We should celebrate the passing of a progressive income tax, but cuts to K-12 targeted to areas where money has the largest impact just don’t make sense.
/end

The Governor's proposed budget included cuts to both LEA and TK, and the legislature passed those proposals, which are just bad policy decisions. And yet, during the same session, the legislature passed the “Millionaire’s Tax” which is a massively huge win for the people of Washington.
5/n

And during the 2026 legislative session, we published this policy brief explaining the critical role of Transition to Kindergarten (TK): digital.lib.washington.edu/server/api/c...
4/n

About four years ago, Marge Plecki and I published this study with very simple policy recommendations: do not cut Local Effort Assistance (LEA) or the Learning Assistance Program: www.education.uw.edu/ejr/files/20...
3/n

The state made big cuts in K-12 that target higher-poverty districts and early learning programs (Transition to Kindergarten) -- typically the highest-impact and most cost-effective uses of funds.
2/n

Great article in the @thenewstribune.com on teacher salary increases in WA.
Base teacher salaries have increased substantially, but the state's recent cuts to K-12 do not make sense...
www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/e...
1/n

Also true about cleaning administrative data for education policy research

One caveat - in some cities (like Seattle), the cost of living and the average faculty salaries make it impossible to live anywhere close to campus, making physical presence difficult, but there are many ways for us to stay engaged - and the future of higher education depends on it!

Opinion | When Faculty Stop Showing Up Faculty disengagement is reshaping campus life, one closed door at a time.

I appreciate this recent article in Chronicle of Higher Ed by my colleague Dave DeMatthews. As professors, we need to be present and committed to our students, colleagues, and the programs we have built over time. “We are the stewards of higher education’s future." www.chronicle.com/article/when...

Curb Your Enthusiasm - Anonymous Donor Pt2 YouTube video by anastaed

I also made a big anonymous donation to my local PTA 😂 www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqrJ...

Centering Communities of Color in Statewide School Transformation This pathbreaking book presents a roadmap for constructing and sustaining a statewide reform for equity in today’s Pre-K–12 schools.Centering the perspectives of historically underserved educators, st...

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...

But it's also appalling that the same legislative session, ending today, will bring cuts to K-12 that specifically target the state's highest poverty communities, gutting Transition to Kindergarten and Local Effort Assistance (our tax base equalization program)

WA income tax passes Senate, Ferguson expected to sign into law Most of the money generated by the tax would go to the state's general fund budget, which funds K-12 schools, human services and universities.

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.

Border patrol detains 10-year-old Spokane girl and her dad, sends them to Texas detention center Arnoldo Tiul Caal dropped his daughter off for school at Logan Elementary the morning of Jan. 9 with the unnerving sense that they were being followed.

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...

Dual Enrollment and the Purpose of Higher Education: Mapping Our Assumptions Toward a Broader Research Agenda Dual enrollment (DE) is an increasingly popular reform that allows high school students to enroll in college courses and earn college credit through partnerships between high schools and institutions ...

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

Screenshot of a NYT article from Paul Krugman entitled “Beware Economists Who Won’t Admit They Were Wrong”

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...

Shut Out: Inequitable Access to After School Programs Grows More than 22 million children — mostly from low-income and families of color — face barriers to care after 3 p.m., according to a new report.

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...

Children in Poverty is a Policy Choice 2021 expansion of tax credits like the CTC and EITC dramatically reduced poverty. Now we are back to unacceptable levels of children’s hardship.

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!

Yakima Rotary: School Finance in Washington State | Yakima Rotary Club (Downtown) posted on the topic | LinkedIn 💙 Rotary Recap: Understanding School Finance in Washington 🎓 Last week, Yakima Rotary welcomed Dr. David Knight as our featured speaker, introduced by Trevor Greene, for an insightful presentation on...

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!

Article abstract reading "Concerns about school staff shortages are longstanding. However, data on shortages are limited, dated, and rare for non-teaching staff. I use administrative data on unfilled certificated positions in Illinois public schools from the fall of 2022 to paint a detailed picture of shortages across teaching, administrative, and other roles, between districts, and between schools. Teacher and administrator shortage rates are low on average, but shortages of other staff - mostly paraprofessionals - are more severe. However, staff-to-student ratios have increased recently for all staff types. Shortages vary substantially between schools within districts and across urbanicity, grade level, and student characteristics, often in ways that likely exacerbate inequities."

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...

Flyer announcing an Oct 30th, 2025 event at AC Davis High School in Yakima, WA featuring presentations on K-12 school finance in Washington.

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!