America’s public schools are under strain. Student achievement in reading and math sits at historic lows, concerns over safety and student mental health are widespread, and district budgets are stretched thin. At the same time, a wave of new technology has arrived in classrooms at record speed, with little oversight or parental input, and is transforming students’ lives. School-issued devices now come with AI assistants preinstalled, a majority of teens use AI for schoolwork, and screens mediate ever more of childhood—with remarkably few rules governing any of it.

The Century Foundation’s new polling shows how Americans are responding to this transformation—and what they want done about it. To understand people’s views on K–12 schools, and the rise of technology and AI in classrooms specifically, TCF commissioned Morning Consult to survey over 2,000 registered voters nationwide May 21–24, 2026.1 Three findings in particular stand out.

  • First, technology in schools—particularly AI—has become a serious concern for voters, and they overwhelmingly want the government to step in and set clear guardrails on its use in classrooms. All six technology concerns we tested drew at least 80 percent concern, and 77 percent of voters, including 80 percent of Republicans, want clear government rules and standards for how schools use new technologies. Only 23 percent support the current hands-off status quo.
  • Second, voters see public schools as being in trouble, and the problems they name are about getting the fundamentals right: whether children are learning, whether they are safe, and whether their schools have enough money. These concerns also extend to the privatization of schools, which majorities of both Democrats and Republicans view as a problem in K-12 education today.
  • Third, voters defend universal public education and support policies to strengthen public schools for all students—views that stand in stark contrast to Trump’s privatize-and-defund approach. More than seven in ten (72 percent) are concerned about eliminating the right to a free public education, and large bipartisan majorities back smaller classes, better pay for teachers, universal school meals, after-school programs, and free early education.

Leaders in Washington, however, have charted a very different course. The Trump administration has turned local decisions—from how history is taught to who plays on which sports team—into national culture war fights. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has led the charge to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, cutting its workforce by nearly half2 and transferring its remaining functions3 to other agencies. Meanwhile, Trump and his allies have aggressively promoted artificial intelligence (AI) in schools, welcoming tech executives and robot educators4 into the White House and even pointing to a private school chain5 that replaces teachers with “guides”6 as a promising model.

Our results make clear that this is not what Americans want. Voters are not asking for an AI takeover in schools, and they don’t want to sell off public education. They want the basics of schooling done well, the promise of free universal education upheld, and the government to set enforceable rules to protect kids from the flood of new technologies upending the classroom.

Finding #1: Concern Over Technology and AI in Schools Is Widespread and Intense—and Voters Want the Government to Act

Every school technology concern we tested registered with at least 80 percent of voters

The American classroom has changed faster than the rules governing it. According to a national survey conducted by the New York Times, roughly 80 percent of K–12 teachers7 work in districts that use Google Chromebooks, devices that now come with Google’s Gemini AI tools8 pre-loaded. A first-of-its-kind study by the RAND Corporation last year found that AI use in schools jumped 15 percentage points or more in under two years, with over half of students9 saying they’ve used AI for school. And yet, as of spring 2025, only about a third of teachers said their school had any policy on the use of AI.

This rapid technological shift has unfolded in just a few years, largely without public debate, parental consent, or clear governing standards. Americans have noticed—and they’re worried. When we asked about six specific school technology concerns, the responses were among the highest consensus numbers anywhere in our poll. Perhaps most striking, 85 percent of voters say they are concerned about students using AI tools to complete assignments without actually learning the material, including 60 percent who are very concerned. Eighty-four percent, including near-equal shares of Democrats and Republicans, are worried about private tech companies collecting and profiting from students’ personal data. Another eight in ten (81 percent) are concerned about teachers being pressured to use technology and AI tools that haven’t been proven to improve learning.

