A national effort to compensate Americans affected by prolonged pandemic-era public school closures and other education policy failures is long overdue.
Five years ago, public schools across the United States closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Students in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other large school districts were locked out of classrooms for 18 months. These prolonged public school closures harmed a generation of children. According to University of Arkansas professor of education policy Harry Anthony Patrinos, school closures in developed countries reduced students’ lifetime earnings by $21,000.
This 2020 estimate appears conservative in light of recent U.S. test scores, which reveal the scope of the learning loss. The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that the reading scores of American students declined significantly between 2019 and 2024: 40 percent of fourth-graders now score “below basic.” Tragically, the results reveal widening achievement gaps, with disadvantaged children falling further behind their peers.
During the pandemic, Congress allocated $190 billion in emergency funds to states and school districts. In hindsight, Congress should have offered these funds directly to families to help them pay for schools or tutors who were willing to teach their children while public schools were closed.
The Trump administration and Congress shouldn’t make the same mistake. Now is the time to empower parents at all income levels through education savings accounts. In March, President Trump proposed sweeping reforms to the U.S. Department of Education and even issued an executive order to initiate its closing. Meanwhile, Congress is working on budget reconciliation legislation and the looming sunset of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
The tax reform debate has significant implications for K–12 education. Lawmakers have proposed expanding the allowable uses of funds saved in education savings plans known as 529 accounts. 529s function like Roth IRAs. These state-managed accounts allow parents to put money into stock and bond funds that can be withdrawn and used for their children’s — or grandchildren’s — education. Like Roth IRAs, investment gains in 529s are not subject to federal or state taxation. As of 2024, Americans owned roughly $500 billion in nearly 17 million 529 accounts.
The TCJA expanded the uses of 529 accounts beyond college, to include K–12 private school tuition. In subsequent reforms, Congress allowed such savings to be spent on job training and apprenticeship programs as well, or transferred into Roth IRAs as tax-free retirement savings. Congress is now considering allowing parents to pay for tutoring and homeschooling expenses through 529s. In other words, 529 accounts may soon become the ideal government vehicle to benefit American children who suffered prolonged school closures during the pandemic.
The nationwide availability of 529 accounts would allow Congress and state legislatures to directly fund children’s education accounts, effectively providing restitution for pandemic-era school closures. For example, Congress could amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and require that a share of public schools’ Title I funds be allocated to lower-income children in communities affected by prolonged school closures. Alternatively, Congress could consider setting up a Covid-school-closure restitution fund using funds saved by the Department of Government Efficiency’s ongoing reforms at the Department of Education and other federal agencies.
States could enact similar reforms to direct financial assistance to children’s 529 accounts, too. Already, more than 80 state, city, and private initiatives provide seed investments for 529 accounts to help children save for education expenses. State and city lawmakers could enact similar reforms to help families pay for tutoring and other education expenses and help children recover from learning losses.
Given that five years have passed, paying back all children for the damage they suffered from school closures is impossible. Many young Americans affected by school closures are no longer in school and have moved on. But, at least to start, federal and state policymakers could begin to provide funding assistance directly to the disadvantaged children and the students with disabilities who suffered the most significant harm.
A national effort to compensate Americans affected by prolonged public school closures and other education policy failures is long overdue. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans could kick-start the project during the 2025 tax and budget reconciliation debates by establishing 529 accounts as the appropriate vehicle to compensate children. A generation of children were harmed by the teachers’ unions and school districts that decided to close public schools. These children now deserve to be paid back.
Written by Dan Lips for The NAtional Review ~ May 22, 2025