Bella DiMarco
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Articles by Bella DiMarco
Chronic Absenteeism by Income, English Learner Status, and Race
The pandemic disrupted school attendance across the country. Chronic absenteeism rose sharply between 2018-19 and its peak in 2021-22, and although rates have declined, the initial surge and the pace of recovery have varied across student groups — a trend with important implications for policymakers. Statewide averages, while useful for tracking overall trends, often mask these disparities.
Chronic Absenteeism Trends in 27 States by Income, English Learner Status & Race Original
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The pandemic disrupted school attendance across the country. Chronic absenteeism rose sharply between 2018-19 and its peak in 2021-22, and although rates have declined, the initial surge and the pace of recovery have varied across student groups — a trend with important implications for policymakers. Statewide averages, while useful for tracking overall trends, often mask these disparities.
Chronic Absenteeism Trends in 27 States by Income, English Learner Status & Race
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The pandemic disrupted school attendance across the country. Chronic absenteeism rose sharply between 2018-19 and its peak in 2021-22, and although rates have declined, the initial surge and the pace of recovery have varied across student groups — a trend with important implications for policymakers. Statewide averages, while useful for tracking overall trends, often mask these disparities.
Legislative Tracker: 2026 State AI in Education Bills
Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering K–12 classrooms. From generative writing assistants to adaptive platforms that personalize instruction, AI is reshaping both student learning and classroom practice. But its rapid expansion has also raised concerns about academic integrity, data privacy, algorithmic bias, misinformation, overreliance on automation, and the potential displacement or deskilling of educators. States are moving quickly to define how schools should respond.
Legislative Tracker: 2026 State Tutoring Bills
Tutoring is continuing to gain momentum nationwide. What began as a pandemic-era recovery strategy is increasingly being positioned as a longer-term reform, as policymakers consider how to sustain, scale, and formalize tutoring within public education systems.
Legislative Tracker: 2026 State Private School Choice Bills
Updated 4/27/2026 The 2026 legislative session is shaping up to be another consequential one for private school choice policy. Lawmakers across the country are proposing new programs, expanding existing ones, revising eligibility rules, and strengthening oversight. These debates build on several years of rapid state expansion.
What States Can Teach Us About Trump’s New Federal School Choice Program
The federal education tax credit tucked into President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” would fund private and religious K-12 school scholarships for all but the nation’s wealthiest families. The initiative is a sharp break from decades of federal education policy that focused on strengthening public schools, particularly for low-income and historically underserved students.
Opinion: State voucher programs signal pitfalls for Trump’s new education tax credits
The federal education tax credit tucked into President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” would fund private and religious K-12 school scholarships for all but the nation’s wealthiest families. The initiative is a sharp break from decades of federal education policy that focused on strengthening public schools, particularly for low-income and historically underserved students.
State Voucher Programs Signal Pitfalls for Trump’s New Education Tax Credits Original
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The federal education tax credit tucked into President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” would fund private and religious K-12 school scholarships for all but the nation’s wealthiest families. The initiative is a sharp break from decades of federal education policy that focused on strengthening public schools, particularly for low-income and historically underserved students.
Directional Signals: A New Analysis of the Evolving Private School Choice Landscape
Three years ago, Arizona became the first state to allow all students—regardless of income or need—to use public dollars for private school tuition and other educational expenses. The move marked a sweeping shift in the scale and scope of school choice in the United States. The next school year, seven more states operated universal private school choice programs. By 2024-25, that number reached 10.
Legislative Tracker: 2025 State Tutoring Bills
Tutoring has emerged as a key strategy to accelerate student learning in the wake of the pandemic. What was once a resource primarily available to families with the means to afford private tutoring became more widely accessible as public schools began offering these supports to all students. Fueled by federal Covid relief dollars, states took on a more active role in expanding access to tutoring across the public education system.
Legislative Tracker: 2025 Student Chronic Absenteeism Bills in the States
Chronic absenteeism is trending in the right direction—dropping from its peak of 28 percent in 2022 to 23 percent in 2024—but it remains a significant challenge nationwide. While student attendance has traditionally been managed at the local level, state lawmakers are increasingly stepping in with legislation focused on early intervention, improved data collection, and supportive strategies to keep students in school.
