David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Education Finance and Policy at the University of Washington College of Education
Education
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Meet the Washington superintendents who want to make K-12 education funding more equitable
"This grassroots initiative is seeking to engage superintendents, legislators, finance experts (and) community partners to have eventual financial reform for public education," Yakima School Superinte...
www.yakimaherald.com
We are partnering with a group of Washington K-12 school district superintendents to hold learning sessions and build a vision for needed school finance reforms.
Thank you Yakima Herald for picking up the story:
www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/e... Read more here: education.uw.edu/ctp/node/1300
Thank you Yakima Herald for picking up the story:
www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/e... Read more here: education.uw.edu/ctp/node/1300
K12 Funding Equity Workgroup
The 2025 Legislature passed House Bill 2049, which directs OSPI to gather and administer a workgroup around K-12 funding in Washington. The goal is to explore and suggest options for revising K-12 fun...
ospi.k12.wa.us
I was honored to serve on Washington's K-12 Funding Equity Workgroup and co-Chair the subgroup on Accountability & Efficiency. The workgroup was authorized through House Bill 2049 (lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/202...)
Our Phase I report is now posted here: ospi.k12.wa.us/about-ospi/w...
Our Phase I report is now posted here: ospi.k12.wa.us/about-ospi/w...
Reposted by David S. Knight
📢 NEW RESEARCH ALERT! The SPARC Center is excited to share THREE new resources with our findings from our first year of research on the #SpecialEducation teacher workforce.
Explore the resources in this thread, or visit our website to learn more: sparccenter.org
Explore the resources in this thread, or visit our website to learn more: sparccenter.org
We're so excited to be releasing a working paper, data visualizer, and fact sheets about the composition, distribution, and stability of the special education teacher workforce across seven states as part of @sparccenter.bsky.social. See below for more details!
Reposted by Roddy Theobald
If you're in Yakima, WA on October 30th, this Thursday night, join us for presentations and discussion about K-12 public school finance!
I'll will be sharing new research on the distribution of property taxes, as well as some old research about how/why/where money matters. See flyer!
I'll will be sharing new research on the distribution of property taxes, as well as some old research about how/why/where money matters. See flyer!
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Sep 2
$5 Billion in Federal Funding for Nine K–12 Formula Grant Programs Hangs in the Balance Between White House and Senate Proposals
As Congress works to finalize the FY26 budget, two competing proposals could have dramatically different impacts on federal K–12 education funding, potentially eliminating some $5B. Understanding the ...
learningpolicyinstitute.org
The federal administration is severely misguided in its call to cut the English Language Acquisition Program (ESEA Title III) as part of a $5 B federal K12 funding cut.
(here is what Title III actually does: www.newamerica.org/education-po...)
learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/5-billi...
(here is what Title III actually does: www.newamerica.org/education-po...)
learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/5-billi...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Aug 26
Gov. Ferguson ‘deeply skeptical’ of new federal tax credit
President Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill includes a new voucher-like program that will pay for private school scholarships. Will Washington take it up?
www.seattletimes.com
Who benefits from universal K-12 school voucher programs? Mostly wealthier households.
This article summarizes key points about the federal voucher policy, ECCA, part of the so called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” // @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social @nepc.bsky.social www.seattletimes.com/education-la...
This article summarizes key points about the federal voucher policy, ECCA, part of the so called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” // @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social @nepc.bsky.social www.seattletimes.com/education-la...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Aug 26
Top 1% to Receive $1 Trillion Tax Cut from Trump Megabill Over the Next Decade
The Trump megabill will give the top 1 percent tax cuts totaling $1.02 trillion over the next decade. For comparison, the bill’s cuts to the Medicaid health care program will total $930 billion over t...
itep.org
The Trump megabill will give the top 1 percent tax cuts totaling $1.02 trillion over the next decade. For comparison, the bill’s cuts to the Medicaid health care program will total $930 billion over the same period.
Read more at: itep.org/top-1-to-rec...
Read more at: itep.org/top-1-to-rec...
Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Anna O. Law, Rebecca Solnit , and 21 more Anne Applebaum, Anna O. Law, Rebecca Solnit, David Lazer, Joe R. Feagin, Patrick A. Jansen, Michael A. Clemens, Rosemary A. Joyce, Melissa Johnson, Juan Cole, Joni Lovenduski, Trevon D. Logan, David R. Miller, David S. Knight, Alison Johnson, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Colleen V. Chien, Michael Jones‐Correa, Hong, Daxton R. Stewart, Charles T. Mathewes, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Sally Hadden, David Darmofal
Alvaro M. Bedoya
@bedoyausa.bsky.social
· Aug 26
Dear journalists:
The President has not fired Lisa Cook. The President is *trying* to illegally fire her.
