Price of Opportunity

What would it take to close the vast opportunity gaps blocking the success of public-school students in the United States? NEPC’s costing-out study, called the “Price of Opportunity,” seeks to identify and estimate the cost of the resources and programs required to achieve this ambitious goal. The study also considers the balance between educational, social, and economic policy systems needed to eliminate opportunity gaps.

Our first and second costing out approaches are focused on schools. What would be the price tag for a school system that truly serves as a Great Equalizer — one that ensures that every public school has the resources and programs needed to overcome the challenges facing students inside and outside of school. The system that meets this standard provides students from all backgrounds and circumstances with educational opportunities that prepare them to succeed economically and socially in college, careers, and life.

Our third and fourth costing-out approaches ask a different question, no longer turning to schools to close gaps that arise in larger society. Instead, we ask what the price tag would be for effective social and economic policies that end the cycles of poverty, concentrated poverty, and racialized poverty.