• Helping to flip two U.S. Senate seats blue through our GOTV efforts to support Senators-elect John Hickenlooper and Mark Kelly.
• Passing five ballot initiatives in Colorado that will increase funding for Denver and Durango public schools, help fund universal Pre-K, and repeal Gallagher, which stabilizes property tax funding for schools.
• Electing Marilyn Strickland, the first African American woman in Washington state to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Maintaining a supermajority on the Orleans Parish School Board in Louisiana, with DFER LA-endorsed candidates winning six out of six races.
• Electing Jacque Patterson to the At-Large seat and Allister Chang to a ward-based seat on the D.C. State Board of Education.
• Supporting five candidates win seats in the NY Senate and one in the NY State Assembly.

Throughout 2020, DFER and our partner organization ERNA have engaged with the Biden campaign to advocate for both resources and reform—and has been a leading voice on the continued need to support public school choice options. Over the summer, DFER pushed back against the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force recommendations on both charters and annual, summative assessments, as well the lack of commitment to diversity within higher education. We have continued to elevate the voices and perspectives of parents and educators of color to the incoming Administration. Additionally, Vice President for K-12 Policy Charles Barone was instrumental in shaping POLITICO’s analysis of Democratic support for public charter schools, and corrected misinformation on Trump’s and Biden’s stances on charters. Our team has also helped shape coverage around choice in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Our partner organization ERNA co-sponsored the 10th Democratic Presidential Debate in South Carolina, hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute (CBCI) and CBS News. The team met with dozens of Representatives, including Rep. Jim Clyburn (SC-6), Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10) and Rep. Jahana Hayes (CT-5); leadership at the CBCI and Democratic National Committee; and former candidates, including Jamie Harrison, who attempted to unseat Lindsay Graham in the U.S. Senate.

Our partner organization ERNA teamed up with HIT Strategies and Latino Decisions to conduct polling in North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona. In addition to highlighting Biden’s favorability in key states, our polling also found that accountability and high quality public choice continue to be popular with voters, and specifically, there is clear support for expanded access to public charter schools.

In coalition with other education advocates, our affiliate organization Education Reform Now (ERN) successfully increased education funding in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act from $3 billion to $30.75 billion.

Our policy team also led on a variety of fronts. On K-12, we analyzed reopening plans, agitated for expanded broadband access, and proposed high dosage tutoring as a way to stem learning loss—among others. Our higher ed team examined how relief funds can increase equity and access on college campuses, and proposed how the federal government could assure quality in online college courses—policies embraced in the pending COVID-19 Phase III relief bill. Our team influenced coverage in a variety of media outlets, including The New York Times, The Hill, POLITICO; and appeared on MSNBC, Bloomberg Radio, NY1 and Good Morning Washington to discuss the pandemic.

Each of our states hosted briefings for senior-level state leadership on CARES Act funding and our state directors were highly influential in guiding their states’ COVID responses. This includes:

• Colorado’s webinar series on supporting schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
• Connecticut’s recommendations for an effective education recovery plan post-COVID-19.
• D.C. Deputy Director Jess Giles’ testimony on the need for behavioral health supports for families and students.
• Louisiana State Director Leslie Leavoy’s multiple quotes in The Advocate to discuss COVID-19 and distance learning.
• Massachusetts’ continued advocacy on implementation of the state’s major school finance bill.
• Washington State Director Shirline Wilson’s information session for 17 statewide advocacy groups on the CARES Act, sharing recommendations on what reform advocates should be thinking about regarding accountability, outcomes, and progress in closing achievement gaps during the pandemic.

Earlier this month, our affiliate organization ERN released recommendations for the Biden-Harris Administration with equity-driven policy proposals for K-12 and higher education. In addition to President-elect Biden’s commitment to unprecedented levels of educational funding, both sets of recommendations propose innovative policies directed toward improving outcomes for the nation’s historically underserved students.

We successfully expanded our Leaders of Color (LOC) program to New York City and New Orleans, graduating our first inaugural classes in each city, as well as our third LOC cohort in Memphis—bringing the number of program alumni to 81. This includes former U.S. Senate candidate Marquita Bradshaw; Sheleah Harris, the first African American woman to hold her seat on the Memphis school board; and four other LOC fellows currently holding newly elected positions. Additionally, two LOC alumni have been named to their town’s 40 under 40 list and dozens have taken on new board and leadership positions to advocate for educational equity since their graduation.

Over the summer, our affiliate organization ERN led 15 civil rights and education groups in authoring a joint policy agenda for the 117th Congress and next Administration detailing 10 principled recommendations spanning early childhood through higher education. The groups emphasize how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the long-existing inequities within our public education system and identify specific actions that must be taken to combine an unprecedented increase in federal financial investments with policies that support student learning in and out of the classroom. Policy actions include continuation of statewide, summative annual assessments, the expansion of public school choice, investments in teacher preparation, and institution of higher education accountability for evidence of a meaningful commitment to diversity and socioeconomic mobility.

DFER affiliate ERN released 57 issue briefs and policy blog posts from our national and state teams during the course of 2020—including our analyses of states’ Innovative K-12 Assessment Pilots, reports on barriers to Higher Education opportunity in Ohio and Michigan; and a Social Mobility Impact ranking of colleges and universities. State releases included ERN Connecticut’s report on how to combat the state’s literacy crisis and ERN Massachusetts co-authored a report analyzing school segregation.

In addition, DFER published 13 op-ed length blog posts related to the 2020 election, including our posts on how to safely vote during a pandemic, how Trump disinvested in public schools and rolled back student protections, and our DFER of the Month spotlights.

The fight for educational equity is deeply entwined with the fight for racial justice. As the Black Lives Matter movement gained greater prominence this year, President Shavar Jeffries spoke about how the racism that kills so many innocent Black men and women is the same racism that fuels educational inequity, with appearances on CNN, Bloomberg radio, and The Day with Brent Goff.  Shavar also joined Connecticut state Rep. Jason Rojas for a conversation about how systemic racism impacts our education system. At DFER we’ve reaffirmed our commitment to anti-racism and are proud to be rolling out a revamped mission statement and values early next year.