Your words shape people’s reality. Please be accurate in your reporting.
The President has not fired Lisa Cook. The President is *trying* to illegally fire her.
Your words shape people’s reality. Please be accurate in your reporting.
Reposted by Roddy Theobald
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Aug 8
We have partnered with a group of Washington school district superintendents over the past year to hold K-12 school finance learning sessions. You can read about what we've learned so far here: www.education.uw.edu/ctp/node/1300.
And more recent coverage here: www.cascadiadaily.com/2025/aug/06/...
And more recent coverage here: www.cascadiadaily.com/2025/aug/06/...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Aug 1
Free Market Logic Fails in Schooling: A Response to Harris (2024) by David S. Knight & David E. DeMatthews – AJE Forum
sites.psu.edu
Critiques of the free market by school choice researchers often come too late, and rarely discuss how wealthy donors have successfully leveraged their influence to push failed school choice policies.
We explain more in this AJE Forum piece (w/ @DrDeMatt): sites.psu.edu/ajeforum/202...
We explain more in this AJE Forum piece (w/ @DrDeMatt): sites.psu.edu/ajeforum/202...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Aug 1
Today is the last day for many Education Department workers. Here's what they did
Employees across multiple divisions agree: They can't imagine how the department will fulfill its legal obligations with roughly half its staff gone.
www.npr.org
Reading individual stories of professionals who have devoted their careers to improving the nation's public school system is helpful for understanding how important their work was, and the challenges coming now that the Education Department is officially gutted:
www.npr.org/2025/08/01/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/01/n...
Reposted by Jesse Rothstein, David S. Knight, Monika Piazzesi
Jesse Rothstein
@jrothst.bsky.social
· Feb 19
It seems almost unavoidable at this point that we are headed for a deep, deep recession. Just based on 200K+ federal firings & pullback of contracts, the March employment report (to be released April 4) seems certain to show bigger job losses than any month ever outside of a few in 2008-9 and 2020.
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Jul 14
Supreme Court says Trump's efforts to close the Education Department can continue
The Trump administration had appealed a decision that had directed it to stop gutting the U.S. Education Department and to reinstate many of the workers the government had laid off.
www.npr.org
Justice Sotomayor: "When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it." 💯 www.npr.org/2025/07/14/n...
Reposted by David S. Knight
Adequacy Without Equity: The Anatomy of a School Finance Lawsuit
A new analysis of a school finance lawsuit hints at lessons learned for those hoping to obtain state-level education funding that is both adequate and equitable.
nepc.colorado.edu
A new analysis of a school finance lawsuit hints at lessons learned for those hoping to obtain state-level education funding that is both adequate and equitable. @dsknight99.bsky.social bit.ly/46qG7uN
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Jun 19
Comment Form
www.reginfo.gov
If you support detailed reporting on student math and reading test scores for children in grades 4 and 8, add you comments to the ED's May 2025 proposal here: www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PR... (which reverses the data collection). This isn't more tests, it's just SEA's reporting data centrally.
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Jun 4
A Court Told Trump to Reverse Ed. Dept. Layoffs. Will It Happen?
A judge ruled May 22 that the Trump administration had to reinstate laid-off Ed. Dept. staffers. They're still not back on the job.
www.edweek.org
File under headlines that should not exist:
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· May 29
Title IX federal investigation clashes with WA gender identity laws
In a departure from previous cases, the Department of Education publicly announced investigations against Washington and Maine for presumed violations.
www.cascadepbs.org
I thought the federal administration was giving power back to the states?
Nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity has been the law since 2006 in Washington. Threatening school funding for a political agenda is just wrong. www.cascadepbs.org/news/2025/05...
Nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity has been the law since 2006 in Washington. Threatening school funding for a political agenda is just wrong. www.cascadepbs.org/news/2025/05...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· May 19
Sweeping private school voucher program tucked inside US House tax bill • Stateline
A national school voucher program got a step closer to becoming law.
stateline.org
This bill is essentially a $20 billion hand out to wealthier private school families that would have dire consequences for public K-12 schools:
Sweeping private school voucher program tucked inside US House tax bill stateline.org/2025/05/15/r...
Sweeping private school voucher program tucked inside US House tax bill stateline.org/2025/05/15/r...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Apr 11
WA's 'fix' for school funding didn't repair much. Here's what will | Op-Ed
Washington has started repairing ineffective school funding but there are ways to make it more effective.
www.seattletimes.com
How should governments spend money?