Student well-being, school choice, higher ed top governors’ priorities for 2025
DiMarco: Analysis of 41 State of the State addresses finds a focus on K-12 funding and early & higher ed, but not much on failing student achievement.
Education in Governors’ 2025 State of the State Addresses
As governors delivered their 2025 State of the State addresses, they outlined a range of strategies to improve their schools, from increasing K-12 funding and expanding educational choice to investing in early childhood programs and higher education. Yet few focused directly on arguably the most pressing issue: declining student achievement.
Student Well-Being, School Choice, Higher Ed Top Governors’ Priorities for 2025 Original
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter As governors delivered their 2025 State of the State addresses, they outlined a range of strategies to improve their schools, from increasing K-12 funding and expanding educational choice to investing in early childhood programs and higher education. Yet few focused directly on arguably the most pressing issue: declining student achievement.
Chronic Student Absenteeism Varies Sharply by Grade Level
Chronic student absenteeism remains a significant challenge in the nation’s schools. While the percentage of chronically absent students has declined from its peak of 28 percent in 2021-22—when it nearly doubled from pre-pandemic levels—it remained high, at around 23 percent in 2023-24.
Legislative Tracker: 2025 State Private-School Choice Bills
Private school choice is once again shaping up to be a major policy battleground in state legislatures in 2025. Lawmakers in multiple states are pushing to expand publicly funded private school options through vouchers, education savings accounts (ESAs), and tax-credit scholarships, while others seek to scale back or modify existing programs. Heading into this legislative session, 33 states had some form of private school choice, with 12 offering universal eligibility regardless of family income.
Chronic Absenteeism Worst in Kindergarten, 9th and 12th Grades, State Data Shows
This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox. Chronic student absenteeism remains a significant challenge in the nation’s schools. While the percentage of chronically absent students has declined from its peak of 28% in 2021-22 — when it nearly doubled from pre-pandemic levels — it remained high, at around 23% in 2023-24.
Chronic Absenteeism Worst in Kindergarten, 9th and 12th Grades, State Data Shows Original
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Chronic student absenteeism remains a significant challenge in the nation’s schools. While the percentage of chronically absent students has declined from its peak of 28% in 2021-22 — when it nearly doubled from pre-pandemic levels — it remained high, at around 23% in 2023-24.
Standards Gap: Why Many Students Score Proficient on State Tests But Not on NAEP Original
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter A version of this essay appeared on the FutureEd blog. One of the most striking features of the troubling results from the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress is the much lower percentage of students scoring proficient on NAEP than on many states’ own 2024 standardized exams.
Early Returns: First Results from the New Wave of Public Funding of Private Schooling
Introduction In 1990, states began allowing students to attend private school at public expense. Most of the early initiatives were small and confined to students who were low-income, had special needs, or attended low-performing public schools.
Legislative Tracker: 2024 Teacher-Pay Bills in the States
Teacher pay continues to draw significant attention in state capitols, as it has for the past few years. Last year, at least nine states increased educator compensation by changing salary structures, offering bonuses, or other means. This year, governors from both parties used their state-of-the-state addresses to urge their legislatures to raise educator pay and many have responded. To date, FutureEd has identified 59 bills across 22 states in 2024 aimed at increasing teacher compensation.
Mississippi School Districts Break the Mold on Pandemic-Recovery Spending
As the deadline nears for allocating the third and final round of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, concerns are mounting about what the financial future holds for school districts nationwide. Amidst this uncertainty, some districts have focused their efforts over the past three years on investing in an area important to student success, but one that won’t require major budget cuts when pandemic recovery funding ends: school facilities.
Legislative Tracker: 2024 State Student-Absenteeism Bills
Traditionally, schools and school districts take primary responsibility for student attendance. But recently, due to the nationwide spike in chronic absenteeism that began during the pandemic and has yet to abate, state lawmakers are taking a greater role in proposing solutions.
Governors’ Education Priorities in their 2024 State-of-the-State Addresses
Despite the heightened partisan tensions of an election year, governors of both parties have largely downplayed parental rights bills, book bans and other culture-war controversies in their 2024 State-of-the-State addresses, a FutureEd analysis of 38 of the addresses has found. Rather, they have proposed substantial investments in education and practical ways to strengthen learning.
