LPI In the News

Education Week by Daarel Burnette II | Michael Griffith, Linda Darling-Hammond, and other education experts offer their perspectives on how COVID-19 will impact school funding. Griffith draws comparisons between the current COVID-19 crisis and the Great Recession of 2008, and Darling-Hammond presents the current recession as an opportunity to overhaul school funding formulas.

USA Today by Erin Richards | Michael Griffith discusses his analyses of the impact of COVID-19 on state education budgets. "Without additional federal dollars, we’re going to see pretty massive cuts," Griffith warned. Such cuts could result in "two to three times [the] loss in teaching positions" that we saw during the Great Recession.

Washington Post by Valerie Strauss | This Answer Sheet column highlights the potential impact of COVID-19 on child-care in the United States, quoting an LPI blog written by Hanna Melnick about the importance of child-care for reopening the economy in the short term and for promoting healthy child development in the long term.

NPR by Cory Turner | Turner elevates the warnings of school leaders and experts that COVID-19 has the potential to devastate school funding in many states, with low-income communities being hit the hardest. Michael Griffith told NPR, "When state funding starts to drop, what we see is a separation between the haves and have-nots."

Forbes by Linda Darling-Hammond | The Covid-19 pandemic puts a stark light on an emerging truth—education as we know it is over, and we must think of “school” in deeply different ways. Here is Linda Darling-Hammond’s top ten list of policies that could allow us to seize this moment to strengthen learning for our students—today and into the future.

Education Week | The fast-moving recession driven by the coronavirus pandemic is expected to put financial pressure on schools as early as the 2020-21 school year. Education Week and LPI's Michael Griffith developed this interactive tool to calculate projected increased costs for the nation and the states.

Education Week by Madeline Will | Michael Griffith provided analysis for this article and interactive tool that found almost 320,000 teaching jobs could be lost if states cut their education budgets by 15 percent in a coronavirus-inflicted recession.

Education Week | Michael Griffith provided analysis for this interactive tool that shows how funding from the CARES Act might impact education spending in each state overall and per-pupil. The tool also allows you to estimate how state budget cuts, or new federal funding, may impact your state.

Education Dive by Linda Jacobson | In this in-depth Q&A, Linda Darling-Hammond discusses distance learning, how the economic downturn might impact teaching shortages, and more. "You need to think about whether there are supports for children in their homes and communities, particularly at a time when we have so much poverty, food insecurity, health care insecurity.... If our system works, it will attend to all of those things, and if our schools work well, they will also attend to all of those needs children have."

Forbes by Linda Darling-Hammond | During the COVID-19 crisis, millions of children who are homeless & food insecure can't access essential services or learning. In this Forbes commentary, LPI President Linda Darling-Hammond addresses why the crisis is especially hard on underserved students, and shares useful resources for teachers and parents, including some for English Learners and students with exceptional needs.