Education Freedom
Creating Opportunity for Every American Child
MISSION
The Education Freedom Campaign works to ensure rooted in our fundamental values. In this campaign, K-12 education policy experts promote school choice and produce sound research to help parents make informed decisions for their children. Our higher education experts work with our partners in government and in the marketplace to equip a new American workforce by eliminating bloat and incentivizing innovation and opportunity. We work with federal and state governments to ensure that these principles are implemented based on what is best for children, not bureaucrats. After all, parents are the first primary educators of their childing. They should be in the driver’s seat in educational decision making.
Focus Areas / Policy Pillars
- School Choice – Expanding parental rights and education freedom.
- Accountability through Transparency - Ensuring parents and policymakers have the information on curriculum, finances, safety, and academic outcomes that they need to make informed decisions.
- Limited Bureaucracy – Reining in bloated bureaucracy and compliance rules and focusing resources on academic achievement over ideological initiatives.
- Education Value – Reforming accreditation and return-on-investment standards, sharing risks and responsibilities, and supporting workforce development.
- Ending the Department of Education – Supporting legislation and rulemaking to devolve control and give block grants to states, as well as refocusing accreditation on quality control and outcomes and reforming student loans and debt.
- Free Expression – Promoting free speech and institutional viewpoint neutrality in higher education.
Team
Erika Donalds
Chair, Education Opportunity
Michael Shires, Ph.D.
Vice Chair of Education Opportunity, Higher Education, and Senior Policy Officer
Sarah Hitchcock
Education Freedom Campaign Director
Christopher Schorr, Ph.D.
Director of the Higher Education Reform Initiative
James Paul, Ph.D.
Director of State Education Opportunity
Jovan Tripkovic
Policy Analyst, Higher Education Reform Initiative
Latest
Statement
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June 3, 2026
Erika Donalds Commemorates Title IX Month and a Half Century of Opportunity for Girls
In recognition of Title IX Month, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) today released the following statement from Erika Donalds, Chair of Education Opportunity, on the critical importance of Title IX in protecting opportunities for women and girls.
Statement
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May 22, 2026
America wins with Higher Education’s New Accreditation Rules
AFPI congratulates Secretary McMahon and the Department of Education for achieving consensus yesterday at the final meeting of its Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) Committee’s negotiated rulemaking sessions.
Op-Ed
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May 20, 2026
Who Governs Public Universities (and Who Should)?
America’s public colleges and universities have lost their way.
Statement
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May 19, 2026
AFPI Applauds Department of Education’s Finalized Workforce Pell Rule
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) commends the U.S. Department of Education for finalizing the Workforce Pell Grant rule yesterday, a landmark step toward restoring opportunity, dignity, and economic mobility for millions of American workers shut out of the traditional four-year college pipeline.
Expert Insights
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May 18, 2026
Governing Public Universities: How States Can Reassert Authority and Restore Trust
Upon taking office in January 2025, President Trump embarked on an ambitious higher education reform campaign. The urgency of this task was punctuated by the recent wave of antisemitic protests at elite universities. Yet that obscene spectacle was just one manifestation of a larger sickness—a rot eating away at the heart of U.S. institutions of higher education (IHEs).
Topics
- Protecting Kids Online
- Rural Prosperity
- Criminal Justice & Public Safety
- The Courts
- Government Weaponization
- Merit-based Employment
- Debt
- Inflation
- Trade
- Work & Jobs
- Post Secondary Education
- K-12 Education Freedom
- Public School Transparency
- American Only Elections
- Clean Votes
- Secure Elections
- Energy
- Environment
- Budget, Spending, & Taxes
- Transgenderism
- Border & Immigration
- Defense
- Marriage, Family, & Children
- Faith & Religious Liberty
- Sanctity of Life
- Parental Rights
- Protect Women’s Sports
186
issues-new
Videos
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Truth Be Told: Why America’s Best Days Are Ahead with Secretary Linda McMahon
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A New Era for College Sports: The Saving College Sports Proposal Outshines the SCORE and SAFE Acts
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How Mississippi Beat the Odds: Gov. Tate Reeves on Literacy Reform and the School Choice Revolution
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Secretary McMahon, AFPI, TPUSA, & Partners Launch New Civics Coalition
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AFPI Files Title IX Lawsuit to Protect Oregon Girls’ Rights
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