Policy Priorities
Increasing Education Opportunities
Increasing Early Literacy
Creating Greater Student Outcomes
Improving Spending on Education
For American families and students today, education provides a pathway to the realization of their aspirations and a realization of their dignity. Right now, public education achieves neither end. The key to a better education system, one that serves both America and Americans, is advancing policies that puts American families first, including choice. That’s exactly what the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) is here to achieve. AFPI will formulate educational policies that provide educational opportunity for all American families. This means putting parents and students—not bureaucracies, unions, or politicians—in charge of the education of America’s next generation. AFPI aims to restore our system of public education to its original, legitimate purpose: educating and raising the next generation of Americans, facilitating their dreams—and our prosperity.
AFPI aims to restore our system of public education to its original, legitimate purpose: educating and raising the next generation of Americans, facilitating their dreams, and our prosperity. Providing a high-quality education with opportunities that benefit every student will create greater outcomes for our next generation.
Team
Latest
State Model Policy
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June 9, 2026
529 Education Freedom for States Act Model Policy
529 education savings plans are tax-advantaged accounts that help families save for education expenses. Established under Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, these plans were originally designed to support postsecondary education costs but have since been expanded by Congress to include K-12 tuition, apprenticeship programs, and other qualified educational expenses. As the permissible uses of 529 plans have broadened, they have become increasingly important vehicles for education freedom.
Research Report
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June 9, 2026
529 Plan Conformity across the states: A Reform Agenda After the One Big Beautiful Bill
529 education savings plans, also known as qualified tuition plans, are tax-advantaged accounts in which families invest after-tax dollars in mutual funds, index funds, and age-based portfolios offered by plan administrators under contract with state governments. Earnings grow free from federal income tax, and withdrawals remain tax-free when used for qualified education expenses.
Issue Brief
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June 9, 2026
Equal Treatment & College Degree Barriers: The Problem of Disparate Impact Doctrine
Disparate impact doctrine is conceptually flawed and counterproductive. It undermines both equal treatment under law and economic mobility (for workers of all races) by propping up artificial college degree barriers to employment.
State Model Policy
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June 9, 2026
529 Education Freedom for States Act
Aligns state law with Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code through automatic conformity, ensuring that future federal expansions of qualified education expenses are recognized under state law without additional legislative action.
Op-Ed
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June 4, 2026
The Looming Fight Over Intellectual Diversity – Restoring the Academy’s Reason for Being
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education hosted negotiated rulemaking through its Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) Committee. The charge was straightforward and overdue: improve the quality of higher education, respond to a rapidly changing economic and intellectual landscape, expand accountability and transparency for students and taxpayers, and rebuild the value proposition of a college degree.
Topics
28
issues
Videos
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How Mississippi Beat the Odds: Gov. Tate Reeves on Literacy Reform and the School Choice Revolution
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America First Roundtable: Breaking the Education Cartel
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AFPI Celebrates National School Choice Week
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AFPI Welcomes Erika Donalds as Chair of the Center for Education Opportunity and Chair of the AFPI-Florida State Chapter
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National School Choice Week 2024: The Education Freedom Revolution
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Combating Fentanyl in Schools
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