State Policy Actions Reshaping Education in 2025

In 2025, states took action on K-12 education policy reforms that will reshape the education landscape for students, educators and families.

This series explores 2025’s most popular education policy trends and the momentum behind student-centered initiatives. State lawmakers tackled everything from creating distraction-free learning environments and closing achievement gaps with evidence-based literacy and math policy to maintaining high standards for students and expanding access to school choice.

In the season finale of ExcelinEd in Action’s Statehouse Spotlights podcast, Executive Director Patricia Levesque provides a rapid rundown of the biggest education policy wins from the 2025 legislative session. Dive deeper into specific reforms and policies states advanced in 2025 by exploring the series and resources below.

Explore the Series: 2025 Trends in Education Policy 

• Top 2025 Policy Trend: 28 States Commit to Phone-Free Classrooms and Schools
  Smartphones are increasingly linked to adverse outcomes for young people. Amid the growing concerns about the effects of distractions in the classroom, more than half of all states considered proposals in 2025 to foster distraction-free learning in schools. Explore more about the phone-free school policies adopted in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Vermont and new laws ensuring phone-free classrooms in Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
  
• Declining NAEP Scores Spur Progress in Literacy and Math Policy Across the United States
  The 2024 National Assessment on Educational Progress (NAEP) release showed few bright spots in student achievement. Those results spurred lawmakers to adopt evidence-based policies to improve students’ reading scores in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas as well as math proficiency in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.
  
• Education-to-Workforce Pathways: How States Improved Access, Alignment and Outcomes in 2025
  As the job market across the country continues to evolve, states are looking to better prepare students with the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in college or the workforce. To better support students’ postsecondary success and workforce readiness, Arkansas, Georgia and Indiana passed laws strengthening access to accelerated coursework, work-based learning and apprenticeship opportunities, and annual analysis of program outcomes and coaching efforts. Nearly a dozen other states enacted policies improving college and career readiness.
  
• Strengthening the Teacher Workforce: Key 2025 Policy Actions in Six States
  Despite gradual improvement in statewide teacher shortages, hard-to-staff schools and subjects continue to face persistent gaps, making it challenging for many students to have access to stable classrooms and high-quality instruction. State leaders in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee are shaping the future of the teaching profession with policies that will strengthen the pipeline of aspiring educators, improve teacher retention and create more stable, successful classrooms for students.
  
• Maintaining High Standards: Transparent Accountability Measures for Every Student
  Transparent, results-driven school accountability systems are essential because they raise student achievement, drive continuous improvement and ensure America’s graduates can compete and thrive in the global economy. In 2025, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas stood strong to protect high standards and policies that hold schools accountable for student outcomes.
  
• Expanding Public and Private School Choice: States Prioritize Universal ESAs and Open Enrollment in 2025
  Polling shows families across the country want more educational opportunities for their children, and state leaders responded with public and private policy solutions in 2025. Education scholarship accounts (ESAs) that allow any student to access a private or customized learning experience were a top legislative priority in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas; and public education choice policies, such as open enrollment and charter schools, were key levers in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and North Dakota.
  
• Fair Funding for Charter Schools: Eight States Supporting Teachers and Students
  Most state education funding systems do not fairly fund all students across all learning options, particularly public charter schools. In 2025, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Utah adopted laws creating or expanding funding for charter school facilities and students—one at no cost to taxpayers.

Dive Deeper into State Education Policy Spotlights 

Each year, the ExcelinEd in Action team breaks down all of the legislative wins (and some key developments) from states leading in student-centered K-12 education policy. Dive deeper into our 2025 State Spotlight Series below.

To stay up to date on real-time education legislation updates, follow us on X @ExcelinAction. For weekly briefs on education bills across the country and more updates from the movement, be sure to opt in to receive emails from ExcelinEd in Action and our sister organization ExcelinEd.