Figure 1


Voters reject the current hands-off, wild west approach to technology in schools—and want clear government rules in its place

When presented with three options for responding to new technologies such as AI in the classroom, nearly half of all voters (49 percent) say technology and AI use in the classroom should be kept to a minimum, with the government setting clear rules limiting how schools use it [emphasis added]. Another 28 percent say schools and teachers should embrace technology and AI that is proven to boost learning—but still, they want rules and standards around its usage. Combined, 77 percent of voters want clear government guardrails, while less than one in four (23 percent) think schools should be free to use technology and AI however they judge best, without the government imposing new rules.

Figure 2

Support for government safeguards is not only bipartisan—it leans conservative. Rules-and-standards options drew support from 76 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of independents, and 80 percent of Republicans and Trump 2024 voters. Republicans are also most likely to want classroom technology and AI kept to a minimum, at 54 percent, compared with 47 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of independents. Republican women, at 59 percent, want limits on classroom AI more than any other demographic group we surveyed.

Voters’ desire for AI rules is well-founded: evidence, and the tech industry’s track record, supports it

A growing body of research substantiates what voters are feeling. A 2025 MIT study warned that students using large language models such as ChatGPT had greater “cognitive debt”10—essentially outsourcing their thinking before developing the underlying skills—than their non-AI-using peers. A recent working paper likewise found that students who used AI to solve math problems performed significantly worse11 once the assistance was removed. An analysis of data from more than 1,300 school districts by Securly, an online safety company, revealed that roughly one in five student interactions12 with generative AI involved cheating, self-harm, bullying, or other problematic behaviors. And, in a “premortem” on AI and education released this year, the Brookings Institution synthesized more than four hundred studies and hundreds of interviews, concluding that AI tools “undermine children’s foundational development.”13

The industry’s record when it comes to deploying technology in schools at least partly explains Americans’ frustration. In December 2024, the ed-tech giant PowerSchool—whose systems are used by thousands of districts nationwide—suffered what is considered to be the largest student data breach in history, exposing records of 62 million students and 9.5 million teachers,14 including Social Security numbers and special education status, after the company failed to implement basic safeguards.15 The same company recently settled a class action lawsuit that alleged its software contained hidden code that recorded students’ activity and collected sensitive personal information16 without students’ knowledge or consent. Indeed, research from the nonprofit Internet Safety Labs found that 96 percent of ed-tech apps17 used or recommended by K–12 schools shared student data with third parties, with 78 percent sharing that data specifically with advertising and monetization entities.

As the Trump administration embraces Big Tech, districts and states are slowly starting to act

Voters’ growing concern over AI in schools has begun to spur action at the local and state level. The clearest example: the sweeping, bipartisan movement to get cell phones out of classrooms. As of June 2026, at least 38 states and the District of Columbia now require school districts to ban or restrict students’ use of cell phones, with twenty-nine states adopting full “bell-to-bell” restrictions.18 Similar dynamics are starting to shape AI policy, too—though much more unevenly. States from Vermont19 to California20 have issued classroom AI guidance while others, such as Ohio,21 have begun requiring school districts to adopt an AI policy. But government rules remain a patchwork,22 and currently no federal floor exists.

Pressure to slow the integration of AI in schools is building from constituencies that don’t always agree on education policy. In New York City, a coalition of parents, educators, and students has petitioned the mayor for a two-year moratorium23 on AI in K–12 classrooms; in Los Angeles, parents and privacy advocates are demanding tighter scrutiny24 of the district’s technology contracts following the botched rollout25 of a $6 million custom AI chatbot. In May, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)—the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union, representing 1.8 million members—unveiled a “Devices down, eyes up, hands-on”26 plan that calls, in part, for screen-free classrooms through second grade and a ban on student-facing AI tools in elementary schools.

The federal government has moved sharply in the opposite direction. In April 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Education to prioritize AI in discretionary grant programs27 and build public–private partnerships with the AI industry; months later, the White House announced that over 60 technology companies had signed a pledge28 to supply AI tools and resources to K–12 classrooms. These moves came as President Trump and Secretary McMahon shuttered the Office of Educational Technology,29 the federal government’s sole office dedicated to helping educators use technology responsibly and effectively.

