Excited to share this new edited volume by my colleagues at the Univ. of WA, Manka Varghese, Margaret Plecki, Ana Elfers & Aditi Rajendran (now at UofM). It was truly a collaborative effort. I’m honored to have co-authored a chapter on school finance. Check it out! www.tcpress.com/products/cen...

Congratulations to the Washington legislature for their hard work in passing the Millionaire's Tax. It's an important step forward in addressing the state's regressive tax revenue system (ranked 49th as a state in terms of its burden on low-income households). www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Benefit-cost analysis can be a useful method for informing evidence-based policy when done right. But this EdChoice report makes a few missteps -- it leaves out any analysis of cost, and it miscalculates the benefits so that they're overstated by many orders of magnitude

I'm posting a lot of non #EconSky #NumbersDay content. I yearn for a day when I'll feel able to get back to it more exclusively. But, each of us is a full person in a society. When pillars of society start cracking under assault, I will discuss. Mostly not as an economist, just as an American.

Our neighbors are being kidnapped by the federal government. This father has an active asylum case, a court date for 2027, a valid work permit, and a Social Security number. They detained him and his 10-yr-old daughter and sent them to Texas detention center. www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...

This happened during a Washington House Appropriations hearing yesterday. It was a tough act to follow...

Excited to share my new chapter in dual enrollment (DE), co-authored with Reid Sagara and @dsknight99.bsky.social, just published in the Higher Education Handbook of Theory and Research. link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/...

That this warning even needs to be stated publicly is unfortunate, but no accident. It’s a product of irresponsible researchers spreading bad research. “Spending is up but test scores are down” is good click bait but we’re better than that

Just came across another “Does money matter in education?” debate in the Year of Our Lord 2025. I’m tired

how to show you're not a serious contributor to conversations on money and schools: (what the actual research says: www.shankerinstitute.org/sites/defaul...)

If you’re attending #APPAM2025, join us this afternoon for a Communities session on early childhood policy. We’ll have a special guest speaker you won’t want to miss! Details below: convention2.allacademic.com/one/appam/ap...

Important report from Afterschool Alliance on inequitable access to after school programs. What's driving this? As with many challenges in ed policy, a key factor is inadequate and inequitable state school finance systems: www.the74million.org/article/shut...

Why are children still struggling for the basics in one of the wealthiest countries in the world? itep.org/child-povert...

Really excited to have this piece out on the Brown Center Chalkboard blog with @lmasonwms.bsky.social, @afgilmour.bsky.social, & @lizbettini.bsky.social on the importance of targeted solutions to special education teacher staffing challenges. See below!

It was an honor and privilege to share some of our research on K-12 school finance with the Yakima Rotary Club in Yakima, WA: www.linkedin.com/posts/yakima... Fun fact! The Yakima Rotary Club is the 31st largest Rotary club in the world!

New from me in Education Finance & Policy: Pandemic-Era School Staff Shortages: Evidence from Unfilled Position Data in Illinois doi.org/10.1162/edfp...

We're so excited to be releasing a working paper, data visualizer, and fact sheets about the composition, distribution, and stability of the special education teacher workforce across seven states as part of @sparccenter.bsky.social. See below for more details!

I was honored to serve on Washington's K-12 Funding Equity Workgroup and co-Chair the subgroup on Accountability & Efficiency. The workgroup was authorized through House Bill 2049 (lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/202...) Our Phase I report is now posted here: ospi.k12.wa.us/about-ospi/w...

If you're in Yakima, WA on October 30th, this Thursday night, join us for presentations and discussion about K-12 public school finance! I'll will be sharing new research on the distribution of property taxes, as well as some old research about how/why/where money matters. See flyer!

We are partnering with a group of Washington K-12 school district superintendents to hold learning sessions and build a vision for needed school finance reforms. Thank you Yakima Herald for picking up the story: www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/e... Read more here: education.uw.edu/ctp/node/1300

The federal administration is severely misguided in its call to cut the English Language Acquisition Program (ESEA Title III) as part of a $5 B federal K12 funding cut. (here is what Title III actually does: www.newamerica.org/education-po...) learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/5-billi...

Who benefits from universal K-12 school voucher programs? Mostly wealthier households. This article summarizes key points about the federal voucher policy, ECCA, part of the so called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” // @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social @nepc.bsky.social www.seattletimes.com/education-la...

Dear journalists: The President has not fired Lisa Cook. The President is *trying* to illegally fire her. Your words shape people’s reality. Please be accurate in your reporting.

The Trump megabill will give the top 1 percent tax cuts totaling $1.02 trillion over the next decade. For comparison, the bill’s cuts to the Medicaid health care program will total $930 billion over the same period. Read more at: itep.org/top-1-to-rec...

