read More
  • State Higher Education Coordinating Board recommends changing public university funding system to focus on student success metrics – The way state funds are allocated to public universities could change after the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board proposed rewarding schools for student outcomes instead of credit hour enrollment in a July 22 quarterly board meeting. (The Daily Texan) Read More
  • Texas could shortchange new funding model champions – An ambitious performance-based funding model for community colleges in Texas outperformed all expectations in its first three years. But the state didn’t appropriate enough funding to pay for the gains, thrusting colleges into financial uncertainty. (Inside Higher Ed) Read More
  • Black-majority schools receive more Fs than A ratings, leaving parents with tough choices – Black children attend schools labeled as failing by the Texas Education Agency at a far higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group. Majority-Black schools are the least likely to achieve the state’s highest academic rating. (The Texas Tribune) Read More

Virginia

  • Study estimates $1.7B cost to expand subsidized child care, raise teacher pay – The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center released a study estimating that in Virginia, an investment of $1.7B would align early educator wages with elementary school teachers and expand available child care slots to align with parent demand. (Virginia Public Media) Read More
  • Federal judge orders county to replace Confederate school names it restored in 2024 – A federal judge has sided with the Virginia NAACP in its lawsuit against a county school board’s reinstatement of Confederate military names to two schools, saying the decision discriminated against Black students and ordering the board to change the schools’ monikers again. (Associated Press) Read More
  • Costs continue to rise for state colleges and universities – Students enrolled in Virginia’s higher education institutions can expect to spend more this year. Tuition, instructional and auxiliary fees, and room and board have increased for full-time, in-state undergraduate students, according to an annual report from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. (WHRO Public Media) Read More

West Virginia

  • Public school funding formula needs work, spending may not be the answer – Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s team laid out his office’s ideas for revamping West Virginia’s school funding formula, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a hefty financial investment into public schools. (West Virginia Watch) Read More
  • Funding formula creates issues for education – Education staff and leaders around West Virginia are having their fears slowly come to fruition after multiple schools have closed or been condensed. Many are blaming the dated ‘School Funding Formula’. (WVNS News) Read More
  • State Democrats renew calls for special session to address education crisis – West Virginia House Democrats have renewed their request that Governor Patrick Morrisey call a special session to alleviate the financial crisis facing the state’s public school system. They first called for a special session in July. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting) Read More
  • Half of homeless students suspended during school year, state data shows – Half of West Virginia’s homeless students were suspended as a result of behavior last school year, according to new data from the state education department. (West Virginia Watch) Read More
  • Department of Human Services hasn’t implemented lawmakers’ key childcare bill by deadline – The state legislature’s first-ever hallmark childcare bill passed in March. Still, the state Department of Human Services has yet to implement the bill’s requirements. (West Virginia Watch) Read More

National/Federal Updates

Early Childhood Education News and Resources

  • Lowering the Bar: An Analysis of How Replacing Head Start Standards with State Child Care Licensing Weakens Early Learning Across the United States – This report explores the policy distinctions between state child care center-based licensing standards and the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS). (The Children’s Equity Project) Read More
  • Trump officials say they’re strengthening Head Start with proposed rule. Critics say they’ll gut it – The Trump administration unveiled sweeping and controversial proposed changes to the Head Start program, which provides early education and health services to hundreds of thousands of low-income children. Critics are concerned that eliminating Head Start’s rigorous child development, health, and safety standards is a backdoor way of dismantling the program. (CNN) Read More
  • Winning for Babies: How to Build Smart, Strategic PN‑3 Advocacy Plans – This toolkit helps organizations engage strategically during the campaign cycle while staying within the boundaries of nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) issue-focused advocacy. (National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers) Read More

K-12 Education News and Resources

  • Teacher turnover surged after COVID-19 and stayed high for years, new data reveals – From 2020 to 2025, Texas lost 35,000 teachers, 10% of its workforce, who would have stayed in the classroom if the state had maintained its pre-pandemic turnover figures. The pattern in Texas has repeated to varying degrees in states across the country, according to an extensive Chalkbeat analysis of data since 2019 spanning 21 states. (Chalkbeat) Read More
  • Senator Markey, colleagues demand education department withdraw proposed rule gutting Equity Assistance Centers – Senator Edward J. Markey, top Democrat on a subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee wrote to Secretary Linda McMahon condemning the agency’s efforts to gut the Equity Assistance Centers, which provide free technical assistance to school districts, states, and communities to prepare, adopt, and implement plans to desegregate public schools in compliance with federal civil rights law. (Office of U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey) Read More
  • Paying vendors for student results – The first independent evaluation of outcomes-based contracts offers reasons for optimism, but also for caution. While three of the interventions produced measurable academic gains for students, the study stops short of proving that the contracts themselves deserve the credit. (The Hechinger Report) Read More

Higher Education News and Resources

  • 7 ways college admissions season is changing this year – The entire application process has been disrupted in recent years by the pandemic, shifting testing policies, a Supreme Court ruling on race-conscious admissions, artificial intelligence, federal investigations, and more. This article outlines some admissions changes to watch for this school year. (The Washington Post – Subscription Required) Read More
  • Personal coaching boosts retention and re-enrollment at HBCUs, new study finds – A new five-year study by InsideTrack, a national, nonprofit student success organization, has found that sustained, one-on-one coaching resulted in dramatically improved retention and re-enrollment of students at dozens of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. (Forbes) Read More
  • Anxious students who were unenrolled now moving into Howard University dorms – More than 500 incoming first-year students were unenrolled for missing a July tuition payment deadline, the university said. About 200 students have had their enrollment restored. (Associated Press) Read More
  • How decades of underfunding has shaped life at HBCUs – Historically Black colleges and universities have deferred maintenance issues, which experts attribute to longstanding state and federal funding gaps. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Subscription Required) Read More
  • Departing UNCF President Reflects on HBCU ‘Renaissance’ – After more than two decades at the helm of the United Negro College Fund, Michael L. Lomax looks back at his career advocating for historically Black colleges and universities. (Inside Higher Ed) Read More
  • HBCUs need a financial lifeline. Help is stalled in Congress – In April last year, just before reaching his 100th day in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order pledging to uplift the country’s historically Black colleges and universities. Nearly 16 months later, there are few public details of its work. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Subscription Required) Read More
  • Opinion: Who should go to college? – It’s well known that college-educated workers earn more money, on average, than those with just a high school diploma. And there are few middle-class jobs available for workers without a degree, as I found in a recent data analysis. So does that mean more people should go to college? (Chalkbeat Newsletters) Read More

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns, and if we can assist with any government affairs or advocacy issues moving forward.

Sincerely,

Fred Jones, Senior Director of Public Policy and Advocacy,

fjones@southerneducation.org  

Darian Burns, Legislative and Public Policy Analyst,

dburns@southerneducation.org  

Allison Boyle, Research and Policy Specialist,

aboyle@southerneducation.org