Aaron Smith

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Aaron Smith

Aaron Smith

@ASmithAZ

Director of Education Reform at Reason Foundation. Free minds and free markets. @ReasonFdn @Reason

Phoenix, AZ Katılım Haziran 2012
2.5K Takip Edilen3.7K Takipçiler
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
Reason’s latest K-12 study takes a comprehensive look at resources and outcomes for all 50 states over the past two decades. Bringing together key revenue, expenditure, enrollment, staffing, and NAEP data, here are five key takeaways from our report. reason.org/k12-ed-spendin… 🧵1/9
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
It seems the more I study community schools, the less I understand what they are and how they're supposed to improve K-12 outcomes. Exhibit A:
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
@NealMcCluskey Not to mention the effects on general ed classrooms. But it’s difficult to have a rational, nuanced conversation about it.
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Neal McCluskey
Neal McCluskey@NealMcCluskey·
There is a clear tension between the benefits of mainstreaming & providing specialized assistance for students with disabilities, especially for disabilities that are more rare or challenging. I'm not sure we acknowledge that enough. texastribune.org/2026/05/08/hou…
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
@DuellSays It will take some time to play out, but I’m not optimistic.
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
Federal school choice will likely be a financial windfall for public schools in the long run. And I don’t think that’s a good thing.
Robert Pondiscio@rpondiscio

Maybe; maybe not. In blue states the money could flow back into public education through tutoring, therapies, after-school programs, and side-income streams for teachers. Choice could end up looking less like “exit” and more like an educational services marketplace built around traditional public schools.

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Neal McCluskey
Neal McCluskey@NealMcCluskey·
@ASmithAZ Unless I missed something, the regs for this aren't even out yet. Choice fans need to not oversell this thing, unless we want to set people up for disappointment.
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Crémieux
Crémieux@cremieuxrecueil·
Researchers used administrative data from Florida and looked at the effects of teacher experience, advanced degree attainment, and professional development. Effects on student achievement were meager, and often not in the direction you'd hope:
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
@ALegalProcess It’s incredibly irresponsible. They’re banking on an influx of state dollars, but otherwise have no way to pay for these deals.
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TheLegalProcess (v3.0 | Instruction Not Therapy)
TheLegalProcess (v3.0 | Instruction Not Therapy)@ALegalProcess·
@ASmithAZ “They project a $1.3 billion budget deficit this year and a $1.5 billion hole in fiscal year 2027.” Simply astounding, glad you’re on this. The union’s demand for more MH workers may signal their increasing unionization. Not good.
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
LAUSD has a billion-dollar budget deficit but has agreed to hire hundreds of new support staff. “UTLA’s deal includes a 12% average salary increase for teachers, paid parental leave, class-size reductions, limits on subcontracting, and hiring hundreds of new support staff, such as counselors, nurses, and psychologists.”
Reason Foundation@ReasonFdn

LAUSD avoided a teachers' strike, but the costly union deals it approved will deepen the school district’s already large budget deficits. Now, LAUSD is effectively banking on a taxpayer bailout to stay afloat. reason.org/commentary/lau…

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Reason Foundation
Reason Foundation@ReasonFdn·
LAUSD agreed to the costly demands of United Teachers Los Angeles to avoid a strike, but now the school district’s only hope is a bailout from state taxpayers, writes @ASmithAZ. buff.ly/hlXI6fe
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
The biggest drain on teacher pay isn’t inflation, it’s: 1) Mission Drift: Public schools have invested heavily in the “whole child” approach, hiring thousands of new social workers, counselors, psychologists, etc. 2) Pension Debt: For decades states have underfunded pension promises, resulting in increased contribution rates with the same or even worse retirement benefits. Inflation has been a problem in recent years, but policymakers must address structural problems with K-12 finance if they want to move the needle on teacher pay.
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Marc Porter Magee 🎓
Marc Porter Magee 🎓@marcportermagee·
At its height, the NYC public school system educated 1.2 million kids a year. Ten years ago that dropped below 1 million. The current estimates are about 880,000. Ten years from now it could be only 700,000. And yet the budget just keeps going up.
Marc Porter Magee 🎓@marcportermagee

The Atlantic on NYC schools: “According to federal data, its per-pupil spending is nearly 50 percent higher than Los Angeles’s and Chicago’s … A shrinking student body mechanically pushes up per-pupil spending unless the education budget is cut—and the budget is never cut”

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Reason Foundation
Reason Foundation@ReasonFdn·
Since 2007, the number of births in the U.S. has dropped by 18%. This means that nearly 718,000 fewer children were born in 2025 than in 2007. Fewer kids means fewer students in classrooms, which leads to less funding for public schools since budgets are largely based on enrollment. reason.org/education-news…
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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
The remarkable thing isn’t just that public school spending hit the $1 trillion mark. It’s that funding keeps growing despite widespread enrollment losses. Public schools have lost 1.2 million students since the start of COVID-19, but inflation-adjusted funding is as record levels. Trends vary by state. But lawmakers would be wise to shift the focus from “how much”funding to “how to” use funding more productively.
Marguerite Roza@MargueriteRoza

A BREAKING release of fed financial data from FY24 (yes, I get the irony) shows that K12 spend is now over $1 trillion. National avg is over $17K. We cover what's relevant in today's newsletter. Link in next post.

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Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith@ASmithAZ·
It's important to keep in mind that these figures are "current" expenditures, which means they don't include spending on capital, construction, etc. That's why it's better to look at revenue. Public school funding in 2024 was $21,065 per student. These are the dollars public schools received from federal, state, and local sources. Isolating operating expenditures is useful and has its place. But there's generally no reason to ignore such a large chunk of taxpayer funding.
Dale Chu@Dale_Chu

K–12 spending just topped $1 TRILLION. Per-pupil: ~$18K and rising. Outcomes? That’s a different story.

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Dale Chu
Dale Chu@Dale_Chu·
“New York and California’s combined trajectories alone–losses of about 347,000 and 931,000 students, respectively–would account for 47% of the nation’s projected enrollment losses in 2031.” @JudeSchwalbach
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Jude Schwalbach
Jude Schwalbach@JudeSchwalbach·
Here’s the state by state estimated percent change in public school enrollment
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Jude Schwalbach
Jude Schwalbach@JudeSchwalbach·
Declining K-12 enrollments weren’t a pandemic anomaly, NCES estimated that public schools will lose 4 million students between 2020-31. Forecasts estimate that just 9 states will gain students by 2031 reason.org/education-news…
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Keşfet

@JudeSchwalbach @NealMcCluskey @DuellSays @ALegalProcess @elonmusk @BarackObama @taylorswift13 @cristiano