Director of Education Reform at Reason Foundation. Free minds and free markets. @ReasonFdn @Reason
Phoenix, AZ
Joined June 2012
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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-spending/c…
🧵1/9
The problem is much worse than it appears.
A large chunk of what teachers and school districts contribute toward retirement benefits pays for unfunded liabilities (i.e. the gap between past pension promises and what states actually save).
This means that, in many states, teachers are paying more for the same (or even worse) pension benefits.
It’s a $400 billion problem across states.
Aaron Smith retweeted
California has more than $1 trillion in combined state and local government debt. New York has $745 billion in state and local debt, followed by Texas ($569B), Illinois ($404B), New Jersey ($325B), Florida ($249B), and Massachusetts ($201B).
buff.ly/rE2cIC3
Aaron Smith retweeted
New data out from @ReasonFdn on state and local government finances.
About half of state and local long-term debt is unfunded liabilities for retirement benefits for government workers.
Aaron Smith retweeted
This graphic neatly illustrates the bipartisan dynamic of massive, unrestrained deficit spending. The decline in the '90s was the result of divided govt when Clinton and GOP shared concerns over spending. Since then, tho, all want more spending regardless of revenue.
And remember: reducing the national debt isn't an accounting fetish. Progressive and market-friendly economists agree that when debt reaches 90 percent-plus of GDP, growth tends to slow to a halt, which degrades living standards and future opportunities for all. @reason video is from 2017, when debt was half what it is now in dollars.
wsj.com/economy/federal-debt…
Aaron Smith retweeted
30 years ago, John Stossel asked why San Diego schools weren’t using Direct Instruction to address students’ struggles in reading and math.
The superintendent’s response? Classrooms should be “more than just worksheets and multiplication facts.”
When Stossel pointed out that kids weren’t mastering basic skills, she cited rising graduation rates.
His retort: “You’re graduating them, but they can’t read.”
Fast forward to today, the reflex remains the same: When students aren't academically proficient, deflect to gameable metrics.
Aaron Smith retweeted
You've heard about California's Prop. 40. But have you heard about the *other* wealth tax on the ballot? The one which proponents (mostly teachers unions) are outspending opponents 14,700 to 1? reason.com/2026/10/28/l-a-te…
Policymakers across the country should keep an eye on K-12 reforms in Indianapolis.
To Build the Education Systems of the Future, Look to Indianapolis
"Here’s the lesson for other cities: Policymakers should pair school-level autonomy with system-level accountability and shared infrastructure."
Check out my new column in @The74.
the74million.org/article/to-…
Also note that LAUSD is spending more on employees, but these additional dollars are increasingly spent outside the classroom.
Between 2013 and 2023, inflation-adjusted expenditure on employee compensation grew by about $1.7 billion or 27% (despite losing 35% of their students).
Total dollars going to teachers rose by $85.4 million, as their share of employee compensation fell from 52% to 42%.
The problem isn't just that LAUSD is spending more than they take in, its priorities are also out of whack.
reason.org/commentary/losing…
Math is hard for the LAUSD.
"Enrollment declined from 440,365 to 369,830 students, a decrease of about 16%. Over the same period, the total of 'full-time-equivalent' jobs increased from 60,344 to 64,148, or about 6.3%"
latimes.com/california/story…
Today's taxpayers/teachers are footing the bill for yesterday's pension promises.
School spending per pupil has grown about twice as fast as inflation over the past decade, yet teachers have less buying power than they did 10 years ago. One reason why is that benefit costs are taking up a growing share of education budgets, leaving less money for teacher salaries.
In a guest post for NCTQ, @ChadAldeman lays out four things policymakers should understand about teacher benefits, including how pension debt is crowding out salaries, why benefits favor the longest-serving employees, and what states could do to direct more of their compensation dollars to the teachers in classrooms today: nctq.org/research-insights/t…
Interesting column by @ChadAldeman comparing child poverty rates vs. reading scores.
As states increasingly invest more dollars in community schools, SEL, and other non-academic expenses, it’s worth examining the purpose of public education and whether this is best way to allocate scarce resources.
Aaron Smith retweeted
Nearly 80% of public school students live in states with weak or ineffective laws that block students from transferring to other public schools with open seats.
buff.ly/bHqotTX
Aaron Smith retweeted
It would be super great if there were a major party in the U.S. that didn’t follow the basic tenets of socialism.
According to the new @CatoInstitute Government Ownership Dashboard, the Trump admin has done 35 equity-stake deals since last June. Prior to that, US equity deals were unheard of in non-crisis times.
You can dig into each one here: cato.org/restoring-free-ente… #CatoRFE @Cato_RFE
Aaron Smith retweeted
. @ReasonFdn found 55 public school divisions in Virginia charge tuition to transfer students, averaging $4,000 per transfer. Eight divisions charge over $10,000 per transfer, with public high school transfer students being charged $24,000 in Falls Church City. — @judeschwalbach
Aaron Smith retweeted
I've been a big fan of open enrollment (OE) for a while now. Before I share my reasons, check out @ReasonFdn's latest report. Jude has been doing the best work on this topic for years now. /1
Just 13 states’ open enrollment laws got grades of B or better in @ReasonFdn’s new report, Public Schools without Boundaries: 2026. This report ranks and grades the open enrollment laws in all 50 states. 33 states got F grades. reason.org/open-enrollment/p…
Aaron Smith retweeted
In @judeschwalbach's study of every state's open enrollment laws, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia earn A grades; seven states earn Bs; two states get Cs; two receive Ds; and 33 states earn F grades.
buff.ly/bHqotTX