In Memoriam

The Economic Policy Institute honors the memory of Sandra Feldman, the former president of the 1.3 million-member American Federation of Teachers who died Sunday. Feldman served on EPI’s board of directors since December 1999 and encouraged EPI’s focus on the economic well-being of working families and the expansion of its K-12 education research.

“Sandy was a good friend to EPI, and she will be sorely missed,” said Lawrence Mishel, EPI’s president and education research director. “She brought to her role as a board member wisdom, experience, and commitment to analytically rigorous independent research. She was an innovative thinker who was tireless in her pursuit of new ideas to help improve the education of disadvantaged urban children. She left a lasting mark on EPI and on all of us who were fortunate enough to work with her.”

Feldman’s groundbreaking work demonstrated her dedication to improved public education. Especially noteworthy was her work in conceiving and advancing such initiatives as Kindergarten-Plus, a program she proposed in 2003, that provides extended learning opportunities for disadvantaged students before and after the kindergarten school year.  In that short time, Kindergarten-Plus legislation has been passed or considered in several states.