Nicolas Zerbino

3 weeks ago | brookings.edu | Katharine Meyer |Jon Valant |Nicolas Zerbino

Editor's note: This blog is part of a Brown Center series, “COVID-19 and education: Five years later,” in which Brookings experts and external contributors reflect on the impacts of COVID-19 on students, schools, and education policy.

Jun 13, 2024 | brookings.edu | Jon Valant |Nicolas Zerbino

In May, we released a short Brookings report showing which families are most likely to get voucher funding through Arizona’s now-universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program. The analysis isn’t complicated, and the results couldn’t be much clearer. A highly disproportionate share of Arizona’s ESA recipients come from the state’s wealthiest and most educated areas.

May 7, 2024 | brookings.edu | Jon Valant |Nicolas Zerbino |Jamie Klinenberg

Amid a wave of legislation that created or expanded private-school choice programs across the country, Robert Enlow, the President/CEO of EdChoice, dubbed 2023 as “the year of universal choice.” Enlow wasn’t wrong. Universal eligibility is the defining trend in recent private school choice reforms. For decades, private-school choice programs (like vouchers) provided funds only to certain families—e.g., families with low household income or a child with a disability.

Mar 2, 2024 | brookings.edu | Rachel Perera |Jon Valant |Nicolas Zerbino |Brock Schultz

Founded only three years ago, Moms for Liberty (M4L) has become a well-known, polarizing organization in U.S. education politics. The group emerged amid heated political disagreements over school re-openings and mask mandates and established itself as a central figure in ongoing battles over how race and racism, gender, and sexuality are taught in schools. M4L has focused most of its attention on local school boards.

Jan 29, 2024 | brookings.edu | Rosalia Dalton |Nicolas Zerbino |Katharine Meyer

Candidates in the 2024 Republican primary have echoed decades–long calls to substantially scale back or even eliminate the Department of Education. What candidates mean by “shutting down” is vague. It could indicate a type of restructuring that folds federal programs into or combines the Department of Education with the Department of Labor. Regardless, the message seems clear: Federal spending in education—like the federal role in education—is bloated and .