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Matthew Gardner Kelly

@mgardnerkelly.bsky.social
764 followers 476 following 99 posts

Assistant Professor at UW. History and school finance. Book: Dividing the Public. Retweets are not endorsements. Opinions are my own. 🏳️‍🌈 Seattle, WA. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9…

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Reposted by Matthew Gardner Kelly
Bruce D. Baker @schoolfinance101.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This - again and again: schoolfinance101.com/2026/06/16/m...
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Erica Frankenberg @efrankenberg.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Today, our team at @advancedequity.bsky.social is releasing an Interactive Dashboard harmonizing a full decade of the Civil Rights Data Collection and makes it explorable across U.S. school districts & states. @maithgopalan.bsky.social Explore 👉 advancedequity.org
advancedequity.org
AdvancED Equity
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Education Law Center-PA @edlawcenterpa.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
New report: The Impact of Pennsylvania’s Adequacy Supplement shows its first year helped districts hire staff, cut class sizes, expand career and technical education, strengthen early literacy, and improve student well-being. Read the full report: paschoolswork.org/adequacy-rep...
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Bruce D. Baker @schoolfinance101.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
If I hear another f--ng interview about how the long run learning loss which started pre-covid (esp in reading) is probably caused by social media and failure to implement Science of Reading, while totally ignoring the post-recession great disinvestment - for which we already have causal evidence...
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
There's a major civil rights protest taking place in Selma, Alabama, right now in response to the SCOTUS decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act and the ongoing attack on Black Americans’ political power (video: defiancedispatch/IG)
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doctor of softboyology @vea.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
For every “semester over” post I see in May I will produce three “quarter hasn’t started yet” posts in September 😎
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Matthew Gardner Kelly @mgardnerkelly.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
While this is my second tenure letter, the first came at Penn State as I was leaving for UW, so it never took effect. Excited this one will!
Letter announcing official tenure approval
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Matthew Gardner Kelly @mgardnerkelly.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
My 5-minute EduTalk on history in education schools during our current moment: small fragments, silences, and how history changes how we see what’s in front of us
youtu.be
2026 EduTalks | Solving for X: “History Helps Us See” - Matthew Gardner Kelly
YouTube video by University of Washington College of Education
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
This was the worse case scenario, which I think I wrote about a couple months ago.
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Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
The inevitable next stage of academic publishers profiting from academics' work is here - scraping it for AI then charging subscriptions for access to the AI summaries, and then again for the citations. Academic content assetization as we called it in a recent paper. www.science.org/content/arti...
Screenshot reads:

