David Knight

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

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...

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!

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!

Meet the Washington superintendents who want to make K-12 education funding more equitable "This grassroots initiative is seeking to engage superintendents, legislators, finance experts (and) community partners to have eventual financial reform for public education," Yakima School Superinte...

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

$5 Billion in Federal Funding for Nine K–12 Formula Grant Programs Hangs in the Balance Between White House and Senate Proposals As Congress works to finalize the FY26 budget, two competing proposals could have dramatically different impacts on federal K–12 education funding, potentially eliminating some $5B. Understanding the ...

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...

Gov. Ferguson ‘deeply skeptical’ of new federal tax credit President Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill includes a new voucher-like program that will pay for private school scholarships. Will Washington take it up?

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.

Top 1% to Receive $1 Trillion Tax Cut from Trump Megabill Over the Next Decade 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 t...

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...

Today is the last day for many Education Department workers. Here's what they did Employees across multiple divisions agree: They can't imagine how the department will fulfill its legal obligations with roughly half its staff gone.

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...

Adequacy Without Equity: The Anatomy of a School Finance Lawsuit 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.

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

Supreme Court says Trump's efforts to close the Education Department can continue The Trump administration had appealed a decision that had directed it to stop gutting the U.S. Education Department and to reinstate many of the workers the government had laid off.

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.