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Aligned Releases 2025 Annual Report
In 2025, Aligned navigated leadership transition while expanding its policy impact across Kansas and Missouri. The organization deepened engagement with lawmakers, business leaders, and education stakeholders through statewide listening tours, advisory boards, research, and convenings. Highlights include major investments in education finance…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top News – State of the states; we break down what Missouri and Kansas governors signaled on education and workforce policy. Missouri Update – Early momentum builds around accountability, open enrollment, child care, and literacy, alongside a closer look…
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Update – December 2025
This Month’s highlights: Top News – Aligned released its 2026 policy priorities, outlining opportunities to strengthen literacy, school finance, data systems, and early learning. Kansas Preview – We review the State Board of Education’s newly adopted legislative priorities and take a first look at the slow pre-filing…
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Cradle to Career Listening Tour 2025
Overview In 2025, Aligned launched the Cradle to Career Listening Tour with a simple goal: listen first. We traveled across Kansas to hear directly from parents, educators, employers, and community leaders about what is working, what is not, and where…
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Update – September 2025
This month’s highlights: Top News – The U.S. Department of Education announced over $1.1 billion in redirected funding, with investments for HBCUs, TCUs, charter schools, and civics programs.Missouri Update – Working groups of the School Funding Modernization Task Force began meeting, including one that now features Aligned’s own Torree…
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Webinar: Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems
On September 10, 2025, Aligned partnered with the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) to host a webinar introducing Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDSs) and their role in aligning education and workforce priorities. SLDSs help states connect data across systems, inform policy, and provide valuable…
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Big Changes Ahead for Employer Child Care Tax Credits
Child care is no longer just a family issue. It is a workforce issue. Across the political spectrum, there is growing recognition that the lack of affordable, reliable care is holding back both parents and employers. In the U.S. mixed-delivery…
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Investing Early: Missouri Districts Putting Pre-K Policy into Practice
Investing Early: Missouri Districts Putting Pre-K Policy into Practice shows what early childhood policy looks like when it’s implemented well — and what it unlocks for kids, families, and communities. The report highlights how Missouri’s pre-K investments (including foundation formula access,…
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Missouri’s FY 2026 Budget
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has officially signed the state’s $50.8 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2026, including $15.4 billion in general revenue spending. While the budget includes significant new investments in child care and education, Governor Kehoe also issued $300 million in line-item vetoes, signaling a cautious approach as…
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Update – July 2025
This month’s highlights: Top News — Congress passes the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ushering in major tax changes for child care, K–12 education, and workforce training. Missouri Update — The School Funding Modernization Task Force examines local property wealth disparities and begins working group…
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Aligned Case Study: Marquand-Zion R-VI
In one of Missouri’s smallest and most rural districts, Marquand-Zion R-VI is delivering a high-quality pre-K experience for children facing steep barriers to school readiness, often with limited access to child care, transportation, or early learning supports. With help from…
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Aligned Case Study: Stanberry R-II
Stanberry R-II shows what’s possible when small districts have stable support to sustain and strengthen preschool. Using the Missouri Quality Pre-K (MOQPK) grant, the district reduced pressure on local dollars, reinforced early readiness, and built stronger connections with families through regular engagement…
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