This week, W/A VP Hillary Rinaldi is filling in for Ben.

In our 2026 election preview, W/A SVP and Head of K-12 Communications Thomas Rodgers looked at who voters will put in charge of education. This post turns to what voters will decide directly through ballot measures and propositions.

Education Week counts 34 education-related measures across 17 states. The ones with the most lasting effect on classrooms are mostly about money. Eighteen funding-related questions are on ballots in a dozen states, and 12 of the proposals would limit taxes or revenue growth. We are watching these votes, and the discourse around them, closely to see which of them become harbingers for other state initiatives. 

Arizona's Proposition 320 is contentious; it would require districts with 7,500+ students, and all districts in Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties, to spend at least 60% of operating budgets on "direct instruction." Districts below the line would need to raise their share by half a point per year starting in fiscal 2028, or face penalties as significant as losing up to their full Classroom Site Fund allocation. 

Supporters point to the state's instructional share falling to 52.1 cents per dollar, a two-decade low. The risks include:

Three states are asking voters to decide whether taxes on top earners should be increased or repealed. All three taxes would contribute billions of dollars in education funding:

Election night will tell us which measures passed. It will not tell us what they cost schools. That answer comes later, in two places.

The first is state budgets. Where tax limits pass, legislatures will have to decide whether to backfill the lost revenue and, if so, what to cut to do it. The second is rulemaking. In Arizona, the Auditor General’s definition of “direct instruction” will determine which roles within a school count toward the 60% threshold or compete against it.

Neither will happen quickly. Arizona’s requirement does not take effect until fiscal year 2028, and other measures carry similar lags. District and state leaders should use that time to model the downside now, before someone else writes the rules for them. 

We’ll be watching how it all plays out. In the meantime, our team is gearing up for our upcoming Post-Election Policy Summit. We hope to see you there! 

Join us for an invitation-only, off-the-record convening at Gallup Headquarters in Washington, D.C., focused on both K-12 and higher ed policy. We're capping the room at 175 senior leaders from education, technology, philanthropy, business, and investment—and seats are filling fast. 

This week, W/A VP and Editor of The EdSheet Matt Tower sat down with Rose Else Mitchell, executive director of SUNY New Paltz’s Science of Reading Center, to discuss the importance of high quality reading instruction and how educators can better implement evidence-based practices and the role technology can play in reading education.

Most states can say how much they spent on tutoring and how many students they reached. Far fewer can say what any individual student actually received.

Join Whiteboard Advisors and Pearl Education on October 27 for a conversation on the findings from The State of Tutoring 2026, the second edition of an annual series examining how tutoring has moved from pandemic emergency response to a permanent part of state and district academic strategy. This year's report analyzes 883,882 individual tutoring sessions delivered to 64,044 students across 28 state-, district-, and vendor-led programs, and is one of the largest cross-state collections of tutoring implementation data assembled to date.

Finishing ninth grade on track predicts high school graduation better than test scores or student background. Educators know this, and many districts are making ninth grade the priority. The harder part is getting systems in place that sustain ninth grade success beyond the first year of high school.

The Center for High School Success (CHSS), a nonprofit whose Ninth Grade On-Track methodology has been adopted by hundreds of schools across the U.S., is selecting up to 10 school districts to join its inaugural National 9th Grade Success Accelerator cohort, launching in January 2027.

Accelerator districts will work side-by-side with CHSS to substantially improve ninth grade success rates in the 2027-28 school year by strengthening the team routines, data practices, and student supports that help educators identify challenges early and keep more students on a path to graduate.

A new report from Qualtrics and Buro Happold suggests that students’ perceptions of college value extend far beyond potential financial returns and career preparation. Based on a spring 2026 survey of about 1,000 U.S. college students, the report examined nine dimensions of the college experience that contribute to student satisfaction and value. Three-quarters (74.2%) of students surveyed reported receiving “high” or “exceptional” value from the purpose and personal growth they experienced in college, the highest-ranking dimension studied; career and skills ranked fourth at 71.5% and economic return ranked lowest at 66.2%. [Inside Higher Ed, subscription model]

The college experience is not consistent across student groups, however. Veterans, student athletes, first-generation students, part time students, and students with children were more likely than respondents generally to view their college experience as valuable overall. Transfer students, commuters, Pell grant recipients, and students with disabilities were less likely than their peers. Gaps in student engagement, accessibility, and belonging may be behind disparities in perceived value, according to the report.

Check out W/A Jobs, which features 3,680 career opportunities from 328 organizations across the education industry. Hiring? For $250/month or $1,000/year, organizations can post an unlimited number of jobs with no per-job fees.