Voters in Seattle approved a tax increase in November to fund education initiatives, including a program making two years of community college free for all high school graduates.

Almost nothing about the 2018 midterm elections indicated U.S. politicians find much to agree on. But at the state level, at least one issue came up again and again in stump speeches and TV ads: early childhood education.

The U.S. Department of Education released its official rewrite of Title IX regulations just before Thanksgiving, serving up plenty for victims’ rights advocates to chew on. The holiday leftovers might be long gone, but DeVos-induced heartburn rages on.

U.S. schools have long emphasized small class sizes as the best environment for teaching and learning. But education experts don’t agree on the benefits, with dueling studies showing both significant and minimal effects.

School choice advocates are spinning last week’s election results in the most positive light possible.

“School choice victorious in the 2018 elections,” read the headline on a press release issued by the American Federation for Children.

That’s a bit of a stretch. While voters elected pro–school choice candidates in many states, they dealt a significant blow to the choice movement’s flagship initiative—the education savings account (ESA).

Education played a much smaller role than expected in Tuesday’s midterm elections following teacher strikes this year. Activists hoped a pro-education wave would wash over state capitols and, in some cases, governors’ mansions. But the advocacy championed by teachers unions had mixed results.

Students are usually at the center of free speech fights on university campuses—think Christian groups sanctioned for faith-based leadership requirements and both socialists and libertarians ordered not to pass out pamphlets without prior approval.