Reposted by Jess GartnerCezary Jan Strusiewicz @ostrichson.bsky.social · 07/03/2026All the wrong people have imposter syndrome. 352072408
Reposted by Jess Gartnerjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 28/10/2025i cannot believe that “mamdani calls a close adult relative an ‘aunt’ even if they are not literally their parent’s sister” is what counts as a “scandal” these days 1236221622122
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 29/08/2025I once had to buy an extra bag in Portland to take home all the books I *needed* 161
Reposted by Jess GartnerHank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 06/08/2025mRNA tech is some of the coolest, most powerful, most promising scifi shit humans are currently doing. They are being investigated to help with cancers, autoimmune diseases, M.S., stroke recovery, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and high cholesterol. 230108282204
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 05/07/2025Bagels with cream cheese and lox would like a word. 000
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 02/06/2025100% this. But I’m sure they’re going to ask me for $10 somewhere today. 041
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025Green = explicitly in WH proposal. If the line item is blank for FY26, it's proposed to be cut or consolidated. You can see the top-line year-over-year changes relative to FY25 in columns F. ***Note: because of prior year obligations, line-items don't add up perfectly (much to my chagrin). 110
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025Please let me know if anything looks off (I started getting a little loopy around 2am 😵💫) or if you have any questions! You can roll-up by budget authority categories or drill down to individual appropriations. 120
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025I'm sharing my analysis because this stuff is highly complex and it can only help to get more eyes on this and work together to figure out the details of this proposal so we can advocate to protect the programs that are most impactful for students and communities. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...docs.google.comFederal Education Budget Proposal [as of 5.31.25] 111
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025Programmatically, they propose eliminating or consolidating about 57% of prior appropriations. 110
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025I spent Friday night reconciling the new line-item proposal with the chart I already had (at least I got to listen to Reputation!) Now with the whole budget, there are more cuts (I get $13.5B relative to FY25 estimated), but the denominator is larger, so it's still about 15% proposed cut overall. 130
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025The other big 🤔 for me was WHICH grants were being consolidated to $2B. Here again, the math wasn't mathing for me. Any combination that I looked at, it seemed like the cuts would have to be much higher to achieve that outcome. Lastly, the line-item cuts didn't add up to the reported $12B cut. 110
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025The biggest 🤔 for me was that the original proposal said the current education budget was $78B, but I was coming up with numbers much higher than that in prior bills (more like $90B). Would that mean that the actual proposed cuts would be higher? (Spoiler alert: yes...) 120
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025🚨 Friday night White House budget drop 💰My analysis is linked in 🧵 The math wasn't quite adding up for me on the original White House budget proposal for Education, and the hearing with Linda McMahon last week didn't shed any light on the gaps… 133
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 23/05/2025Me trying to align the detailed FY24 and FY25 proposed appropriations bills with the “consolidated” appropriations law with the White House proposal.media.tenor.coma man in a blue shirt and tie is pointing at a bulletin board with a lot of papers on it .ALT: a man in a blue shirt and tie is pointing at a bulletin board with a lot of papers on it . 050
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 23/05/2025I spent 7 hours tonight combing through hundreds of pages of appropriation legislation documenting every program and appropriation, compared it to the White House budget proposal and still have several-billion-dollar gaps in every direction. Any other ed finance super geeks want to compare notes? 142
Reposted by Jess GartnerProPublica @propublica.org · 04/05/2025The Trump administration laid off nearly half of the Department of Education division that handles civil rights investigations and halted work on thousands of pending discrimination cases. If you were affected, we want to hear from you. Get in touch:propublica.orgHelp Us Report on How the Department of Education Is Handling Civil Rights CasesHave you recently filed a civil rights complaint or do you have a pending case? We need your help to get a full picture of how the dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights is affecting students,… 17887422
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 03/05/2025It will also be telling how they handle this block grant proposal from a legislative stand-point. Lots of options with varying implications for equity and accountability— especially with IDEA. 010
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Ok that was exactly my read, too. That’s why I think the “preserving Title” language is misleading because it’s going into a whole bucket that is getting a big cut… that’s a functional cut to Title if not an explicit one. 100
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Based on adding up all the line item cuts I think it has to be additional… but I’m trying to figure out what else is in that bucket 🤔 and it still doesn’t add up to $12b 000
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Have you seen clarity on what else is in the ($4.5B) consolidation cut? It seems to be inconsistent in terms of what they pulled out for line-item cuts. The other K-12 programs called out for cuts “only” add up to $2.7b by my count… I can’t figure out of that’s includes in the $4.5b or in addition… 210
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 02/05/2025My interpretation of the budget proposal for K-12 education 053
Reposted by Jess GartnerBruce D. Baker @schoolfinance101.bsky.social · 09/03/2025One more time - with pictures. So, first, there's this junk (intentionally deceitful) graph from Edunomics (so bad as to disqualify any future engagement in this space) I infer intentional deceit from choice of 2013 as baseline. 1136
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 07/03/2025A 10% conversion rate to (still) Married is crazy. 120
Reposted by Jess GartnerKevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 07/03/2025My daughter's daycare just sent out an email about potentially needing to layoff staff because new babies about to start withdrew because of parental job losses. So if you're wondering how government layoffs and mass contract cancellations will affect the economy, here's an example 241156213963
