In these quarterly reports, we showcase the progress that EdTrust, along with our partners, is making to promote education equity and excellence for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds in various states and across the nation.
February 2026 Report
Fierce Advocacy. Bold Change. 30 Years of Advancing Student Excellence
We have reached an extraordinary and exciting milestone: EdTrust’s 30th anniversary. During that time, EdTrust has stood for fierce advocacy and bold change, and has advanced student excellence through advocacy building, uplifting student voices, and using data to speak the truth. Despite the challenges of the past year, we have not backed down. We remain steadfast in our pursuit of equity and justice.
As we look toward the future, we can learn from the past. After 30 years, I can confidently say that we will persevere and ensure that educational opportunity and excellence are available to all students, not just the privileged few.
Highlights of Our Latest Work
Reports, Briefs, Campaigns
Commemorative Web Page
EdTrust 30th Anniversary
Commemorative Timeline
EdTrust Timeline
Website
ESSA Waiver Watch
Brief and Data Tool
Supporting Student-Parents at Two-Year Colleges: Addressing the Affordability Gap
Report
Raising the Cost of Borrowing, Reducing Access: How the One Big Beautiful Bill Reshapes Financial Aid and Repayment
Brief
How the Elimination of Grad PLUS Loans and Classification of Professional Degrees Harm Women and Students of Color
In the Media
EdTrust’s work was featured in numerous media outlets including The Washington Post, Chalkbeat, The Hill, CNN, NPR, The EDU Ledger, Forbes.
For more media coverage, see our In the News section.
On the Blog
Recent blog posts featured on our website include:
Separating Families. Terrorizing Communities. Upending Schools.
Remembering IDEA — and Fighting to Keep its Promise to Students With Disabilities
State Offices
Midwest
Our new report, Hope and Hard Work Ahead: Building a Strong and Diverse Teacher Workforce for Michigan’s Students, examines Michigan’s struggles to attract and retain teacher candidates of color. During Michigan’s school aid budget season, ETM and partners advocated for increased fair funding for students with disabilities, English learners, and students from low-income backgrounds. In January, EdTrust announced Brian L. Love as EdTrust-Midwest’s new state director. In this role, Love will lead ETM’s policy and advocacy agenda focused on ensuring educational access and opportunity for all Michigan students, from early learning through higher education, while strengthening partnerships, advancing evidence-based policy, and delivering equitable results statewide.
MidwestNew York
In November, EdTrust-New York called on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to take bold, equity-driven action to protect students’ rights and expand opportunities across New York City Public Schools. In December, we released Solving the Equation: What Families Think About Math Instruction, Access, and Opportunity in New York. In January, we supported Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Universal Child Care vision and Mayor Mamdani’s 3K and 2-Care expansion and praised the 2026 State of the State proposals that advance educational equity through child care, data systems, tutoring, emergency aid, and science-of-reading-aligned professional learning.
New YorkTennessee
EdTrust-Tennessee deepened its role as a statewide and regional convener, creating space for policymakers, advocates, and community leaders to engage directly with the most pressing education equity challenges facing Tennessee and the South. We released The Undercount, an analysis that examines how Tennessee’s narrow definition of economically disadvantaged students limits access to resources for schools serving the highest-need populations. As federal flexibility under ESSA and accountability debates continue to evolve, EdTrust-Tennessee has remained a leading voice in translating these shifts for advocates and decision-makers, emphasizing the importance of transparency, equity, and guardrails to protect underserved students. Through our Southerners for Fair School Funding initiative, we released updated State Rating Rubrics to support advocates in assessing how well state funding systems align with equity principles.
TennesseeWest
In a new blog post, Christopher J. Nellum, Ph.D., kicks off EdTrust-West’s 25th anniversary with a reflection on a year filled with challenges met by collective wins that remind us all that advocacy works. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2026-27 budget proposal included a $100 million investment in dual enrollment — a win we championed to open new college pathways for thousands of students. The EdTrust-West TK-12 policy team presented at the California Educator Diversity Action Network (CEDAN) Building Bridges Summit II.
WestIn the States
EdTrust in Louisiana
EdTrust in LA advanced its advocacy, coalition-building, and narrative-change priorities through coordinated engagement across K-12, higher education, and community partners. We published two op-eds elevating student voices — one on HBCUs and another on TRIO. Amplify Louisiana continued its monthly programming, reaching over 200 students across five high schools in underserved communities, with plans to expand to college campuses. We launched a statewide Leadership Roundtable Cohort, convening 15 school leaders to strengthen advocacy capacity and leadership legacy.
EdTrust in Massachusetts
By putting early literacy front and center, EdTrust in MA helped spark statewide momentum for change. Through our work with the MassReads coalition, we advanced landmark legislation to ensure every child has access to high-quality, evidence-based reading instruction. The bill recently passed in both the House and Senate and now heads to a conference committee. In December, we released The State of Math Instruction: Equity, Access, and Outcomes, a brief that highlighted the pressing need for stronger math curricula and better support for educators across the Commonwealth. Simultaneously, we elevated equity in higher education by co-releasing Laying the Groundwork: A Policy Roadmap for Massachusetts Public Higher Education, built around four core pillars to strengthen the state’s public higher education system.
EdTrust in Texas
Following the end of a second special legislative session in September, we shifted to implementing new state policies. Having secured new funding to expand and incentivize high-quality teacher preparation, we engaged with partners to influence rulemaking and launched a unique PREP Allotment Budget Workbook that is being used by school leaders statewide to support planning efforts. We released briefs focused on ensuring paraprofessionals and apprentices have access to pathways for teacher certification and are conducting research to address students’ unmet financial needs in higher education. We are also selecting members for our Texas Higher Education Student Advisory Council to engage state leaders as they consider performance-based funding for public universities.
Coalition Work
In Maryland, the Maryland Alliance for Racial Equity in Education (MAREE) began the legislative session by launching its 2025-26 advocacy agenda. In Delaware, EdTrust continues to support our partner Rodel in developing a student-centered funding formula. Following legislative wins in the 2025 session, the Prichard Committee in Kentucky is advocating to strengthen the automatic enrollment bill HB190 to include placement in advanced Algebra.
On the Hill
EdTrust’s federal advocacy helped secure a strong bipartisan bill for FY26 that maintains investments in crucial federal education programs and includes a legal prohibition and report language regarding ED’s ongoing illegal dismantling. EdTrust remained a key player in the national conversation about the federal role in education and the impact of the ongoing dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. This winter, EdTrust leadership was prominently featured in numerous congressional events. Behind the scenes, EdTrust helped shape the federal response on the harms posed by the Department’s Interagency Agreements (IAAs).