Governors’ 2024 Education Priorities: Early Childhood, Curriculum, School Choice, Mental Health Original
Despite the heightened partisan tensions of an election year, governors of both parties have largely downplayed parental rights bills, book bans and other culture-war controversies in their 2024 State of the State addresses, a FutureEd analysis of 38 of the addresses has found. Rather, they have proposed substantial investments in education and practical ways to strengthen learning.
Legislative Tracker: 2024 State Private-School Choice Bills
Updated: 5/6/2024 As it did last year, private-school choice is looming large in 2024 state legislative sessions. Building on a flurry of 2023 choice laws, lawmakers in multiple states are working to create or expand programs directing public funds towards private educational opportunities. But the rapid expansion of school choice has also provoked some backlash in state capitols. FutureEd has identified 117 private-school choice bills in 34 states introduced or prefiled so far in 2024.
ESSER funds: NC districts played it safe on teacher pay and may avoid fiscal cliff Original
This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Nationally, school districts and charter schools have poured billions of federal pandemic relief dollars into staffing. Most states don’t detail that spending precisely, but North Carolina does.
ESSER Funds: NC Districts Played It Safe on Teacher Pay & May Avoid Fiscal Cliff
Support The 74's year-end campaign. Make a tax-exempt donation now. Nationally, school districts and charter schools have poured billions of federal pandemic relief dollars into staffing. Most states don’t detail that spending precisely, but North Carolina does.
ESSER Funds: NC Districts Played It Safe on Teacher Pay & May Avoid Fiscal Cliff
Nationally, school districts and charter schools have poured billions of federal pandemic relief dollars into staffing. Most states don’t detail that spending precisely, but North Carolina does.
ESSER Funds: NC Districts Played It Safe on Teacher Pay & May Avoid Fiscal Cliff
Nationally, school districts and charter schools have poured billions of federal pandemic relief dollars into staffing. Most states don’t detail that spending precisely, but North Carolina does.
The Promise and Challenges of Extending Learning Time
With millions of students struggling academically and the U.S. Department of Education pushing the deadline for spending some federal pandemic-recovery funding into 2026, there’s both a need and an opportunity for local education leaders to increase learning time. More time gives students more opportunities to learn and to develop bonds with teachers and peers, allows teachers more flexibility to meet individual students where they are, and can accelerate learning.
How California’s Schools are Spending Billions in Federal Pandemic Relief
Two years have passed since Congress approved nearly $190 billion to help the nation’s schools respond to the pandemic. Rather than prescribe uses as Washington did with the Race to the Top program and other education recovery funds a decade earlier, Congress laid out a broad set of allowable uses and left spending decisions largely to state and local education agencies. Where is the money going?
Legislative Tracker: 2023 Parent-Rights Bills in the States
Parents’ rights bills continue to circulate through state legislatures this year, with many once again focusing on parents’ right to know what their children are learning in classrooms, particularly around issues of race and gender. FutureEd has identified 51 parental-rights bills in 21 states that have been introduced or pre-filed so far this legislative season, mostly by Republican lawmakers. Last year, 85 bills were introduced in 26 states.
Teacher Pay, School Choice, Literacy: Top Priorities for 44 Governors in 2023
Updated March 20 The COVID pandemic — the topic that has dominated education conversations for the past three years — is largely missing from the State of the State addresses that governors are delivering to their legislatures this winter. Instead, state leaders are using their bully pulpits to call for bigger investments in early learning and in the transition into the workforce and college.
The Need to Address School Segregation
The Need to Address School Segregation Nearly 70 years after Brown v. Board of Education, many K-12 schools remain racially segregated. A recent GAO report found that nearly 8,000 predominantly same-race schools were within only five miles of a different same-race school, and more than 13,500 were within 10 miles of each other. Read Full Article »
Nation’s Declining Report Card Mirrors Drops in State Standardized Test Scores
Education news and commentary, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 newsletter. No paywall. No pop-up ads. Keep The 74 free for everyone with a generous donation. This analysis originally appeared at FutureEd Monday’s release of scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provided a jarring reminder of the pandemic’s impact on academic achievement.
7 Ways 5,000 Districts & Charter Networks Are Spending Relief Funds on Teachers Original
Education news and commentary, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 newsletter. No paywall. No pop-up ads. Keep The 74 free for everyone with a generous donation.
