Aaron Garth Smith
Director of Education Reform, Reason Foundation
Aaron Garth Smith is the director of education reform at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets.
Prior to joining Reason, Smith was senior director of analytics at YES Prep Public Charter Schools, a nationally-renowned charter management organization serving over 12,000 students in Houston.
Smith has worked in numerous states on school finance reforms and his writing has appeared in various publications, including Education Week, Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News and Los Angeles Business Journal.
Aaron graduated from the University of Maine with a bachelor's degree in business administration and earned a Master of Business Administration from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. Aaron is based in Houston, Texas.
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, November 2016
"Many superintendents don’t have access to the financial data they need to make critical budgetary decisions.”
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How Student-Based Budgeting Can Help El Paso’s Schools
Clint Independent School District’s budgeting practices and the funding disparities between the district’s schools have become a key issue.
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The Fight Over English-Only Education Highlights the Need For School Choice
With a robust system of school choice, voters wouldn’t be forced to choose between educator autonomy and parental empowerment.
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, September 2016
“When districts pay for teachers using average salaries, it creates a loophole that allows for vast differences in dollars spent per student at the school level."
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, August 2016
“Education finance is one of the big civil rights issues of our time."
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School Choice, Funding Portability, and Trends In Educational Privatization
Education Chapter of Annual Privatization Report 2016
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, July 2016
“If you expect us to do something different you have to give us the opportunity to craft something.”
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California Needs Better Schools, Not Expensive Ones
Parents should have a chance to vote with their feet by implementing school choice programs that allow students and parents to choose the public schools they believe are best for them.