Can education policy help insure against the resource boom and bust cycle? Recent literature has demonstrated that resource booms decrease human capital acquisition, leaving populations more exposed to subsequent busts. Examining historical mining legislation, I demonstrate that public policy can effectively mitigate this danger. Using full-count census records, I find that by decreasing the opportunity cost and increasing the returns to schooling, Britain's 1860 Mining Act led to increased human capital acquisition among the children of coal miners. This in turn improved their likelihood of holding human capital-intensive occupations in adulthood, with the effect especially strong among children residing in parishes that subsequently experienced mining busts.