Congress, for its part, is engaged in a live fight over many of the very harms that voters expressed concern about in our survey. In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, an online-safety package that would bar platforms from using minors’ data for targeted advertising and impose new safeguards on AI chatbots, among other protections. But, in a giveaway to Big Tech companies, the House stripped out the “duty of care” provision30 at the heart of the Senate’s bill—legal requirements that platforms be safe by default—replacing it with weaker language31 that only requires companies to enforce “reasonable policies… [to] address harms to minors.”

While some lawmakers have put forward bills on tech in education, there is no mainstream federal proposal to impose the kind of guardrails voters are requesting. Century Foundation’s prior research suggests that such a proposal could garner significant support. For example, The Century Foundation’s October 2025 survey conducted by GQR found that 89 percent of voters32 want to prohibit companies from accessing children’s private data through their schools—the single most popular corporate accountability policy we tested.

Finding #2: Voters See Public Schools in Trouble—and America’s Affordability Crisis Is Only Making Things Worse

The majority of voters believe public schools face a number of serious problems today, starting with the basics

Roughly four in five voters (81 percent) say academic performance—students not learning to read, write, or do math at grade level—is a problem in K–12 schools, with nearly half (47 percent) calling it a major problem. School safety comes next at 80 percent (46 percent major problem), followed by student mental health at 79 percent and school underfunding at 75 percent. Technology and screens—an issue that a decade ago would barely have appeared on such a list—now sits alongside these longstanding concerns at 73 percent. More than six in ten voters (62 percent) also view the privatization of public schools as a problem, with Hispanic (68 percent) and Black (66 percent) voters especially likely to be concerned with privatization.

Figure 3

Voters’ views are consistent with the evidence. On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (the Nation’s Report Card), just 22 percent33 of twelfth graders were proficient in math and 35 percent34 were proficient in reading, the weakest results35 in decades.36 On mental health, the U.S. Surgeon General warned in 202337 that youth who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk38 of anxiety and depression; the average teenager today spends almost five hours39 a day on social media.

Nearly two-thirds of parents say that high costs under Trump have negatively affected their child’s education

The same financial pressures that have led to record-high credit card debt40 have reached school doorsteps,41 with 64 percent of parents with children in school42 reporting that high costs have negatively impacted their child’s education in the past year in at least one way. This finding is corroborated by research elsewhere showing that schools are increasingly cash-strapped: for example, a 2025 AFT survey of more than 700 educators found that half said they anticipated needing to purchase food for their students this year, with most respondents planning to spend more than $300 of their own money on classroom supplies such as pencils and notebooks. And these cost pressures are set to only intensify: our recent analysis with Groundwork Collaborative found that the 2026/27 school year will cost families close to $4,000 per child,43 nearly 11 percent more than it did last year.

In our survey, 30 percent of parents said their child’s school asked families to fundraise or donate money or supplies to cover basic needs—not extras. Nearly three in ten (28 percent) say their child’s school eliminated programs, staff, or services that used to be offered, while nearly one in five (19 percent) report their child missed out on extracurriculars, field trips, or programs due to costs.

Figure 4

Finding #3: Beyond Screens, Voters Defend Universal Public Education and Support Policies that Strengthen Public Schools—Not Dismantle Them

Seven in ten voters are worried about the government eliminating the right to free public education

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1982 decision in Plyler v. Doe, every child in America has held a constitutional right to a free public education, regardless of their immigration status. That guarantee is under coordinated attack today: a House Judiciary subcommittee held a March 2026 hearing44 arguing the decision was wrongly decided; conservative organizations have urged states to enact laws that45 undermine the protections established by Plyler in order to set up a Supreme Court challenge; and states including Tennessee, Texas, and Oklahoma have introduced and even advanced bills46 seeking to challenge the constitutional right to universal public education.

