Child care or universal pre-K for 900,000 children
Child care in the United States costs more than $13,000 per year on average. Using that benchmark, $12 billion could cover a year of care for roughly 900,000 children. The same amount could also finance universal pre-K education for roughly 900,000 children for a full year, given that estimates generally place the cost of a universal pre-kindergarten program at roughly $12,500 per child per year.
Pell grants for 1.6 million students
The maximum award under the Pell Grant, which helps low-income students afford college, was $7,395 for the 2025-2026 academic year. At that level, $12 billion could provide about 1.6 million students with a full Pell Grant for a year, or could be used to expand smaller grants to millions more students.
More than 100,000 teachers and nurses
The United States is facing teacher and nurse shortages across the country, particularly in rural areas and high-poverty communities, where schools and hospitals often struggle to recruit and retain workers. The average public school teacher salary in the United States was about $72,030 in the 2023-24 school year, according to national education statistics. Using that benchmark, $12 billion could pay the annual salaries of roughly 166,000 teachers, roughly equivalent to employing the entire teaching workforce of the state of Florida.