We have partnered with a group of Washington school district superintendents over the past year to hold K-12 school finance learning sessions. You can read about what we've learned so far here: www.education.uw.edu/ctp/node/1300. And more recent coverage here: www.cascadiadaily.com/2025/aug/06/...

Critiques of the free market by school choice researchers often come too late, and rarely discuss how wealthy donors have successfully leveraged their influence to push failed school choice policies. We explain more in this AJE Forum piece (w/ @DrDeMatt): sites.psu.edu/ajeforum/202...

Reading individual stories of professionals who have devoted their careers to improving the nation's public school system is helpful for understanding how important their work was, and the challenges coming now that the Education Department is officially gutted: www.npr.org/2025/08/01/n...

A new analysis of a school finance lawsuit hints at lessons learned for those hoping to obtain state-level education funding that is both adequate and equitable. @dsknight99.bsky.social‬ bit.ly/46qG7uN

Justice Sotomayor: "When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it." 💯 www.npr.org/2025/07/14/n...

If you support detailed reporting on student math and reading test scores for children in grades 4 and 8, add you comments to the ED's May 2025 proposal here: www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PR... (which reverses the data collection). This isn't more tests, it's just SEA's reporting data centrally.

File under headlines that should not exist: www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

I thought the federal administration was giving power back to the states? Nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity has been the law since 2006 in Washington. Threatening school funding for a political agenda is just wrong. www.cascadepbs.org/news/2025/05...

This bill is essentially a $20 billion hand out to wealthier private school families that would have dire consequences for public K-12 schools: Sweeping private school voucher program tucked inside US House tax bill stateline.org/2025/05/15/r...

How should governments spend money? Public education is one of the strongest economic investments, far greater than tax breaks for the wealthy. Prioritizing children is not only the right thing to do, it pays off in the long run: www.seattletimes.com/opinion/was-...

Useful resource from AAUP (@aaup.bsky.social): www.aaup.org/sites/defaul...

“President Donald Trump promises he’ll make American schools great again. He has fired nearly everyone who might objectively measure whether he succeeds” @jillbarshay.bsky.social hechingerreport.org/proof-points...

Excited to share this co-authored article (w/ Pooya Almasi, Jinseok Shin, and Julia Duncheon)! We studied teacher retention in Early College High Schools and STEM academies. Why? Although small schools are thought to be "inefficient," studies find... 1/n www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Do you like to talk about Education Finance? Submit a conference proposal and come join us in Charlotte, NC this April 2-5, 2025. Proposal deadline is February 3rd. www.nationaledfinance.com/request-for-...

Early versions of what I think are among the 3 most important things I've worked on, and with a brilliant set of collaborators: 1) On Money Matters www.shankerinstitute.org/sites/defaul... 2) On School Finance Systems edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1127 3) on Vouchers edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1142

The process DOGE is using is sloppy and ill-informed. Many of DOGE’s cuts do not improve government efficiency. I'll share one first-hand example from a Dept. of Ed contract that DOGE cancelled, summarizing here: 1/n

Part 2 of report is out! We describe our ongoing work with school district superintendents from across the state to reform Washington's K-12 school finance system. Available here: www.education.uw.edu/epal/?page_i...

Here, I explain how the February 14 "Dear Colleague" letter is a widely expansive distortion of the court’s ruling in SFFA. Institutional responses should remain focused on areas that the Supreme Court addressed and not expand to those clearly outside its purview. www.chronicle.com/article/hitt...

It seems almost unavoidable at this point that we are headed for a deep, deep recession. Just based on 200K+ federal firings & pullback of contracts, the March employment report (to be released April 4) seems certain to show bigger job losses than any month ever outside of a few in 2008-9 and 2020.

Excited this piece (co-authored with my grad student, Xinyu Guan) is out in the Texas Education Review. We study trends and patterns in security expenditures (e.g., SROs, surveillance tech, and safety equipment) across school districts in Texas. repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/c...

EdWeek asking: "Does plotting spending figures against test scores wind up increasing confusion rather than clarity?" [yes, we've been saying for years, "the graph" is silly, and it's a gift for the GOP to further misinterpret] Does Money Matter for Schools? www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

And here it is, our long awaited update: www.shankerinstitute.org/resource/doe...

Washington legislators are looking to both increase tax base equalization for K-12, and increase the local property tax limit, allowing district to raise local dollars. How will this impact students? Read our policy brief to find out! www.education.uw.edu/epal/?page_i...

Things are starting to break. This isn't Silicon Valley magic. It is lawlessness and incompetence. People need to know what they are doing.

What I've been working on: edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1127

Appreciate this prompt statement from State Superintendent Chris Reykdal: OSPI NEWS RELEASE: Statement on President Trump’s Illegal Plans to Withhold Funds from Washington State content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WAO...