Voters soundly reject these efforts. Our survey finds that 72 percent of Americans are worried about the federal government eliminating the right to free public education for all children, with nearly half (48 percent) saying they are very concerned.47 Concern rises to 78 percent when voters consider that additional groups of students, such as students with disabilities, could lose the right (49 percent very concerned), including 72 percent of Republicans who are worried. Concern is most intense in the communities with the most at stake: 56 percent of Hispanic voters and 55 percent of Black voters are very concerned about additional groups losing the constitutional right, compared with 47 percent of white voters.

Figure 5

Voters want to invest to improve the public school system and make it work for all students

When asked what the government should do for schools, voters overwhelmingly support policies that strengthen the public school system—views that are at odds with Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to public education. Capping class sizes so teachers can provide more personalized attention garnered 83 percent support, with 52 percent of voters in strong support—the top performer of the seven actions we tested. Raising teacher pay to reduce turnover and improve morale followed at 79 percent (52 percent strongly), with providing free or subsidized school meals to all students at 77 percent support (49 percent strongly) and free or subsidized before- and after-school programs at 77 percent (46 percent strongly) rounding out the top four.48 Support largely held across demographic and party lines. On school meals specifically, our results come as the Trump administration has moved in the opposite direction—slashing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which has resulted in millions of people losing food assistance benefits, including 1.5 million children.49

Figure 6


Two-thirds of voters—including a majority of Trump voters—support taking New York City’s free early education model nationwide

Finally, we polled voters about New York City’s program, launched under Mayor Mamdani, to guarantee free child care for every two-year-old,50 building on the city’s existing free pre-K for three- and four-year-olds. Asked whether the federal government should offer this kind of free program nationwide—covering all kids from age two through kindergarten and explicitly modeled on New York City’s initiative—67 percent of voters said yes. This includes majorities of Republicans (57 percent) and Trump 2024 voters (54 percent). Support is highest among people closest to the need: 82 percent of those aged 35 to 44—prime parenting years—support taking the Mamdani model nationwide, as do 79 percent of Hispanic voters and 76 percent of Black voters.

Figure 7


Conclusion

A wave of new technology has swept into America’s classrooms at extraordinary speed and our nation’s rules have not kept up. Our polling shows that voters across the political spectrum want to change that. By wide margins, they support clear rules of the road for screens, social media, and AI reshaping their children’s education, and they want the companies profiting from students’ attention and data held to account. They also want schools to get the fundamentals right—academics, safety, mental health, and adequate funding—rather than ask parents to fundraise for pens and paper. They want America’s constitutional guarantee of universal public education kept intact. And they want the government to invest in the people who make schools work, like good teachers and smaller classes, not the machines being sold as their replacements. In an era of deep partisan polarization, few issues produce this kind of cross-party alignment. It is time elected leaders meet voters where they are and set clear guardrails on technology in the classroom, strengthen America’s public schools, and protect our kids.

Methodology

The poll was conducted by Morning Consult from May 21 to May 24, 2026 among a sample of 2,002 registered voters in the United States. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of registered voters based on gender, race, age, children in household, educational attainment, marital status, home ownership, region, and 2024 presidential vote.

Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points; margins of error for subgroups are larger. Data characterizing the share of respondents whose child’s education has been negatively affected by costs was calculated as the complement of respondents selecting “none of the above” plus “prefer not to say” on the relevant select-all-that-apply battery. Results for parents with children in K–12 schools refer to respondents who report that their eldest child attended school in grades kindergarten through twelve in the past year. Full toplines and crosstabs are available upon request.

