Leadership in education is always a test of vision, resilience, and the ability to balance competing demands. But when crises hit—whether it’s a global pandemic, budget shortfalls, or political interference—true leadership is revealed. Some leaders rise to the moment, navigating challenges with integrity and a focus on long-term solutions. Others react in ways that destabilize institutions, cut essential programs, and leave students, faculty, and staff struggling to pick up the pieces.
With federal education funding shrinking and a new political patronage system determining where money flows, the coming years will test school districts and universities in ways we haven’t seen in decades. Institutions are already facing anticipated massive seven-, eight-, and even nine-figure budget shortfalls due to federal funding becoming a part of a new political patronage system. How leaders respond will determine whether our education system become politics proof and emerges stronger or falls further into crisis.
The leaders who will guide us through this moment are changemakers—those who refuse to simply manage decline. They don’t just react to problems; they innovate and create solutions that deliver results to sustain institutions, protect students, and keep education accessible to all.
What Makes a Changemaker?
In my view, changemakers aren’t just leaders—they are drivers of change, deliverers of results, and disruptors of inequity. A changemaker in education isn’t just someone with a title. They are defined by how they lead in difficult times. They understand that schools and universities don’t just exist to serve budgets, politics, or bureaucracy—they exist to serve students and communities. They challenge outdated systems, push for policies that ensure fair access to education, and refuse to accept the status quo when it harms those they serve. They make bold decisions that protect education, even when those choices are unpopular or difficult, because their commitment is to students—not to comfort, convenience, or personal career advancement.
Here’s what sets them apart:
1. They Put Students First
Changemakers don’t seek make cuts that hit the most vulnerable students hardest. They fight to keep financial aid strong, ensure student support services remain intact, and protect the faculty and staff who work directly with students. When tough budget choices need to be made, they focus on maintaining the programs that help students succeed—rather than eliminating them to save administrative costs.
2. They Lead Through Collaboration
They don’t make major decisions behind closed doors. They bring in faculty, students, and staff to help shape the direction of the institution. They listen, adapt, and ensure that those most affected by their policies have a voice.
3. They Use Data, Not Politics, to Drive Decisions
Changemakers rely on facts, research, and long-term planning, rather than knee-jerk reactions to political pressure and pre-compliance. They focus on what actually works to support student success, improve retention, and keep institutions financially stable, rather than following ideological trends.
4. They Plan for the Future, Not Just the Next Fiscal Year
Changemakers recognize that budget cuts and structural changes are sometimes unavoidable, but they approach them with strategy and purpose rather than panic and politics. Instead of recklessly slashing programs and staff, they prioritize sustainability by protecting essential services while identifying areas for thoughtful restructuring. They seek out new revenue sources—such as grants, partnerships, and innovative funding models—to maintain long-term institutional stability.
5. They Protect Education from Political Influence
Changemakers don’t let political agendas dictate what students can learn, what faculty can research, or which schools get funding. They stand up for academic freedom, fight against censorship, and push back when policies threaten to turn education into a tool for political control. They fight for fair federal and state funding, ensuring that education remains a public good rather than a tool for political favoritism.
The Pandemic Proved Who the Changemakers Are
The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the biggest tests of leadership in modern education. The leaders who passed that test—true changemakers—focused on keeping students, staff, and faculty safe, bridging the digital divide, and ensuring that students, faculty and staff didn’t fall through the cracks during a time of immense uncertainty.
While some rushed to reopen schools with little regard for health risks, changemakers fought to expand internet access, provide emergency financial aid, and make sure students, faculty and staff had the support they needed. They also worked to protect jobs for faculty and staff, rather than using the crisis as an excuse to cut positions. They were transparent with their communities, rather than making unilateral decisions that left students and educators scrambling.
These same leadership qualities are needed now, as schools and universities face another crisis—this time, a political one.
How Changemakers Will Navigate the Looming Budget Crisis
With federal funding increasingly being distributed through a political patronage system, public education is at risk of being reshaped by ideology rather than student need. Universities and districts are being forced to compete for resources based on political alignment rather than academic excellence or community impact. K-12 districts are also facing staffing shortages and are losing funding to private and charter schools that align with political priorities. Instead of investing in the schools and universities that serve the most students, funding is increasingly being directed toward institutions that fit the agenda of those in power, leaving public education starved of resources and vulnerable to collapse.
Changemakers won’t just sit back and let this happen. Here’s how they’ll respond:
- Fighting for Fair Funding – They will push state and federal lawmakers to ensure that public education remains well-funded, rather than allowing resources to be diverted to politically favored institutions.
- Finding New Revenue Sources – They will work with community partners, secure grants and philanthropy, and explore innovative funding models to sustain programs without gutting all student services.
- Protecting Essential Programs – Instead of cutting academic advising, mental health support, and financial aid, they will prioritize keeping these services available to the marginalized students who need them most.
- Engaging Communities in Financial Decisions – They won’t treat budget problems as an excuse for top-down cuts. Instead, they will seek to involve faculty, students, and staff in the process, ensuring that the institution’s long-term health is the priority.
Education is at a Crossroads—We Need More Changemakers
The next few years will determine what kind of education system we have in this country. Will it remain a foundation of opportunity for all students, or will it become another space where only the well-connected thrive?
The answer depends on leadership.
We don’t need leaders who merely manage decline—cutting costs, making reactive decisions, and hoping for the best. Anyone can oversee a slow erosion, balancing budgets in the short term while allowing institutions to weaken over time. But communities recognize when leadership is failing to build a sustainable future, and they hold those in power accountable. University trustees, presidents, and provosts face no-confidence votes when faculty and students see their institutions slipping into mediocrity under leadership that lacks strategic vision and decisive action. Superintendents come under fire when school districts suffer from chronic underinvestment, staff cuts, and declining student outcomes without a clear path forward. We need changemakers—leaders who don’t just maintain the status quo but actively fight for the future of education. Public schools and universities are worth saving, worth strengthening, and worth investing in—and they need leaders who believe that too.
But changemaking is not easy work. At an event today, a Native scholar told me, “Change-makers get bayoneted in the front and take arrows in the back.” It was a powerful reminder that leading transformation means facing resistance from all sides—especially from those determined to protect the status quo. Those who fight to protect education will be challenged, criticized, and even undermined—but that only proves how necessary the fight truly is.
For change to succeed, communities must step up to support their changemakers. Too often, innovative leaders face internal resistance, not because their ideas are failing, but because they make others uncomfortable or threaten entrenched power structures. When institutions attempt to push out changemakers, it’s not about performance—it’s about maintaining control. Faculty, students, parents, and advocates cannot afford to be bystanders while critical decisions are made about the future of education without true community involvement. Now is the time to demand better leadership, to push for policies that strengthen education, and to hold those in power accountable for the choices they make—including when they attempt to silence those fighting for real progress.
Education doesn’t fail students. Bad leadership does.
It’s time for bold, ethical, and visionary leaders to step forward—and for the communities they serve to stand beside them. The students, families, and educators who rely on education deserve nothing less.