Chef’s kiss

If you're in LA in April I'll be doing a book talk on April 11th at 11am PST in person at the UTLA office. Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I guess the new credit crisis is a kind of (not a) bank run where investors are yanking their money from companies that lend to other companies, promising quick high returns on the loans—but the borrowers are going under, and there’s been bad underwriting. Ed tech is involved:

I had an AI do one drive.google.com/file/d/17cFt...

Philly! I’m doing an online book talk sponsored by amazing people!

Really thinking seriously about returning to my attempted translation of Parvus Helphand's pamphlet on war and revolution. rev-lib.com/vojna-i-revo...

this is so ghoulish and disgusting

An update on this. Turns out when you toggle NYC’s debt service profile between certain quarters and the amount dips and increases by large amounts. It’s mysterious. And there’s no data for three quarters after the pandemic. So this reporting/budgeting could be a relic of that disruption.

I just found a 2024 charge for $1,348.03 to French Laundry - the 3 Michelin star restaurant in California - in Arizona ESA reimbursements.

The overwhelming majority of American public school teachers (71%) hold at least one side job, according to a new survey released today. www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/b...

My department is hiring! Specialized teaching faculty to support our EdD programs! illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... Let me know if you have questions. It's great here!

Excited to release this policy brief exploring the college enrollment impacts of Massachusetts' recent dramatic expansions of free community college. TLDR: The clear messaging and simple design of MassReconnect & MassEducate sparked substantial increases in community college enrollment.

My interview with MTA president Max Page on WHMP’s *Talk the Talk*. Real fun convo. whmp.com/podcasts/as-...

I'm going on Talk the Talk on WHMP in Western MA with Max Page in the next few minutes! whmp.com

So I put this piece on the NYC Public Servants subreddit and someone responded that the jump in debt service in FY28 that Mamdani will face is due to construction costs associated with Borough-Based Jails construction replacing Rikers!! www.constructiondive.com/news/nyc-que...

ICE was in my neighborhood of Brooklyn last night, 15 of them surrounded a family and some in cars apparently ran over protestors using bikes and whistles to stop them. Fucking hell.

Def will be attending this event, I read an early draft of the book and it’s really an excellent critique of this notion of “elites” www.bookculture.com/event/112th-...

This piece ends with 25ish fun brainstormy revenue ideas. moneyontheleft.org/2026/02/23/d...

@schooldaves.bsky.social offers a slew of fantastic actionable ideas for this year's NYC budget dance. Highly recommend!

This vid is blowing up—these ppl in IL are pissed about their schools districts. www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8xYXo68/

Seems like an ideological underpinning of today’s rightwing is that ruling class hierarchies are naturally true and good. That’s why they have to take out wokeness, bc at its heart is the idea that hierarchies aren’t natural, they’re constructed and used to oppress.

People better get to know what OPEB liabilities are because woof is it gonna be hard for all kinds of local and state governments.

Interesting regionalization effort in north-central MA 6towns.org

Great to talk with Erik at the Critical Teaching and Learning Forum. open.spotify.com/episode/6rK9...

Posting to read after class.

Very cool master's thesis out of U Chicago social sciences: stonecenter.uchicago.edu/news-insight...

Don’t realize the Paris Commune called for participatory budgeting:

If you're going to AERA this year in Los Angeles, check out the MASSES-SIG (Marxian Analysis of Society, Education, and School). We'll be hosting a lecture by Robin D. G. Kelley along with the Teachers Work/Teachers Union-SIG on April 9th. Sign up at the QR code or link below. tinyurl.com/3vssathe

Forget theory. Broken windows practice!

A student in my managing fiscal affairs class has a great idea: why not repurpose the old slogan “broken windows theory” to fight for school infrastructure? Play tricks on the old repressive adage to call for fixes to actual broken windows.

The thing that’s so cool about this podcast project is that Derek is addressing his neighbors across the ideological spectrum to untangle the specific budget crisis in their district and figure out what to do about it. There’s basically nothing else out there engaging with school finance like that.

The thing I’ve been thinking about since we recorded this last month is something @schooldaves.bsky.social says toward the end: “I think school finance is the weak link in the chain of American racial capitalism.”

“Epstein’s victims experienced the rule of master and servant not just as economic but sexual violence. They were the first to name and resist our emergent political order.” www.equator.org/articles/eps...

@derekgottliebphd.com podcast education philosopher king, has a pod called The Referenda (great name) and he had me and Celina Su on to talk public education and budgeting. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/4...

This looks great, and super relevant to where I work in NJ www.upress.umn.edu/978151791368...

Tfw when you’re a guest after @davidharvey.org

Interviewed by the one and only Doug Henwood!

fresh audio product: • Stacy Horn @stacyhorn.bsky.social on the damage mortgage fraud did to East New York • David Backer @schooldaves.bsky.social on how we finance schools and how we could do better www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S...

School districts across the country have budget crises. The easy explanation is that enrollments are declining and federal relief from the pandemic stopped. But underneath those recent developments are deeper dynamics I see when taking requests to analyze them: property values, debt, pensions, eg.

“…it’s not just the poor who pay more. It’s not just that. It’s actually that they also get less somehow.” @schooldaves.bsky.social #PublicSchool HT @moneyontheleft.bsky.social @jabaribrisport.bsky.social @lindseyboylan.bsky.social @delgadoforny.bsky.social @indiab.bsky.social @nharnie.bsky.social

The first I’m hearing of a century bond (paid back in full after 100 years) sold by tech companies. Google just did it in England. Crazy. I know there was a century bond in DC for a new water system.

This one blew up and I didn’t even have the link yet. Here’s the post: buttondown.com/davidibacker...

Says that federal detention facilities are “nicer than some of the elementary schools” that educate the kids he’s elected to represent, and says that to help support his case that it’s okay to detain five year olds. Just fully lobotomized.

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office calculates the cost of efforts to fire civil rights staff and questions the department's ability to enforce federal civil rights laws.

This is bleak: Jes Staley, currently CEO of Barclays, reassuring Epstein that popular revolt against financial elites is unlikely because capitalism and pop culture have defanged social movements, leaving people more invested in consumption than justice.

After I finish your book, perhaps we can talk more!

Spent yesterday morning going through the Epstein files looking for municipal finance stuff. Indeed, I found some stuff. Will send out through my newsletter Monday.

I can't answer, but I'm reading your book. I'm the Decatur County Dem. Party Chair in KS. Our schools are in disrepair. We've tried funding the improvements the traditional way, but it was voted down twice. It's time to think outside of the box. Your book was recommended to me by Mark Schaukowitch.

So I gave a lecture to the business school at the Uni of Essex yesterday, and during my talk there was a rally to protest massive cuts to the budget there. I got curious so I poked around financial statements and I have a couple questions, maybe ppl here can answer:

I know it was taken over by our toxic ruling class but still kinda amazing that 10k ppl follow me on TikTok to hear about school finance