Activate Hope for Public Education
July 14, 2025
“To practice active hope, we do not need to believe that everything will work out in the end. We need only decide who we are choosing to be and how we are choosing to function.”
Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba
Hope Is a Practice and a Discipline: Building a Path to a Counterculture of Care, Nonprofit Quarterly, 2023
Scrutinizing the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" and its repercussions for public education hardly fills one with optimism. This legislation is a deliberate dismantling of public systems that ensure every young person has access to the relationships, opportunities, and resources they need to thrive.
Yet, in their book Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power, Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone remind us,
“Active Hope is a practice. Like tai chi or gardening, it is something we do rather than have. It is a process we can apply to any situation, and it involves three key steps. First, we take a clear view of reality; second, we identify what we hope for in terms of the direction we’d like things to move in or the values we’d like to see expressed; and third, we take steps to move ourselves or our situation in that direction.”
Taking a “clear view of reality,” the #BigUglyBill represents a massive transfer of public resources to private interests. The national tax credit voucher scheme will divert billions from public schools—which serve 90% of all students—to private institutions. The Administration’s simultaneous gutting of the Department of Education and freezing of $6.8 billion in funding to K-12 schools reveals its intent: to cripple public education's ability to serve all students well. The bill’s $930 billion cuts to Medicaid and SNAP benefits will leave millions of children without healthcare and adequate nutrition. Students cannot learn when they're hungry, sick, or worried about their family's basic needs or safety.
Rather than investing in what students actually need to succeed, the leaders who crafted and supported this legislation demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of what young people, families, and educators are hoping our public education system will provide.
To develop the skills they need to thrive in our society and workforce, all young people need learning environments where they:
are treated with care and respect by both adults and peers;
feel a sense of connection and belonging;
know and respect their own and others' backgrounds, cultural histories, and contributions; and
develop intellectual curiosity and strong academic skills.
Learning environments like these exist today, but they are not the norm, and are now under attack. We can build a caring and equitable public education system that serves all young people well, but not under policies that actively create separate and unequal systems.
We are heartened by the leaders we see acting with creative courage to transform their systems, not succumb to fear or premature compliance. We can acknowledge when our public institutions aren't working well for everyone while collaboratively determining what is needed to redesign them, not destroy them. Education leaders must continue to engage with diverse perspectives, particularly those of educators, families, and students who are most impacted by these policies, to determine our next steps and path forward.
Ensuring the well-being and success of every young person is not just a hopeful aspiration, it is an investment in our shared future. The #BigUglyBill aims to divide us—pitting private against public, wealthy against poor, "deserving" against "undeserving." But the majority of Americans oppose this bill and the divisiveness that drives it. We all benefit from the innovation, creativity, and civic responsibility that a strong public education system provides.
We must continue to “take steps to move ourselves” toward the public education we hope for. The fight against this legislation is just beginning: states can opt out of the private voucher scheme; communities can organize to protect their public schools; educators and schools will continue to be resourceful and committed to serving all students. The National Equity Project will continue partnering with districts and communities to develop the leadership practices and system changes needed to create youth-centered learning environments, regardless of the obstacles we face.
We stand with communities and coalitions resisting these attacks while continuing our work to build the caring, equitable education ecosystem that honors every young person's potential and strengthens our democracy.
The #BigUglyBill may have passed, but we choose to #ActivateHope. Our democracy depends on our collective commitment to build a public education system that works for everyone.