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If there’s one thing many Americans agree on, it’s the importance of education as a bedrock of the U.S. economy. Yet the federal government has left funding for children’s education almost entirely up to states and towns, subject to the vagaries of the real estate market and demographic shifts.

Reporter Craig Torres visits a rural community just hours from the nation’s capital, illustrating how difficult it is to improve opportunities for the less fortunate. Then host Stephanie Flanders delves into the issue with scholar Elaine Weiss of the Economic Policy Institute.

We’ll also hear from reporter Shawn Donnan in Washington, who talks with Flanders about whether this week’s “phase one” trade agreement between the U.S. and China means the conflict is ending, or if we’re really just at the beginning.

To contact the authors of this story: Scott Lanman in Washington at slanman@bloomberg.netStephanie Flanders in London at flanders@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Magnus Henriksson at mhenriksso10@bloomberg.net, David Rovella

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