Every day brings a new breaking alert, a new crisis, a new debate about the direction of our country. National and international headlines dominate our feeds and shape what we’re told matters most. But when you close your laptop, check your bank account, or wait in the school pickup line, the question that lingers isn’t about geopolitics—it’s simple and personal: Are we going to be OK? And the answer often depends less on Washington and more on what’s happening in our own local communities.
State and local politics have the most direct impact on people’s daily lives—including in the classroom—and it’s imperative that education be at the top of the agenda for state legislators. Prioritizing education is about tending to our kids today to ensure we’re ready for tomorrow. Students are struggling across the country, and state leaders need to meet the moment.
To support student success that impacts all kids, state policymakers should prioritize three key issues: strengthening coherence across K–12 systems; building education-to-career ecosystems; and using AI responsibly and effectively.
In the education sector, instructional coherence gets a lot of airspace. Reports on the subject include rubrics, philosophies, and studies about what it is and why it matters, but put plainly, when instruction is coherent, students learn more. And that is what needs to happen so that our young people can advance in an increasingly complex world. State policymakers are responsible for setting the systems and structures that make instructional coherence in schools possible. Without systems coherence, there is a patchwork of school districts implementing various tactics of instructional coherence without the possibility of scaling that success. To truly strengthen academic outcomes for all students, state policymakers must step into K–12 policy with a mindset around passing policies that create systems coherence.
State policy must also create the conditions to set our young people up for success beyond K–12. Education-to-career doesn’t simply mean implementing more Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes at the high school level. For them to be effective, education-to-career policy approaches need to envelop a whole-system strategy that aligns academic learning, credentials, career pathways, and partnerships across multiple systems including PK–12, postsecondary, workforce, and higher education.
States play an essential role in establishing such systems that make career-connected learning possible and sustainable at scale. For example, they must establish the policy and data infrastructures that allow key stakeholders to work seamlessly with one another. State legislatures must set overarching goals for their state to create thriving ecosystems where every young person has access to multiple, flexible, and aligned postsecondary pathways, supported by engaged schools, communities, and robust data infrastructure.
Finally, state legislatures must continue the necessary, exciting, yet uncharted work of supporting schools in harnessing AI to propel educator impact and student outcomes. This is, of course, not a new area for state policy: more than 30 states have official AI guidance for K–12 schools and two states require districts to have a comprehensive policy about the use of AI in schools. But in 2026, it is critical that states go beyond acknowledging the use of AI in schools by building on their AI guidance for K–12, requiring or incentivizing districts to adopt AI use policies, and creating new or expanding existing pilot programs to increase the responsible use of AI. Rapidly evolving technology like AI is here to stay, and our state and local policy systems must not only catch up but unlock the opportunities it brings while safeguarding against the known risks.
While these solutions will not be accomplished in one legislative session, if state policymakers prioritize nurturing coherence in K–12 systems, building education-to-career ecosystems, and continuing to grapple with the opportunities and complexities of advancing technologies, a path can be set to build future-ready schools that can meet the needs of our young people. After all, they deserve nothing less.
