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 Policy, Higher Education Policy, and Senior Policy Officer
Sarah Hitchcock
Director of State Education Action and Athletes for America
Christopher Schorr, Ph.D.
Director, Higher Education Policy
James Paul, Ph.D.
Director of State Education Opportunity Policy
Jovan Tripkovic
Analyst, Higher Education Policy
Latest
Statement
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September 14, 2026
AFPI Announces Departure of Dr. Jay Menees for Florida Department of Education
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) announces that Dr. Jay Menees will be departing his role as Senior Policy Analyst for Higher Education and Economy & Trade Policy to join the Florida Department of Education as Vice Chancellor of Research and Policy.
Commentary
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September 10, 2026
Accreditation Reform Is Exactly What Higher Education Needs
America's higher education system has lost the confidence of the American people. Today’s graduates leave campus too often unprepared to find the work needed to pay off the considerable debt they accumulated. Taxpayers now directly underwrite almost $2 trillion in debt despite providing subsidies and payments to universities totaling hundreds of billions each year. The cost to attend a university now equals the price of between one and three modest-sized new cars for each year.
Expert Insights
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September 8, 2026
Make Colleges Pay their “Fair Share”: Congress Should Close the Endowment Tax Loophole
Most traditional U.S. colleges and universities, including nearly all public and most private institutions, operate under “nonprofit” or tax-exempt structures.[1] This designation does not mean that these institutions generate no revenue—colleges and universities receive substantial income from tuition, fees, research grants, philanthropy, and investment earnings. Nonprofit status instead refers primarily to the absence of private shareholders who receive distributions from institutional operations.
Toolkit
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September 8, 2026
Three Strategies for Advancing Workforce Education & Training
For decades, the public education system offered one value proposition: do well here, get a college degree, and enjoy a meaningful career and a middle-class life—or don’t. Workforce education and training programs were deprioritized and viewed as the lower track toward, at best, a job with static prospects.
Statement
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September 4, 2026
Treasury Department Holds Educational Institutions Accountable
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) applauds Secretary Scott Bessent for the Treasury Department’s newly proposed rules clarifying that educational institutions that discriminate based on race in their offerings may lose their tax-exempt status.
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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Supporting the Emerging Civil Rights State
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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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