Public education is one of the strongest economic investments, far greater than tax breaks for the wealthy. Prioritizing children is not only the right thing to do, it pays off in the long run:
www.seattletimes.com/opinion/was-...
Public education is one of the strongest economic investments, far greater than tax breaks for the wealthy. Prioritizing children is not only the right thing to do, it pays off in the long run:
www.seattletimes.com/opinion/was-...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Mar 31
www.aaup.org
Useful resource from AAUP (@aaup.bsky.social): www.aaup.org/sites/defaul...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Mar 16
Chaos and confusion as the statistics arm of the Education Department is reduced to a skeletal staff of 3
Acting stats chief booted after only 15 days in the job; fate of the Nation’s Report Card unclear
hechingerreport.org
“President Donald Trump promises he’ll make American schools great again. He has fired nearly everyone who might objectively measure whether he succeeds”
@jillbarshay.bsky.social
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
@jillbarshay.bsky.social
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Feb 26
...teacher turnover is a huge cost for schools that disproportionately impacts higher-poverty contexts. Lower turnover means ECHS leaders are spending less time and money on hiring and re-training, and more time supporting teachers, students, which likely explains some of their effectiveness. /end
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Feb 26
...studies find positive effects associated with these College and Career Readiness Models, especially Early College High Schools. We find ECHS have about 4.3 pp lower turnover, about 20% lower, than comparable traditional public high schools. This finding is important because... 2/n
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Feb 26
Teacher retention in early college high schools and STEM academies: understanding the positive impacts of college and career readiness school models
Several experimental studies find that high schools using College and Career Readiness School Models (CCRSM) produce positive postsecondary outcomes for students. Yet little research explores the i...
www.tandfonline.com
Excited to share this co-authored article (w/ Pooya Almasi, Jinseok Shin, and Julia Duncheon)!
We studied teacher retention in Early College High Schools and STEM academies.
Why? Although small schools are thought to be "inefficient," studies find... 1/n www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
We studied teacher retention in Early College High Schools and STEM academies.
Why? Although small schools are thought to be "inefficient," studies find... 1/n www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by David S. Knight
A Framework for Evaluating and Reforming School Vouchers
Following the 2002 work of economist Henry Levin, who laid out a framework for evaluating school vouchers, we provide an updated framework involving four major goals: equity, effiency, accountability ...
edworkingpapers.com
Early versions of what I think are among the 3 most important things I've worked on, and with a brilliant set of collaborators:
1) On Money Matters www.shankerinstitute.org/sites/defaul...
2) On School Finance Systems edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1127
3) on Vouchers edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1142
1) On Money Matters www.shankerinstitute.org/sites/defaul...
2) On School Finance Systems edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1127
3) on Vouchers edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1142
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Feb 24
...educational leaders will now have less evidence to work with because of poorly-informed decisions from our federal leaders. As a researcher of school finance, I can tell you, much of Elon's "slashing" in education is not efficient, it's wasteful and is slowing down the research process. /end
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Feb 24
DOGE is ‘gutting’ key education research efforts. Here’s how that affects students.
The Trump administration canceled dozens of contracts held by the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The president is looking to significantly scale back the size and work of the Educat...
www.chalkbeat.org
...possible inclusion in WWC, but that process ended when when DOGE canceled the contract (www.chalkbeat.org/2025/02/11/e...). This is absurd. School leaders will still need to make important investment decisions with public tax dollars next year, so we have to study what's working, but... 3/n
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Feb 24
One of the canceled Dept of Ed contracts helped support the What Works Clearinghouse, an ED database established in 2002 to curate effective educational programs. A study I published last year evaluating a widely implemented publicly funded college readiness program was being evaluated for... 2/n
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Feb 24
The process DOGE is using is sloppy and ill-informed. Many of DOGE’s cuts do not improve government efficiency. I'll share one first-hand example from a Dept. of Ed contract that DOGE cancelled, summarizing here: 1/n
David Knight
@dsknight99.bsky.social
· Feb 24
Sustaining a Shared Vision of Ample and Equitable K-12 Funding in Washington: A Convening of Superintendents to Support School Finance Reform (Part 2)
Authors: Kendall Fujioka, David Knight, Anthony Craig, Mia Tuan, Kelly Aramaki, William Jackson, and Trevor Greene
www.education.uw.edu
Part 2 of report is out! We describe our ongoing work with school district superintendents from across the state to reform Washington's K-12 school finance system.
Available here: www.education.uw.edu/epal/?page_i...
Available here: www.education.uw.edu/epal/?page_i...