Aaron Garth Smith
Director of Education Reform, Reason Foundation
Aaron Garth Smith is the director of education reform at Reason Foundation.
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How K-12 education is funded
Funding for K-12 public education is a shared responsibility between federal, state, and local governments.
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Pennsylvania public schools need funding reform, not more money
Data show Pennsylvania schools are well funded. But how this funding gets to students is a problem.
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How state education funding formulas work
Funding formulas collect and distribute education dollars to schools.
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Public education funding without boundaries: How to get K-12 dollars to follow open enrollment students
How to ensure state and local education funds flow seamlessly across district boundaries.
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Why teacher salaries are flat as school spending soars
Benefit costs, staffing trends and class sizes may explain why teacher salaries have remained flat while K-12 education spending has grown.
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Improving K-12 open enrollment transparency is low-hanging fruit for state policymakers
Parents and policymakers need transparent data about public school transfers.
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Has Texas defunded public schools?
Between 2002 and 2020, inflation-adjusted education spending in Texas increased by 16%, going from $11,473 per student to $13,346 per student.
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How Texas can improve the state’s student transfer law
State policymakers can remove barriers for families by pursuing three policy reforms that would modernize the student-transfer law.
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The NCAA should embrace the free market when it comes to player compensation
The NCAA is hell-bent on capping how much players can earn from name, image and likeness deals.
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K-12 Education Spending Spotlight: An in-depth look at school finance data and trends
Reason Foundation’s new K-12 Education Spending Spotlight provides critical insight into key school finance trends across the country.
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Frequently asked questions on student-centered funding
Student-centered funding puts student needs as the focus of education funding decisions.
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Wisconsin’s open enrollment policy success is a model for states looking to increase educational opportunities
Wisconsin's public school open enrollment program has grown from serving less than 3,000 students in the 1998-99 school year to 70,428 students in the 2020-21 school year.
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What will public schools do when federal pandemic relief funding runs out?
Pre-pandemic trends offer clues of how this might play out across state capitals.
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Arizona K-12 Funding Reform Model
Arizona’s K-12 funding system is broken, but gaping differences in funding levels aren’t the only problem—it wasn’t designed to support an education ecosystem with robust school choice for families.
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Data shows financial incentives matter for K-12 open enrollment policies
If school districts do not receive sufficient funding for transfer students, they’re not going to be as willing to participate in an open enrollment program.
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Open enrollment policies don’t have to affect student athletics
There are a variety of ways states can handle student athletic eligibility questions that can arise when implementing open enrollment policies.
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California needs school choice
There are also policy options outside of the typical school choice agenda that could provide more education options to California’s families.
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Public school vouchers could increase education competition
Eliminating residential assignments and putting parents in charge of funding would give all families more agency over their students' education.