Educators and ESSER: How Pandemic Spending is Reshaping the Teaching Profession
Educators and ESSER: How Pandemic Spending is Reshaping the Teaching Profession While teacher shortages dominated education news coverage during the summer, the tremendous amount of federal pandemic-relief money that states and school districts are pouring into the profession—and the funding’s substantial consequences for longstanding policies and practices in the more-than-three-million-member occupation—has received far less attention.
Sounding Out a Better Way to Teach Reading
Sounding Out a Better Way to Teach Reading Schools are returning to phonics and other evidence-based literacy methods, and already there are signs that the switch is paying off in improved scores. Read Full Article »
Sounding Out a Better Way to Teach Reading (Published 2022)
This article is part of our Learning special report about how the pandemic has continued to change how we approach education. RICHMOND, Va. - The student in Cassie Gilboy's first-grade class stumbled over the word 'pig.' Instead of looking at a picture for clues, she tapped out the sound of each letter with her fingers to break the word apart-/p/ /i/ /g/. She then exclaimed "pig" with a big smile.
Divvying Up the Dollars - NAESP
Districts are dedicating ESSER funds to hiring new personnel, enhancing academic supports, and exploring innovative ideas. September 20, 2022 | By Topics: Advocacy and Legislation, Pandemic Leadership Principal, September/October 2022: Strong Start, Volume 102, Issue 1 In Dayton, Ohio, teachers are doubling up in primary grade classrooms to ensure that every child gets the attention they need to recover academically.
How Blue States & Red States Use COVID Relief Funds Differently to Aid Schools
Education news and commentary, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 newsletter. Sign up here for The 74’s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. It has been a long time since so many education issues have been so politically divisive, with sharp debates between conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats about mask mandates, student sexual identity, and the role of race in the curriculum overtaking the routine work of educating students.
Covid School Aid Spending Trends in Red, Blue States
Covid School Aid Spending Trends in Red, Blue States (Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP) It has been a long time since so many education issues have been so politically divisive, with sharp debates between conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats about mask mandates, student sexual identity, and the role of race in the curriculum overtaking the routine work of educating students. Read Full Article »
Legislative Tracker: Parent-Rights Bills in the States
Legislative Tracker: Parent-Rights Bills in the States The growing movement to give parents more control of their children’s education has produced a spate of legislation at statehouses, where governors and legislators, most of them Republicans, are pushing to protect and expand parents’ rights to know what is taught in classrooms and play a more prominent role in educational decisions. Some bills would allow parents to sit in the classroom or watch videos of the instruction happening there.
Analysis: How Medicaid Can Help Schools Support Students’ Mental Health
Sign up here for The 74’s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. A version of this essay appeared on the FutureEd website. Among the COVID-19 pandemic’s most pernicious aftershocks is its impact on student mental health. Isolated at home, disconnected from friends and suffering trauma from family members’ job losses or pandemic-related deaths, students are experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression.
How Medicaid Can Help Schools Sustain Support for Students’ Mental Health
Among the Covid-19 pandemic’s most pernicious aftershocks is its impact on student mental health. Isolated at home, disconnected from friends, and suffering trauma from family members’ job losses or Covid-related deaths, students are experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression.
Analysis: Schools Plan to Spend $3 Billion on Summer Programs to Fight Learning Loss. What That Will Look Like in 4,100 Districts
Sign up here for The 74’s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. A version of this essay originally appeared on the FutureEd website. Summer has traditionally been a time when students lose some of the skills they gained during the school year, a phenomenon known as summer slide that is particularly common among children living in poverty.
School Districts’ Post-Covid Strategies for Summer Learning
Summer has traditionally been a time when students lose some of the skills they gained during the school year, a phenomenon known as “summer slide” that is particularly common among children living in poverty. But this year and next, school districts across the country are planning to use the summer months to help students recover the instructional time they lost during the pandemic.
Analysis: As $65 Million Initiative is Announced, a Look at 3,500 Local School Districts’ Ambitious Post-COVID Tutoring Plans
FutureEd Sign up here for The 74’s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. This essay originally appeared on the FutureEd blog In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called on local educators to use their federal COVID relief aid for tutoring programs that can support students who have fallen behind academically. “I urge every parent to make sure your school does just that,” Biden said in the March 1 speech. “They have the money.
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