Notes

  1. See the methodology section at the end of this report. Complete survey results, including crosstabs, are available upon request.
  2. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel and Laura Meckler, “Education Department must reinstate nearly 1,400 fired workers,” Washington Post, May 22, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/05/22/education-department-fired-federal-workers-reinstated/.
  3. Alia Wong, Moriah Balingit, and Sharon Lurye, “Trump is shifting special ed, civil rights out of Education Department. Here’s what we know,” Associated Press, June 16, 2026, https://apnews.com/article/trump-education-department-restructuring-civil-rights-sped-043d48432bfd182cdce3743a397ce633.
  4. Kathryn Watson, “Melania Trump pitches robots as potential educators for American schoolchildren,” CBS News, March 25, 2026, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/melania-trump-robots-educators-kids-humanoid-systems/.
  5. Ashley Gold, “Linda McMahon bets on AI as agency shrinks,” Axios, December 12, 2025, https://www.axios.com/2025/12/12/linda-mcmahon-ai-education.
  6. Jessica Winter, “What Will It Take to Get A.I. Out of Schools?” New Yorker, April 23, 2026, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/progress-report/what-will-it-take-to-get-ai-out-of-schools.
  7. Claire Cain Miller and Sarah Mervosh “How Much Screen Time Is Your Child Getting at School? We Asked 350 Teachers.” New York Times, November 12, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/upshot/teachers-survey-chromebooks-class.html.
  8. Shantanu Sinha, “Updates on how we’re using AI to support students and educators,” Google, June 24, 2024, https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/education/ai-workspace-chromebook-iste-2024/.
  9. Christopher Joseph Doss, Robert Bozick, Heather L. Schwartz, Lisa Chu, Lydia R. Rainey, Ashley Woo, Justin Reich, Jesse Dukes, “AI Use in Schools Is Quickly Increasing but Guidance Lags Behind: Findings from the RAND Survey Panels,” RAND, September 30, 2025, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4180-1.html.
  10. Nataliya Kosmyna, Eugene Hauptmann, Ye Tong Yuan, Jessica Situ, Xian-Hao Liao, Ashly Vivian Beresnitzky, Iris Braunstein, Pattie Maes, “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task,” arXiv, June 10, 2025, https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872.
  11. Grace Liu, Brian Christian, Tsvetomira Dumbalska, Michiel A. Bakker, and Rachit Dubey, “AI Assistance Reduces Persistence and Hurts Independent Performance,” arXiv, April 6, 2026, https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.04721.
  12. Alyson Klein, “Real-Time Data Shows Exactly How Students Use AI on School Technology,” Education Week, March 9, 2026, https://www.edweek.org/technology/real-time-data-shows-exactly-how-students-use-ai-on-school-technology/2026/03.
  13. “Mary Burns, Rebecca Winthrop, Natasha Luther, Emma Venetis, and Rida Karim, “ A new direction for students in an AI world: Prosper, prepare, protect,” Brookings Institution, January 14, 2026, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-new-direction-for-students-in-an-ai-world-prosper-prepare-protect/.
  14. Nate Raymond, “Massachusetts college student to plead guilty to PowerSchool data breach,” Reuters, May 20, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/legal/massachusetts-hacker-plead-guilty-powerschool-data-breach-2025-05-20/.
  15. Carly Page, “PowerSchool begins notifying students and teachers after massive data breach,” TechCrunch, January 28, 2025, https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/28/powerschool-begins-notifying-students-and-teachers-after-massive-data-breach/.
  16. Suzanne Smalley, “PowerSchool, Chicago Public Schools to settle student data privacy lawsuit for $17 million,” The Record, February 25, 2026, https://therecord.media/powerschool-cps-settle-proposed-class-action.
  17. “K–12 EdTech Safety Benchmark: National Findings—Part 1,” Internet Safety Labs, December 13, 2022,  https://internetsafetylabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2022-k12-edtech-safety-benchmark-national-findings-part-1.pdf.
  18. Arianna Prothero, Lauraine Langreo, and Alyson Klein, “Which States Ban or Restrict Cellphones in Schools?” Education Week, June 28, 2024, https://www.edweek.org/technology/which-states-ban-or-restrict-cellphones-in-schools/2024/06.
  19. “Vermont Agency of Education Releases New Guidance to Support the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Schools,” State of Vermont, Agency of Education, January 27, 2026, https://education.vermont.gov/press-release/vermont-agency-education-releases-new-guidance-support-use-artificial-intelligence.
