Aaron Garth Smith
Director of Education Reform, Reason Foundation
Aaron Garth Smith is the Director of Education Reform at Reason Foundation.
Smith works extensively on education finance policy and his writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including National Review, The Hill, and Education Week.
Smith graduated from the University of Maine with a bachelor's degree in business administration and earned a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University. He is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, June 2016
“So, while the research continues to focus on aggregated finance databases, the answer to the problem of why funds are poorly linked to student outcomes lies more in how funds are realized at the school level.”
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Making Sure Parents Can Hold Schools Accountable
How to best track the progress of California’s public schools and hold them accountable for educating students continues to spur debate.
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, March 2016
"We believe instructional needs should drive funding and budget decisions, not the other way around."
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, January and February 2016
“So where the public hears about efforts to close achievement gaps between minorities and white students or between higher-performing and lower-performing students, in truth different parts of the finance system are directly at odds with those stated obje
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School Districts Shortchange Disadvantaged Students
Without transparent funding and school-level financial data available, it is impossible for parents and the public to account for taxpayer dollars going to education.
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, December 2015
“Great leaders need to be making those decisions about their schools. They have the local context. They know their students. We want to have the ability to make decisions about how to support them.”
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Improving Santa Ana Schools Have a Long Way to Go
Allowing schools to operate with less bureaucracy and real accountability via portfolio management could transform education in Santa Ana and across the state.
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, October 2015
“The one-size-fits-all approach is about equality. Equity is about treating every student as they need to be treated.”
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, September 2015
Our goal is to give principals and school leadership control over as many resources as possible to personalize their school design.”