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 26/02/2025If you’re not interested in humanitarian aid for the sake of HUMANITY at least connect the dots between USAID providing food in areas like DNC, which reduces the possibility that children will eat a wild bat, which limits the likelihood for a deadly virus to turn into a pandemic. WE SHARE A PLANET 031
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 26/02/2025Oh-- and you'll also be footing the bill on federal taxes to pay for cuts for the 1% TL;DR: you'll be getting a lot less and paying a lot more-- for your schools, and your eggs, apparently. 3/3 031
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 26/02/2025Translation: cut federal education funding and make state legislatures and local taxing authorities pick up the bill on critical school funding. Further translation: pass the buck to taxpayers by increasing property taxes and/or sales taxes and/or PTA dues. 2/3 110
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 26/02/2025In case you missed it... The Trump administration's plan for K-12 budgets is start rolling back Title I funding to "restore revenue responsibility to the states." 1/3 120
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 19/02/2025And I call this out because I see a lot of “this may work in tech but…” takes and I want to remind everyone that IT DOESN’T WORK IN TECH EITHER in the vast majority of cases; it’s a ruthless tactic in a “winner takes all” scenario. It has *nothing* to do with efficiency or sustainability. 1123
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 19/02/2025Remember that “move fast and break things” is the motto of a sector of businesses with a 90% failure rate. The US Government cannot afford a 90% failure rate. 311837
Reposted by Jess GartnerMike Masnick @masnick.com · 13/02/2025See here's how to do a headline. fortune.com/2025/02/13/e... 229240126159
Reposted by Jess GartnerMorgan Polikoff @mpolikoff.bsky.social · 13/02/2025"'The message it perpetuates is, school spending is unrelated to student achievement. And there is very ample research that shows that to be false,' Polikoff said." www.edweek.org/policy-polit...edweek.orgDoes Money Matter for Schools? NAEP Scores Reopen the DebateA provocative set of graphs has kicked off a debate over whether—and how—more money can improve student outcomes. 152
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 14/02/2025Imagine being on the side fighting to remove protections for students with special needs.media.tenor.coma man in a military uniform is asking are we the baddies .ALT: a man in a military uniform is asking are we the baddies . 140
Reposted by Jess GartnerJen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 11/02/2025If you are a federal Education Dept employee and have details to share about DOGE folks apparently being on the 6th floor, canceling programs + contracts, my line is open to you. On Signal: jbendery.41 Email: jbendery@proton.me Don't use a govt phone or computer for this. 🙏 8866417
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 09/02/2025The oldest trick in the book is to paint any public agency spending that one doesn’t personally agree with or *understand* as “waste” or “fraud”. I see this constantly in public education, notably NOT the industry/sector known for “three martini lunches”. 062
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 05/02/2025Who could use some joy? 🙋🏻♀️ In loving memory of my friend and mentee Pava LaPere, I'm funding a series of micro-grants to foster community joy and connection, affectionately called Pava! Grants. More about the grants and application here 👇🏻 Please share! forms.gle/iDSSHci2cdRR...forms.glePava! GrantsIn memory of my dear friend Pava LaPere, and with the blessing of her family, I'm funding a series of micro-grants for fostering community, joy, and connection. A minimum of $5,000 in micro-grants wil... 051
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 01/02/2025Calling the tariffs “Trump Taxes” is genius. More of this. 011
Reposted by Jess Gartnerjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 01/02/2025i think this should be factored into how states, counties, localities and hospitals respond to these executive orders. "we will investigate you if you teach DEI." okay, with what agents, specifically? with what state capacity? 272127502436
Reposted by Jess GartnerJosh Cowen @joshcowenmi.bsky.social · 31/01/2025The two most persistent falsehoods peddled in education policy are: 1) that vouchers = “school choice” and improve student results 2) that investing in public schools has no impact Both have 10+ years of data now consistently showing otherwise. 16430
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 01/02/2025Going to show this the next time someone asks why there’s been an increase in Special Ed students “out of nowhere.” Um, yes we used to neglect and beat children instead of giving them IEPs. 0114
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 01/02/2025But plenty of people are out here making the case that “more money” in K12 = “inefficient and wasteful” while willfully ignoring factors like cost of living and student demographics that drive varying levels of costs to produce similar outcomes. 000
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 01/02/2025 That “centrally planned economy” excludes about 47% of all education funding that comes from local taxes. And my entire point is that the “need” = varying “BMR” + other growth variables, ie school districts require different levels of funding based on a set of variables. 200
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Freedom, baby! See the bold new future we can have without those pesky government agencies and regulations?! Plane crashes every 72 hours! Avian flu epidemic! Tuberculosis outbreaks! Brave new world of chaos and destruction. 030
Reposted by Jess GartnerRebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 31/01/2025I think this is an underestimated part of what's going on. The stupidity. It is true they don't care much about consequences. But also that they, notably Trump and Musk, don't understand them.... 18746136
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/01/2025School funding is nuanced but not impossible to understand. Most of us have figured out this same complexity of quantity and quality as we evaluate the foods we eat every day. K-12 finance is not rocket science, it's nutrition. 000
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Now consider macronutrients. If I eat 1800 calories in donuts, I won't build muscle. I can also eat 1200 calories full of spinach and salmon, but then my body won't have enough energy to grow. I need BOTH *enough* food AND the *right kinds* of food to fuel my body and build and repair muscles. 100
Jess Gartner @jessgartner.bsky.social · 31/01/2025If Jess Gartner School District got $14,000pp, that's the Basal Metabolic Funding Rate-- enough to stay alive, but not enough to grow. If Michael Phelps School District got $20,000pp, they wouldn't be winning any achievement medals-- it's 40% *more* than JGSD, but neither level is enough to GROW. 110