  20. “Guidance for the Safe and Effective Use of Artificial Intelligence in California Public Schools,” California Department of Education, 2025, https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/pl/documents/aiguidance.pdf.
  21. “AI Model Policy for Ohio Districts and Schools,” Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/AI-in-Ohio-s-Education/Model-Policy.
  22. Izzy Aaron, “How States Are Regulating AI in Education this Legislative Session,” MultiState, April 9, 2026, https://www.multistate.us/insider/2026/4/9/how-states-are-regulating-ai-in-education-this-legislative-session.
  23. Anna Merod, “NYC schools face public pressure to pause AI use for 2 years,” K–12 Dive, June 12, 2026, https://www.k12dive.com/news/nyc-schools-face-public-pressure-to-pause-ai-use-for-2-years/822673/.
  24. Ella Carter-Klauschie, “California parents sue i-Ready maker over student data collection,” Guardian, June 11, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/11/california-parents-sue-i-ready-student-data.
  25. Howard Blume, “LAUSD shelves its hyped AI chatbot to help students after collapse of firm that made it,” Los Angeles Times, July 3, 2024, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-03/lausds-highly-touted-ai-chatbot-to-help-students-fails-to-deliver.
  26. “Devices down, eyes up, hands-on: 10 points to boost teaching and learning in the AI era,” speech by Randi Weingarten at the National Press Club, AFT, May 27, 2026, https://www.aft.org/press/speeches/vision-public-education.
  27. “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth,” Executive Order 14277, The White House, April 23, 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/advancing-artificial-intelligence-education-for-american-youth/.
  28. Anna Merod, “Over 60 organizations sign White House pledge to invest in AI education,” K–12 Dive, July 2, 2025, https://www.k12dive.com/news/over-60-organizations-sign-white-house-pledge-to-invest-in-ai-education/752139/.
  29. Lauraine Langreo and Arianna Prothero,  “The Ed. Dept. Axed Its Office of Ed Tech. What That Means for Schools,” Education Week, March 18, 2025, https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/the-ed-dept-axed-its-office-of-ed-tech-what-that-means-for-schools/2025/03.
  30. Angela Yang, “Kids online safety package clears House, drawing warnings from digital rights and tech groups,” NBC News, June 29, 2026, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/kids-internet-and-digital-safety-act-passes-house-free-speech-concerns-rcna352341.
  31. H.R.7757—KIDS Act, 119th Congress (2025–2026), https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7757/text.
  32. Angela Hanks and Julie Margetta Morgan, “Survey: The Affordability Crisis Is Here, and It’s Hitting the Working Class the Hardest,” The Century Foundation, December 11, 2025, https://tcf.org/content/report/survey-the-affordability-crisis-is-here-and-its-hitting-the-working-class-the-hardest/.
  33. “NAEP Report Card: Grade 12 Mathematics,” U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2024, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g12/.
  34. “NAEP Report Card: Grade 12 Reading,” U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2024,https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g12/.
  35. Matt Barnum, “Twelfth-Grade Math and Reading Scores in U.S. Hit New Low: Declines began even before the pandemic,” Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2025, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/test-scores-low-reading-math-naep-d87099b6.
  36. Notably, the federal government’s ability to track these problems is itself diminishing. The Trump administration’s cuts have all but gutted the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), home of the Nation’s Report Card, with IES staff totaling just 30 as of March 2026, down from 191 before Trump returned to office. And more than a dozen planned national and state assessments have been canceled or scaled back. See “Review of U.S. Department of Education Changes in Staffing and Operations,” Office of the Inspector General, June 22, 2026, https://oig.ed.gov/reports/other/review-us-department-education-changes-staffing-and-operations; Katherine Knott, “Inspector General Details ED Cuts From Early Days of Trump’s Second Term,” Inside Higher Ed, June 24, 2026, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/2026/06/24/ed-dept-watchdog-details-extent-layoffs-contract-cuts; Jill Barshay, “The Nation’s Report Card Gets Smaller with Cuts to Assessments,” KQED, Apr 24, 2025, https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/65449/the-nations-report-card-gets-smaller-with-cuts-to-assessments.
