From Access to Outcomes: Advancing Equity at Every Step

Math proficiency is essential for students’ academic success, future opportunities, and ability to navigate an increasingly complex world.

In December 2025, EdTrust-New York released Solving the Equation: What Families Think About Math Instruction, Access, and Opportunity in New York, highlighting parents’ concerns about math achievement and inequitable access to high-quality instruction and advanced coursework. The report found strong support for evidence-based math reforms, including expanding NYC Solves, improving access to tutoring and Algebra I, and investing in math coaches. The findings informed EdTrust-New York’s advocacy for state investments to strengthen math instruction and expand equitable opportunities for all students, helping to result in significant new funding for math in the 2026 state budget.

Class size policies play an important role in shaping students’ learning environments, but implementation must ensure that resources reach the students and schools with the greatest needs. 

In November 2025, EdTrust-New York joined Educators for Excellence and Robin Hood to urge New York City leaders to pause and reassess the implementation of the city’s Class Size Reduction Law to ensure the policy advanced equity and remained financially sustainable. The coalition warned that the nearly $1 billion mandate could divert teachers and resources away from high-need schools, deepen inequities, and place additional strain on the city’s education budget amid significant fiscal uncertainty. EdTrust-New York analyzed class size reduction funding and identified disparities showing that schools serving higher concentrations of Black, Latinx, and low-income students received fewer resources than schools serving fewer high-need students.

After New York City Public Schools declined to request a pause, EdTrust-New York responded by highlighting the risks to fairness, opportunity, and equity under the current implementation approach. We urged city leaders to adopt a more equitable, data-driven strategy that prioritizes students and schools with the greatest needs. As a result, the legislature adjusted the law’s implementation timeline, allowing the city more time to ensure funds are equitability distributed to achieve compliance with the class size law.

Every student deserves access to a safe, supportive public education regardless of immigration status. In 2026, EdTrust-New York helped advance stronger protections for immigrant students at a critical moment, as their right to public education faced growing threats nationwide and the future of Plyler v. Doe appeared increasingly uncertain.

EdTrust-New York worked with Governor Hochul, the NYS Language and Education Rights Network, and legislative champions including Senator Shelly Mayer and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz to strengthen protections for immigrant students. We advocated for legislation that moves New York beyond existing federal protections and establishes clear safeguards in state law.

Our advocacy helped advance legislation that protects every student’s right to enroll in public school regardless of immigration status, prohibits schools from asking about students’ immigration status, and establishes clear protocols to limit immigration enforcement activity on school grounds. EdTrust-New York also supported Governor Hochul’s efforts to strengthen these protections and helped elevate the urgency of acting as federal safeguards faced growing uncertainty.

The Legislature advanced the bill, and Governor Hochul signed it into law during the 2026 legislative session. This significant policy victory strengthens protections for immigrant students and families across New York. By helping secure these safeguards in state law, EdTrust-New York helped ensure that more students can access public education without fear and learn in welcoming, inclusive, and secure school environments.

EdTrust-New York worked with higher education partners across the state to secure $1 million in emergency aid for college students facing unexpected financial challenges. The Governor’s 2026 budget, signed into law in May, included $600,000 for SUNY and $400,000 for CUNY. This funding gives more colleges the resources to provide emergency assistance and helps students overcome financial barriers that could otherwise disrupt their education.

EdTrust-New York will build on this progress by advocating for increased funding and a more equitable distribution of emergency aid, ensuring that resources reach the students who need them most.

As New York expands workforce training opportunities in higher education, EdTrust-New York is also helping shape the state’s approach to Workforce Pell. We published New York Must Build Guardrails to Ensure Workforce Pell Expands Opportunity, to highlight the opportunities and potential challenges the new federal program presents for New York. Workforce Pell expands federal financial aid to certain short-term workforce training programs, creating new pathways for adult learners to build skills, change careers, and pursue economic mobility. EdTrust-New York is advocating for strong guardrails to ensure these opportunities expand access and economic mobility rather than deepen existing inequities.