Be like Dorothy
What the f*** is going on? I mean this in a wonky sense: there’s a gap between appearance and reality in the education policy dialectic that’s giving me and...
EO EO uhhhh
By the time you’re reading this, the storm of information, headlines, events, announcements, etc., may have moved on, but the other night I read Trump’s...
State of play in green schools organizing
There’s a TL;DR for this post, which is that if you’re interested in doing some unique green school organizing, you might look into trying to get your school...
Bonding for the common good
In this moment of chaotic authoritarianism, I think it’s important to focus on a couple things. First, trying to beat the neofascists in as many public...
The biggest threat to pubic education you didn't know about
There’s been a kind of firestorm in public finance over the last week. From the federal funding freeze to its confusing (non)recission to Elon Musk’s...
Inappropriated: what's happening with the IRA?
The hypernormalization of neofascism continues apace as the first month of the second Trump administration comes to a close. There’s a lot of fear and...
Upside-down middle finger
Dearest readers, Over the last four years, I’ve only missed one or two weeks when I don’t send out something substantial for you. I’m writing this week to...
r/schoolbudgetbs
I’ve been doing tiktok videos where I take requests to look at specific school district budget crises. I research the district using audited financial...
The philosophy of education finance
This week I’m sending along a podcast interview I did with Thinking in the Midst, hosted by Derek Gottlieb and Cara Furman. The episode is all about how and...
Three recommendations I've been giving
I recently found out about the Advancement Project’s campaign against school closures. It was so exciting to come across their well-designed and helpful...
Pasadena's path through the crisis
Written with Alan Gao There are school closures being threatened all over the country, and even more budget crises. At this writing, besides some general...
Deep discount
A few weeks ago I mentioned a book called Discounting the Future by Liliana Doganova. I was chatting with a friend who’s a historian of engineering (he’s...
Notes for a critical history of Philly's school buildings
Every year, Philly schools have to close when it’s hot. That’s because they don’t have proper air conditioning. But for some reason, this year, when the...
Messing with the books in Newberg-Dundee
This post was written with the amazing help of Alan Gao, a long-time reader of the newsletter who answered my call to help put together critical workups of...
Blocked
Last week I wrote about a bunch of conservative education policy proposals. I thought I’d do a follow up post, since over the last few days, the idea that...
MAGAed?
It’s hard to believe that Donald Trump will be president again. Even though I’m having all the feelings associated with Kamala Harris’s loss, and I’m sifting...
Public education in the US today
It’s election day tomorrow and the vibes are tense and sweeping. But I’m not going to write about the election. I’m going to do something else instead. I...
Why're you hitting yourself? (Capping in Seattle, part 2)
I recently found out that the paid subscription link for this newsletter wasn’t working, but the fine people at Buttondown have addressed the issue. If you’d...
Capping in Seattle, or: b(ii) brute?
I’ve gotten a number of messages from separate people in Seattle about the budget crisis there. After chatting with them and doing some digging, I learned...
The despair of $3.7 million
I talked with a school district official from Beloit, Wisconsin recently and in preparation for our call I put together some notes. I found an enraging...