Center for Education Opportunity

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

Erika Donalds

Chair of Education Opportunity and Chair of the AFPI-Florida State Chapter

Michael Shires

Vice Chair of Education Opportunity

Laurie Todd-Smith,Ph.D.

Director, Center for Education Opportunity & Director, Center for the American Child

Julia Butch

Policy Analyst, Center for Education Opportunity and Center for 1776

Latest

Op-Ed | July 22, 2025

A Big Beautiful Win for School Choice

Parents and students across the country have reason to celebrate after President Trump signed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" into law on Independence Day.

Fact Sheet | July 21, 2025

America’s Parents and Students Win Big in the One Big Beautiful Bill

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) delivers bold, structural K–12 education reforms that shift power from bureaucrats and rightly return it to families, beginning the formidable work to restore common sense to our Nation’s universities and colleges.

Statement | July 14, 2025