Reason’s Education Policy Team:

Reason Foundation envisions an education system in which all families have meaningful educational opportunities. Our mission is to support policymakers in pursuing reforms that tie funding to students, promote locally-responsive decisions that drive innovation, and provide robust transparency. We do this through technical support, research, and thought leadership.

Most states and school districts use antiquated funding formulas that allocate education dollars in a manner that is unfair, opaque, and restrictive. Reason seeks to transform these systems so that funding is based on student need, school leaders are empowered to make resource-allocation decisions, and all families have options beyond residentially-assigned schools. We have a relentless focus on producing high-quality policy research and data-driven resources that meet the needs of state policymakers and other stakeholders.

 

About the Opening:

The Policy Analyst will work with the Education team to provide policy research and data-driven analysis that supports our school finance reform efforts. The role involves researching, summarizing, and analyzing state education laws and supporting team member inquiries about the nuances of complex policies. Specifically, this includes examining appropriations and budget bills, analyzing local taxation practices, and summarizing state school finance formulas, among other duties. This person will also assist with collecting, combining, and modeling datasets that are often difficult to obtain. The ideal candidate is a team player who is quantitatively oriented, exceptionally resourceful, willing to tackle large projects independently, enjoys problem solving, and pays close attention to detail. On a typical day, you might spend several hours digging through and interpreting a state’s education code in order to build out a 50-state comparative analysis, and then shift gears to collecting and cleaning school finance data. On occasion you might also be asked to write a policy memo and publish a column or blog post.

 

Primary responsibilities include: 

  • Researching and summarizing various components of state education finance laws to support our policy research and implementation efforts.
  • Compiling and analyzing complex datasets and communicating findings to team members and other stakeholders.
  • Supporting our quantitative analyst with data projects, which may include statistical analysis and visualizations.
  • Track legislative reform efforts in various states and produce regular reports for the education policy team.
  • Track and record various outputs for education policy team including legislative meetings, columns, and other outputs.
  • Support with writing commentary and blog posts for Reason.org and other outlets.
  • Other duties as assigned.
  • Occasional travel might be required.

 

Desired Experience & Qualifications:

  • Strong analytical skills
  • Strong Excel skills and comfort combining datasets
  • Knowledge of statistical analysis and a programming language such as R is preferred, but not required.
  • Strong writing and communication skills and an ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-experts.
  • Curiosity and self-motivation to learn new things and tackle difficult technical problems you may have never dealt with before.
  • General alignment with Reason Foundation’s mission to advance a free society by developing, applying, and promoting libertarian principles, including individual liberty, free markets, and the rule of law

Location:

  • Location is negotiable; remote or work from Reason’s office in Washington D.C. or Los Angeles
  • Project team members are currently located in Washington D.C., Arizona, California, and North Carolina.

Please send your resume, cover letter, and a writing sample in one pdf to jobs@reason.org