On July 15-16, EdTrust-Tennessee hosted Rooted & Rising: The 2025 School Finance Institute — a powerful, first-of-its-kind convening that brought together over 50 education equity leaders hand selected from nine Southern states alongside regional and national school finance experts.

This in-person event marked an important milestone of our Southerners for Fair School Funding initiative, a bold regional strategy to unite state-based
advocates across the South.

Our goal: to grow power, align messaging, and build momentum for fair, sustainable public school funding across one of the most politically complex and deeply underfunded regions in the country.