She and other publishing specialists question whether LeapSpace’s limited reach is worth the cost. Users will need either an institutional subscription (based in part on the institution’s size and amount of research) or an individual one, which costs $32 a month. Many libraries are already struggling to afford existing subscriptions. And if users want to read the cited content, they will need a separate subscription to that content’s publisher—akin to paying for multiple video-streaming services.
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The Needling @theneedling.com · 24/12/2025
Gov. Ferguson Backs Millionaire Tax After Ghost of Christmas Future Shows Him Losing In 2028 If He Doesn’t: tinyurl.com/ye25s9zp
Black-robed Ghost of Christmas Future pointing forward as Gov. Ferguson stands behind him scared in a striped night cap and pajamas in front of the Washington state capitol building in Olympia.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Kavanaugh tries to put the "Kavanaugh Stops" genie back in the bottle
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Ansley Erickson @ansleyerickson.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
NYC teachers and friends of same - please share this great learning opportunity. A day at the NY Historical Society to invigorate and expand how you teach Civil Rights Movement history. #nyc #nyccivilrightshistory #maemallory #harlem9
facinghistory.org
Civil Rights and Schools: From Little Rock to NYC
This workshop focuses on efforts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 and in Harlem in 1958. This event will be in-person.
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doctor of softboyology @vea.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Just a perfect dog looking up at the camera against a medium brown wood floor
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Matthew Gardner Kelly @mgardnerkelly.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
We said goodbye to Rainn, just shy of 16. From a NYC shelter, he once ate rat poison, beat cancer multiple times, and never left our sides. With me through teaching, grad school, the pandemic, and academia. Grateful for every day we had, including his last. His adoption video: youtu.be/VBmptgBgZms
Dog on persons lap handsome older dog
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Diane Ravitch🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦🗽🇨🇱🏳️‍🌈✡️🇨🇦 @dianeravitch.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
My first interview about my new book! www.americatrendspodcast.com
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Mike Glass @m-r-glass.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Today is the official publication day for CRACKED FOUNDATIONS!! 🏠🥳🎉 For the next month, Penn is offering a discount of 40% off using the code UHA25. Which brings the price down to $20.97. A screaming deal! www.pennpress.org/978151282822...
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Preston Green @drprestongreen.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Forbes picked up our article explaining how designating rural school districts as "education preserves" can protect them from charter and voucher expansion. www.forbes.com/sites/peterg...
forbes.com
Do We Need Rural School Preserves?
A new paper argues that rural school districts are facing an existential threat, and proposes a new sort of preserve to safeguard these districts and the students that they serve.
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Zahava Stadler @zahavastadler.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
This is a truly wild stat. "TN will spend an average of $7,023 per public school student... compared to the $7,295 given to [voucher] students." If a state invests more in those leaving public schools than in strengthening the system that serves all comers, what does that say about its priorities?
chalkbeat.org
Tennessee voucher total outpaces average per-pupil funding for public school students
Tennessee will allocate an average of $7,023 per public school student in the state, nearly $300 less than a new private school voucher. Though public school students will receive more public funds overall given a local government contribution, Democrats and education advocates are criticizing the disparity.
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
The fact that the thing we're calling artificial intelligence *can't do math* and yet we're jamming it into programs that successfully *have done math* for decades, then warning people against using the AI to do math, seems like an excellent summary of where we are.
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Ansley Erickson @ansleyerickson.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Education policy people, this fight over what counts as the nation's history is not just about historians. With great co-authors (Leana Cabral, @esthercyna.bsky.social, Michael Hines, @mgardnerkelly.bsky.social) I got to write and think about how ideas about the past shape ed policy. Timely!
This chapter examines varying kinds of interaction between education policy and history to
argue that U.S. education policy has long been influenced by false and distorting views of the past.
This is true across many areas of education policymaking, but we argue that it is most visible—
and perhaps has been most powerful—in policymaking about the education of Black students. U.
S. education policy has often been built on ideas of African American lives and communities, andof the nation as a whole, that minimize Black educational striving and accomplishment and trade
on pathologizing views of Black families in the past and present. These narratives often ignore the
multiple policy mechanisms that help create, undergird, and sustain educational inequality that
harms Black students and poor students and their families while allowing resource hoarding by
White and wealthier families. It does not have to be this way. Education policy can turn to more
factually sound interpretations of the past. We show that recent work in African American
educational history and the history of racism in U.S. education can provide an accurate base for,
and help inform and shape, current policymaking
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Boom.
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Oh yea we've got tons of evidence for this
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Chris Saldaña @cmsaldana.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Head Start programs receive 0.18% of the total federal budget. This translates to $12.3 billion out of a $6.8 trillion federal budget. This isn't about closing federal deficits, it's about being cruel and challenging constitutional precedent protecting undocumented kids. www.wpr.org/news/new-tru...
wpr.org
New Trump rule bans undocumented immigrant families from Head Start
Immigrant families lacking permanent legal status will no longer qualify for federally funded preschool through the Head Start program, the Trump administration announced this week.
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Alex Hyres @hyres376.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
As the secretary of @aeraedresearch.bsky.social Division F, I have created a Blusky account. If you are interested in history of education or related topics, then give us a follow @aeradivf-history.bsky.social #histed #edhist
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Joshua Weishart @joshuaweishart.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
It's not a "funding freeze" or "hold." It's an unlawful seizure of federal funds and it's categorically unconstitutional. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
wsj.com
Trump’s $7 Billion Education Funding Freeze Blindsides Schools
Superintendents are scrambling to figure out what to do with programs funded by the money now under review.
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treb @treblaw.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Received an email that our son's after-school program, which has helped immensely throughout his foster and adoption journey, had its funding frozen and is in danger of completely shutting down this summer and beyond. It's illegal and it's immoral and it's just plain cruel. I will never forget this
penncapital-star.com
Trump administration withholds $230 million for Pennsylvania schools • Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Education advocates said the failure to release the funds was reckless and unlawful and would affect the state's most vulnerable students.
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Mark Lieberman @marklieberman.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
The latest on Trump’s education funding freeze: Some programs are starting to shut down, districts are rejiggering budgets, and everyone is scrambling to make sense of the chaos. More on $6.8 billion withheld from K-12 schools: www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
edweek.org
Schools and States Scramble as Trump Freezes $6.8 Billion in Federal Funds
After-school programs, English-learner services, migrant education programs, and professional development are all at risk.
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Rebecca Spang @rlspang.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
So, here it is. Thanks to a new state law that was NEVER DEBATED, Indiana University has committed itself to abolishing majors in African-American/African Diaspora Studies: American Studies; Art History; French; Italian; Religious Studies etc. DOZENS of majors. www.ipm.org/news-section...
ipm.org
Indiana public colleges cut almost 20% of degrees
Public Indiana colleges and universities have eliminated 19 percent of their degree programs to meet requirements added to the state’s budget, according to the Commission for Higher Education.
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 01/07/2025
UPDATE: The Indiana legislature announced that, across the state's public universities, it will immediately eliminate 75 programs, suspend/teach-out 101, and force 232 to consolidate or be eliminated. Not surprisingly, these closures disproportionately affect arts, humanities, and social science.
List of programs for elimination from the Indiana state legislature
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Just Education Policy Institute @justedpolicy.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
With generous support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Spencer Foundation, we are pleased to be offering the Just Education Policy Institute for doctoral students interested in research to reduce racial inequality in education policy this fall. Applications are open, due June 30.
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Just Education Policy Institute @justedpolicy.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
🎉 Applications for the 2025 Just Education Policy Institute are now open! 🎉 Applications are due Jun 30. JEP 2025 will be held Oct 15-18, 2025 in Washington, DC. JEP helps developing scholars learn how, as a community, to conduct research that advances racial justice in education policy.
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Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 06/06/2025
The public meltdown happening between the world’s richest man 🙄 and the President of the United States 🙄🙄 once again begs the age-old question: are men simply too emotional to be in positions of power?
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Bruce D. Baker @schoolfinance101.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
So, who is pulling together the team to draft Project 2029 (and interim steps toward it)? We need long term plans for: 1) the courts & upholding constitutional rights & core values 2) education (early childhood through graduate) 3) rebuilding science 4) public health 5) housing equality/access...
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Erica Frankenberg @efrankenberg.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
On this day before the 71st anniversary of the Brown v Board of Education decision that declared school segregation inherently unequal, sharing a new publication written for the 70th anniversary examining why integration is eroding (open access): 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Eroding Integration: 21st Century Segregation Trends in U.S. Public and Charter Schools and Implications for the Enduring Promise of Brown - Erica Frankenberg, Caprial Farrington, