Democrats Should Lead on Education with an Abundance Agenda
From the Desk of Jorge Elorza: Reimagining Public Education
For decades, Democrats have led on education—but today, that leadership is slipping. In this new piece, DFER CEO Jorge Elorza outlines a bold new path forward rooted in innovation, accountability, and choice: the Abundance Agenda.
Originally published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
After years of declining voter trust on education, the Democratic party is at a crossroads. Once the party of working-class families and public schools, we now trail Republicans on these issues nationally. The cause is no mystery: Voters see a party mired in ideological battles and bureaucratic inertia, unable to deliver results where it matters most—in the classroom. In poll after poll, we’ve watched our advantage erode as Republicans position themselves as the champions of school choice and the new party of education.
We can turn this around, but not with incrementalism. Not with the same talking points or the same debates about inputs. The moment demands a new governing framework and a bold recommitment to outcomes.
The abundance agenda offers that path. It challenges the progressive status quo and calls for outcome-focused, innovation-oriented governance that produces rather than merely regulates.
Nowhere is an abundance mindset more urgently needed than in K–12 education. Our public education system is stagnating. We spend nearly $1 trillion annually, yet only a third of students can read or do math at grade level. In major cities like Baltimore, entire schools report zero students proficient in math. The gap between our aspirations and our outcomes has become a credibility crisis. And for working-class families—those we claim to champion—the crisis is most acute.
To once again become the party of education, Democrats must offer a compelling new vision and an abundance lens offers a clear guide. After a “century of sameness” in education, we must reimagine how the entire system is designed. That means transforming a rigid, stagnating system into one that is dynamic and designed to continuously improve.
This can be set in motion by building an education system based on three foundational pillars: innovation, accountability, and choice.
Innovation means unleashing new school models and education technologies that meet the diverse needs of students and families. The U.S. education system was designed for stability and standardization and built for a twentieth century economy. Today’s students need radically different tools, environments, and approaches that can more nimbly be provided by different models such as charter schools, learning pods, microschools, AI-powered tutors, and career academies. Democrats should lead in developing and scaling these models in alignment with our values. But innovative new models are not enough—they must exist within a system designed to scale what works and discard what doesn’t.
Accountability means focusing on outcomes, period. For too long, our systems have rewarded inputs—spending levels, staff ratios, compliance reports—without asking the most important question: Are students learning? We need metrics that matter, systems that self-correct, and leadership that makes tough calls when outcomes fall short. At a systems level, accountability is not about punishment; it's about feedback loops that drive improvement. Without real feedback, innovation stalls and choice becomes hollow.
Finally, choice means empowering families to select the educational environment that best meets their needs. While Republicans have seized this mantle, Democrats must reframe choice on our terms: equitable, transparent, and accountable. We should support high-performing public charters and magnet schools. We should explore education savings accounts (ESAs) and tax-credit scholarship programs that prioritize low-income families, civil rights protections, and public oversight. And we should embrace enrollment systems that increase access across district boundaries, not just within them. Choice must function within a system where quality is visible and options are genuinely different.
Distilled to its essence, an abundance mindset calls for a Democratic education agenda that pushes for:
Innovation so that we can figure out what works,
Accountability so that we only fund what works, and
Choice so that families can decide for themselves what works.
This is not a call to abandon public education. It is a call to reimagine it. Most parents don’t care whether a school is district-run, chartered, or private. They care whether their child is learning, growing, and thriving. A modern Democratic education vision must be quality-focused and governance-neutral.
Over the past decade, too many national Democrats have avoided education debates altogether, wary of controversy or conflict with entrenched interests. But silence is no longer a strategic option. Republicans have made education central to their campaigns, they are reshaping state systems in real-time, and they have gained a political edge. For both policy and political reasons, the Left cannot ignore K–12 education policy any longer.
We will have thirty-eight gubernatorial elections in the next eighteen months. In each race, Democrats should present a strong education agenda—not as a culture war talking point, but as a platform for delivering the results that families are looking for. Our candidates must present voters with a clear new direction on education policy:
Innovation over stagnation, excellence over compliance, families over special interests, and abundance over scarcity.
Democrats have always believed in the power of education to change lives. The abundance agenda invites us to update that belief for a new era. It asks us to deliver—not just fund. To experiment—not just defend. To lead—not just react.
Our children cannot afford another decade of deferred reform. We must replace a “century of sameness” with dynamic systems that innovate, evolve, and deliver. Doing so would be good policy and politics for Democrats.