David S. Knight | Lightnews

David Knight

@dsknight99.bsky.social

110 followers 180 following 33 posts

Associate Professor of Education Finance and Policy at the University of Washington College of Education

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David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Oct 20

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

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

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · 9d

That this warning even needs to be stated publicly is unfortunate, but no accident. It’s a product of irresponsible researchers spreading bad research. “Spending is up but test scores are down” is good click bait but we’re better than that

Cara Jackson @carajackson.bsky.social · 9d

Beware the misguided use of scatterplots to infer causation from correlation.

"Newer, quasi-experimental research finds more consistent evidence that past funding increases had positive effects on student outcomes."

via @aefplivehandbook.bsky.social: livehandbook.org/k-12-educati...

School Funding and Outcomes

Explore the impact of school spending on student outcomes. Discover key research findings, policy trends, and evidence-based insights.

livehandbook.org

Reposted by David S. Knight

Julia Duncheon @jduncheon.bsky.social · 9d

Excited to share my new chapter in dual enrollment (DE), co-authored with Reid Sagara and @dsknight99.bsky.social, just published in the Higher Education Handbook of Theory and Research. link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/...

Dual Enrollment and the Purpose of Higher Education: Mapping Our Assumptions Toward a Broader Research Agenda

Dual enrollment (DE) is an increasingly popular reform that allows high school students to enroll in college courses and earn college credit through partnerships between high schools and institutions ...

link.springer.com

Reposted by David S. Knight, Roddy Theobald

Cara Jackson @carajackson.bsky.social · 9d

School Funding and Outcomes

Explore the impact of school spending on student outcomes. Discover key research findings, policy trends, and evidence-based insights.

livehandbook.org

Reposted by David S. Knight

Bruce D. Baker @schoolfinance101.bsky.social · 9d

how to show you're not a serious contributor to conversations on money and schools: (what the actual research says: www.shankerinstitute.org/sites/defaul...)

Reposted by David S. Knight

Lavar Edmonds @lavaredmonds.bsky.social · 10d

Just came across another “Does money matter in education?” debate in the Year of Our Lord 2025. I’m tired

Screenshot of a NYT article from Paul Krugman entitled “Beware Economists Who Won’t Admit They Were Wrong”

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · 11d

If you’re attending #APPAM2025, join us this afternoon for a Communities session on early childhood policy.
We’ll have a special guest speaker you won’t want to miss!
Details below: convention2.allacademic.com/one/appam/ap...

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · 12d

Important report from Afterschool Alliance on inequitable access to after school programs.

What's driving this? As with many challenges in ed policy, a key factor is inadequate and inequitable state school finance systems:
www.the74million.org/article/shut...

Shut Out: Inequitable Access to After School Programs Grows

More than 22 million children — mostly from low-income and families of color — face barriers to care after 3 p.m., according to a new report.

www.the74million.org

Reposted by Roddy Theobald

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · 14d

It was an honor and privilege to share some of our research on K-12 school finance with the Yakima Rotary Club in Yakima, WA: www.linkedin.com/posts/yakima...
Fun fact! The Yakima Rotary Club is the 31st largest Rotary club in the world!

Yakima Rotary: School Finance in Washington State | Yakima Rotary Club (Downtown) posted on the topic | LinkedIn

💙 Rotary Recap: Understanding School Finance in Washington 🎓 Last week, Yakima Rotary welcomed Dr. David Knight as our featured speaker, introduced by Trevor Greene, for an insightful presentation on...

www.linkedin.com

Reposted by David S. Knight

Roddy Theobald @roddy-theobald.bsky.social · 14d

Really excited to have this piece out on the Brown Center Chalkboard blog with @lmasonwms.bsky.social, @afgilmour.bsky.social, & @lizbettini.bsky.social on the importance of targeted solutions to special education teacher staffing challenges. See below!

SPARC Center @sparccenter.bsky.social · 14d

"As we have demonstrated, different states face different #SpecialEducation teacher turnover problems. This suggests that the most promising solutions might vary across states."

Read more about our recent findings in our article with @brookings.edu: www.brookings.edu/articles/sta...

States face different special education staffing challenges that require targeted responses | Brookings

Special education teacher turnover varies by state, calling for targeted, locally informed policy solutions.

www.brookings.edu

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · 21d

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...

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

Reposted by David S. Knight

Roddy Theobald @roddy-theobald.bsky.social · 27d

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!

SPARC Center @sparccenter.bsky.social · 27d

📢 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

Promotional graphic for the SPARC Center’s new multi-state analysis resources. It includes a bulleted list detailing the resources, including a working paper, fact sheets with state-specific summaries, and a data visualizer tool.

Reposted by Roddy Theobald

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · 29d

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!

Flyer announcing an Oct 30th, 2025 event at AC Davis High School in Yakima, WA featuring presentations on K-12 school finance in Washington.

Reposted by David S. Knight

Balance Our Tax Code @balanceourtaxcode.bsky.social · Sep 19

Why are children still struggling for the basics in one of the wealthiest countries in the world?

itep.org/child-povert...

Children in Poverty is a Policy Choice
2021 expansion of tax credits like the CTC and EITC dramatically reduced poverty. Now we are back to unacceptable levels of children’s hardship.

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Sep 2

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...

$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

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Aug 26

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...

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

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Aug 26

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...

Top 1% to Receive $1 Trillion Tax Cut from Trump Megabill Over the Next Decade

itep.org

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.

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/...

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Aug 1

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...

Free Market Logic Fails in Schooling: A Response to Harris (2024) by David S. Knight & David E. DeMatthews – AJE Forum

sites.psu.edu

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Aug 1

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...

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

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

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...

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

Reposted by David S. Knight

National Education Policy Center @nepc.bsky.social · Jul 3

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

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

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Jun 19

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.

Comment Form

www.reginfo.gov

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Jun 4

File under headlines that should not exist:
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

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

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · May 29

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...

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

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · May 19

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

A national school voucher program got a step closer to becoming law.

stateline.org

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Apr 11

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-...

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

David Knight @dsknight99.bsky.social · Mar 31

Useful resource from AAUP (@aaup.bsky.social): www.aaup.org/sites/defaul...

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