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
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.
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.
State Testimony
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May 7, 2026
Governor’s Executive Budget: GATOR Scholarship Expansion
Statement
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May 6, 2026
AFPI: Schools That Fail to Protect Students Must Be Held Accountable
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) issued the following statement from Chairman of AFPI’s America First California chapter Mike Garcia in response to news that the U.S. Department of Education has launched a Title IX investigation into Los Angeles Unified School District.
Issue Brief
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April 21, 2026
Getting DEI out of IDEA: End Racial Quotas in Special Education
In November 2025, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) turned 50 years old. It provides states and school districts with $15.4 billion per year and requires schools to identify and address the needs of students with disabilities (Dragoo, 2026). In 2004, Congress reauthorized IDEA recognizing a concern that Black students were being identified with disabilities at higher rates than White students. Congress therefore required states to collect data from school districts to determine whether there is a “significant disproportionality” by race in special education identification or discipline (20 U.S.C. § 1418(d)).
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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