Christian Barnard
Assistant Director of Education Reform, Reason Foundation
Christian Barnard is assistant director of education reform at Reason Foundation.
Barnard's work includes research and analysis of state education and school district finance systems, with the goal of making them more equitable and innovative.
Barnard's writing has been featured in outlets including USA Today, Los Angeles Daily News, Washington Times, and The Hill, among others.
Barnard previously worked with the Foundation for Government Accountability, where he conducted research on labor policy and criminal justice. He also worked for the Pioneer Institute.
He holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and economics from Messiah College.
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Can the next mayor of LA help the city’s failing school district?
The most pressing problems facing LAUSD are declining enrollment and an increasingly unsustainable budget.
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How states and schools can provide students more transportation options
States can pass laws to allow students to enroll in public schools outside of their zip codes — but those opportunities are meaningful only if families can afford to make the trip.
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Biden keeps his bad promise on charter schools
The administration recently proposed a new Department of Education rule to make it more difficult for nonprofit organizations to open charter schools, forcing them to comply with many unnecessary regulations and bureaucratic paperwork requests.
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How to bring school choice to public school families
Providing the option of small-scale customization to families who are happy with their public schools may be exactly the reform strategy the school choice movement has needed for decades.
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Arizona’s school funding system is outdated and broken
Arizona's proposed school finance reform would address some of the stark school funding disparities across the state's school districts.
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Why Nashville would get a smaller funding increase than other urban school districts in Tennessee’s education finance reform
A central goal of Gov. Bill Lee's education funding reform is to reduce unfair funding gaps between school districts, so they can’t all receive an equal funding boost.
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As school choice gains traction, states also need to update their school-finance formulas
States need to update school-finance formulas that fail to fund all kids fairly, are too reliant on local taxes, and don’t easily accommodate student movement between schools.
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The needed push to reform Tennessee’s outdated school finance system
Tennessee has an outdated school funding formula that is poorly suited to serve the needs of the state’s public-school students in 2022.
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Making Tennessee’s school finance system more transparent, flexible and fair
Only three percent of Tennessee's education funding was allocated based on student characteristics like being in a low income family, being in foster care, or needing special education services.
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Idaho State Sen. Steven Thayn explains the success of state’s Advanced Opportunities program
A conversation between Christian Barnard and State Sen. Steven Thayn on Idaho's Advanced Opportunities student funding program.
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K-12 funding in Tennessee: A student-centered approach
By adopting a student-centered funding model, Tennessee would replace the state's outdated education finance system that lacks transparency and local control.
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Best practices for K-12 special education funding
There is no one right way to fund special education because each student and school district is unique. However, several principles can be a useful guide for lawmakers looking to improve how they fund special education students.
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Best practices for funding low-income K-12 students
States vary substantially in how much additional funding they allocate to low-income students, how the funds are delivered, and how they identify low-income students.
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California’s public schools are not underfunded
Inflation-adjusted education spending in California grew by a massive 44.03% between 2013 and 2019—the fastest growth among any state.
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Administrative bloat isn’t the biggest problem facing school district budgets
Growing employee benefit debt costs - not administrative spending - is the biggest line item keeping new education dollars out of the classroom.
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Catholic schools get shortchanged by California and school districts
Federal law says that private schools serving disadvantaged students should receive some federal education funding, but they don’t always get it.
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Spending data show the U.S. has not been defunding public education
When looking at the data, the verdict is clear: nearly every American state has increased per-pupil revenues in the last two decades, often by substantial margins.
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K-12 Education Spending Spotlight 2021: An in-depth look at school finance data and trends
Reason Foundation’s 2019 K-12 Education Spending Spotlight provides critical insight into key school finance trends across the country by providing policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders easy access to K-12 education spending data in every state.
