Amid cuts to federal resources for schools, partnerships with families are even more important

As summer approaches in the U.S., schools are busy preparing for the coming school year. Yet, with the constant chaos, cuts, and uncertainty in federal resources available to states and districts, many local education agencies and schools are scrambling to finalize their budgets and plans. Prioritizing strong family, school, and community partnerships to minimize the impacts of budget cuts on students and communities is more important now than ever.

Family-school relationships are essential for navigating the rapidly evolving social and political landscape and ensuring that schools reflect the values, meet the needs, and uplift the strengths of their communities. When schools work in true partnership with families and communities, everyone benefits. Evidence shows that strong family, school, and community partnerships can improve educators’ job satisfaction and retention rates, expand families’ capacities to navigate the school system, and strengthen students’ academic and social developmental outcomes.

Family engagement has always been driven by schools and communities

Contrary to national rhetoric, family engagement has never been controlled by or “through Federal programs and dollars.” The authority and responsibility to shape family engagement priorities and strategies in schools and districts has always been held by schools and communities. For decades, family engagement has been a nonpartisan issue led by principals, superintendents, school staff, and family and community leaders. Federal funds have provided critical resources and networks that schools and local education authorities could rely on to engage families.

With changes to federal education policies and structures, many U.S. Department of Education programs that support family engagement are at risk of being defunded or eliminated. Schools are grappling with uncertainty of key funding streams that have important components of family engagement and allow them to better reach and empower communities. These include Title I funds, which support urban, rural, and suburban schools and districts serving high proportions of low-income students and include funds for family engagement. Grants to schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act support not only special education services for children, but also resources for family engagement and ensure that costs of services do not fall onto the family. Other funding streams like Title IV provide funding for community schools and statewide family engagement centers, both of which promote active family and community engagement to support student development and school success.

As federal money, technical support, and expertise available to schools, districts, and state agencies dwindle, local education leaders have to be more creative and resourceful in their approaches to shaping family engagement in partnership with their communities. During this time of fewer government resources for public schools, harnessing the assets and connections in and between communities to support the well-being and success of students, schools, families, and societies is more vital than ever.

Leaning into low-cost and high-impact strategies

For schools and districts looking forward, building authentic family, school, and community partnerships remains a high-impact, low-cost strategy to support student learning, staff well-being, and school success. Even without federal funds, schools and districts can still maintain and grow partnerships with families. Here are a few high-impact, low-cost strategies districts and states can employ to sustain family engagement efforts in their communities.

1. Strengthen two-way communication structures between schools and families

Two-way communication between schools and families is foundational to meaningful family engagement and student success. When communication is reciprocal and respectful, families feel more valued and are more likely to remain involved in their child’s education. Research from the Data Quality Campaign—an organization dedicated to ensuring policymakers, educators, and schools have quality data—shows that families want more actionable and timely information, not just test results and end of term grades. For example, parents want to know more about their children’s social and emotional learning and growth. Moving beyond one-way informational updates, like newsletters, to open dialogues between parents/caregivers and educators can be a low-cost way to help families feel seen, heard, and included.

Strong family, school, and community partnerships start with building mutual trust before there is a need for critical conversations. Encouraging teachers to reach out to families with a positive message about students’ contributions and success early in the year helps set a welcoming tone. Periodic phone calls between teachers and parents, text-based platforms where families can ask questions and express ideas, or in-person meetings on or off school campus can create consistent touch points across age and grade levels.

2. Build connections between teachers, families, students, and community early on

Positive relationships with families is one of the factors that weighs into teachers’ decisions to stay in teaching and at a school. To sustain family engagement efforts and help retain teachers, schools might consider introducing and connecting new teachers to the community through intentional engagement activities before the start of the school year. Early introductions between families and teachers can set the stage for lasting relationships. Inviting families to share their hopes for, experiences with, and insights about their students not only familiarizes teachers with the local context but also signals that family voice is a priority from day one. This approach helps teachers move away from assumptions about students and their families and toward collaboration, supporting more equitable practices in the classroom.

3. Tap into family knowledge and experiences

Asking families directly how they can contribute to the school community respects their preferences and capacities, which can boost willingness to participate. Families are rich sources of knowledge, and inviting them to share their experiences with students and educators helps create inclusive learning environments. Research on culturally responsive family engagement emphasizes the value of tapping into home knowledge and cultures to make schools more equitable and relevant to students’ own lives. This might look like career talks, cultural presentations, or storytelling events during or after school hours. Co-designing these events with families ensures that their interests and identities are honored, and simultaneously deepens community trust and breaks down traditional power dynamics in schools by positioning families as co-educators. Co-design and experimentation help foster both innovation in schools and opportunities to reimagine family, school, and community partnerships.

4. Create opportunities for shared decisionmaking and leadership

Family engagement shouldn’t be seen as a standalone activity led by either a parent organization or a principal. Embedding family voice as a foundational element in developing school policies, plans, and visions will help ensure family engagement is a core value of and asset to schools. This means weaving family engagement into every level of planning, decisionmaking, and implementation. True partnership with families means engaging families in problem-solving processes and advocacy, especially as educational, health, and other vital community budgets decrease. Whether responding to attendance challenges, curriculum updates, or budgetary constraints, schools and teachers can benefit from the wisdom and creativity of families. Districts can establish structures for shared leadership and decisionmaking by expanding the responsibilities of existing parent-teacher organizations or associations and co-creating joint teacher and family advisory boards.  

Looking forward

As education budgets tighten and federal funds that once supported local and state family engagement efforts in schools disappear, continuing to lean on low-cost family, school, and community engagement strategies is critical. A grassroots, bottom-up approach rooted in community-centered design can offer innovative, responsive, and scalable strategies for schools. Sharing responsibility and welcoming the partnership of families and community members can help create a more supportive and sustainable environment for educators and help motivate them to stay in the community and teaching workforce. Strong family, school, and community partnerships reinforce to families and students that they belong in schools, just as schools belong in their communities. Hopefully in the future, schools will have more resources to create innovative activities that encourage and empower families to get more engaged in learning. In the meantime, sharing low-cost and high-impact family engagement strategies is an important step to making sure students have what they need to succeed.