Michael Hartney

Pittsburgh Public Schools will be closed for three days, and compel "asynchronous" remote learning, because of the NFL Draft. Since the city will have a lot of visitors this will "ensure students can continue learning safely and effectively." Unreal. publicsource.org/pittsburgh-pub…

The pandemic changed K-12 education forever, but what did we actually learn? 🎒📉 Join us on March 25 for "Unmasked," a special talk by Education Scholar @MichaelTHartney on America's public schools post-COVID. 📍 FSU Student Union | 11:30 AM 🎟️ Free!

Time to vote legislators out who can’t seem to understand: the people of California don’t want racist policies

Lots of apt observations of the teacher labor market in this @mattyglesias piece: Is a New Teacher Better Off in Mississippi than in New York? @The74 the74million.org/article/is-a-n…

Let this sink in. California wealth tax architect Saez admits it here: he would let 80% of billionaires leave CA, liquidating Silicon Valley and its jobs, for an extra $2 billion per year in revenues. This is in a state that spends $325 billion per year, up by 68% since 2019.

Maxx Crosby can still be traded to Baltimore if Mike Pence has the courage to do the right thing

If your kids are in SFUSD and you care about teaching math to kids (Bring back Algebra in schools ASAP, not as an elective!) make sure you fill out this survey You have to speak up if you want Algebra taught to middle schoolers in San Francisco sfusd.edu/announcements/…

Discipline is not a genetic trait. You build it one day at a time. So don’t be jealous. Get to work.

New from me this week: Oregon has one of the shortest school years in the U.S., and one of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism. Critics argue that the relative lack of learning time helps explain the state's academic slump (link below)

I award @CAgovernor four Pinocchios!

Michael Roth, Wesleyan’s president, wrote a letter to the Chronicle critiquing my recent Mellon piece and Chronicle interview. He compares me to Jesse Helms, the infamous Republican segregationist and lifelong racist. The Chronicle kindly asked for my response. Here’s part of it.

Few people supported unions more than Jesse Jackson, but he knew that teachers' unions were different. Rather than striking against the wealthy, he wrote in a 1977 newspaper column, "when teachers go out, they strike parents, taxpayers and children's minds."

In December 2025, former US Senator @BenSasse announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. That's the primary topic for this @UncKnowledge conversation about mortality, faith, and what truly matters when time is short. Talking to host @P_M_Robinson, Sasse reflects on "redeeming the time"—holding ambition lightly, loving family more deliberately, and resisting the urge to make politics or professional success the center of life. The discussion also covers Sasse's thoughts on the failures of Congress; the dangers of a fragmented, attention-starved republic; the crisis of higher education; and the moral challenges of technological abundance. He speaks candidly and movingly about regret, forgiveness, prayer, and suffering—arguing that while death is a real enemy, it does not get the final word. Watch the full conversation on X:

Congrats @vkoganpolisci This is like drafting Tom Brady in the 6th round. Apologies to Buckeye fans! Big coup for @educationgadfly

School staffing is up 7.3% while enrollment is down 2.8%. All the while, student performance is flat and even declining in some areas. Research repeatedly tells us that teachers are the most important in-school factor for improving student achievement. Instead of hiring half a million more employees, imagine if schools and districts prioritized helping the teachers they *already employ* become more effective (and paid them accordingly).

Sad how short people's memories are. This is the same teachers' union that kept SF schools closed for entire 2020-21 academic year -- months after teachers were vaccinated -- on insane demand that schools couldn't open without toilet seat covers. archive.ph/lFWhP

“We’ve spent so much time over the last few years talking about the quantity of teachers in schools that we’ve lost sight of the fact that great teaching matters, enormously.” 👏 @ChadAldeman

@Steve_Sailer @thenovanglus @DavidAstinWalsh Amicus brief from Bakke:

@thenovanglus @DavidAstinWalsh Justice O'Connor noted in 2003 that affirmative action had been permitted 25 years earlier in Bakke (1978), so she figured another 25 years (2028) would total 50 years of violating the 14th Amendment, and that was enough.

I'm not happy about the Trump administration calling on the EEOC to be a snitch line for academic hiring, but the degree to which these practices have been normalized throughout higher education surely warrants *some* response.

Hoover fellow @MichaelTHartney surveys the progress toward universal school choice—a goal that draws widespread support in the abstract but is proving hard to achieve in the world of politics and conflicting interests. Read more on Freedom Frequency: thefreedomfrequency.org/p/speed-bumps-…