  37. “Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory,” U.S. Surgeon General, 2023, https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf.
  38. K. E. Riehm, K. A. Feder, and K. N. Tormohlen, et al., “Associations Between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Among US Youth,” JAMA Psychiatry 76, no. 12 (2019):1266–73,  doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.2325.
  39. Jonathan Rothwell, “Teens Spend Average of 4.8 Hours on Social Media Per Day,” Gallup, October 13, 2023, https://news.gallup.com/poll/512576/teens-spend-average-hours-social-media-per-day.aspx.
  40. Jennifer Zhang, Eduard Nilaj, Mike Pierce and Julie Margetta Morgan, “Interest Nation: The State of America’s Credit Card Debt Crisis,” The Century Foundation, March 17, 2026, https://tcf.org/content/report/interest-nation-the-state-of-americas-credit-card-debt-crisis/.
  41. Julie Margetta Morgan, “The hidden victims of Trump’s Iran War energy crisis: public schools,” The Hill, May 22, 2026, https://thehill.com/opinion/5889402-war-iran-impact-school-budgets/.
  42. The results are for the 360 respondents who reported having a child who attended school in grades kindergarten through grade twelve in the past year.
  43. Elizabeth Pancotti, Zoe Butler, Natalie Forman, and Janelle Jones, “As Students Head Back to School, Families Face 11% Price Hikes,” The Century Foundation, July 27, 2026, https://tcf.org/content/commentary/as-students-head-back-to-school-families-face-11-price-hikes/.
  44. See “House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Plyler,” AASA, March 20, 2026, https://www.aasa.org/resources/blog/house-judiciary-committee-hearing-on-plyler.
  45. See, for example, Laura Ries, “Every State Should Challenge Plyler v. Doe: Time to End Free Education for Illegal Alien K–12 Students,” Heritage Foundation, February 17, 2026, https://www.heritage.org/border-security/report/every-state-should-challenge-plyler-v-doe-time-end-free-education-illegal-0.
  46. Kimberlee Kruesi, “Tennessee Senate OKs a plan to let public schools turn away undocumented students,” Associated Press, April 10, 2025, https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-school-immigration-70841aef391b841321b6dc18d2eb5710.
  47. Results equal the sum of voters who selected either “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” options.
  48. For this battery, we split-sampled “federal government” (n = 987) and “local school district” (n = 1,015) and found nearly identical results. Where there was variation, support tended to be 1 to 2 percentage points higher with the local school district framing. Results summarized in this report are for the less favorable federal government frame. The fact the split-sample was nearly identical is noteworthy on its own, underscoring the broad popularity of these public interventions—that is, voters did not “punish” the federal government as they sometimes do in other areas. For example, Gallup’s most recent annual Governance survey shows that just 38 percent of Americans trust the federal government to handle domestic problems, compared with 65 percent who trust their local government. (“U.S. Trust in Government Depends Upon Party Control,” Gallup, November 10, 2025, https://news.gallup.com/poll/697421/trust-government-depends-upon-party-control.aspx.) And, in our own survey, voters were 18 points more likely to give their local public schools an “A” or “B” grade compared with schools in the nation as a whole (49 percent for local compared with 31 percent for nationwide).
  49. Dottie Rosenbaum, Joseph Llobrera, Catlin Nchako, and Luis Nuñez, “SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Harmful 2025 Republican Reconciliation Law Is Implemented,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 21, 2026, https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-tracker-people-are-losing-food-assistance-as-the-republican-megabill.
  50. “Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul to Launch Free Child Care for Two-Year-Olds in NYC—Governor Announces Investments to Deliver Universal Child Care for New York Children Under Five,” Office of the New York City Mayor, January 8, 2026, https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/01/mayor-mamdani—governor-hochul-to-launch-free-child-care-for-tw.

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