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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School Principals Should Have More Say In How Education Funding Is Spent
It’s time for state legislators and school district officials to recognize that principals know what’s best for students.
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California Can Improve the Effectiveness of its Education Spending
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget plan now calls for $101.8 billion in education spending.
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Weighted-Student Formula Pilot Program In Federal Education Budget Could Have a Big Impact
The weighted-student funding pilot proposal has the potential to make education spending more fair for students, especially in low-income areas.
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Awarding Education Dollars for Student Outcomes May Sound Good, but There’s a Better Type of Performance-Based Funding: School Choice
The last thing public education needs is yet another technocratic attempt to engineer better outcomes.
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School Funding Disparities Should Alarm All, Not Just Those Who Lean Left
Not only are they manifestly unfair, but they also prevent educational freedom from flourishing.
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Teachers Unions and School Districts Won’t Be Able to Blame Charter Schools Much Longer
When you examine LAUSD’s results, it’s easy to understand why students and parents might be fleeing for better educations.
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Here’s What Texas Should Do, And Avoid, To Reform School Finance
Texas' school finance system is riddled with complexities that diminish fairness and productivity.
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LAUSD Must Resist Mandates That Restrict Flexibility And Increase Inequality
LAUSD is facing a fiscal cliff.
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How Some Local Funding Quirks Are Blocking School Choice
Sweeping changes to the school finance system are receiving high marks. But there's still work to be done.
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Unfair Local Education Funding Keeps Schools From Accepting Students Across District Lines. Here Are Some Ways to Fix That
For state policymakers, the lesson is clear: Funding equity is a key component of educational choice.
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Five Recommendations to Solve LAUSD’s Looming Fiscal Crisis
The process of right-sizing Los Angeles Unified School District presents an opportunity to lay the foundation for a 21st-century education system that’s productive, agile, and responsive to the needs of students.
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The Key School Finance Question: Are Dollars Allocated Based on Students?
The U.S. spends $634 billion annually on public education.
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Time to Make it Easier for Kids to Find the Right School
States such as California are adopting interdistrict transfer policies, which are supposed to help students enroll in schools across district boundaries. California's "District of Choice" program was given a passing grade by the state's LAO office.
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Using Property Taxes to Fund Public Schools Prompts Inequities
The most glaring problem with relying on property tax revenues to fund schools is that a child’s ZIP code can determine a school's resources.
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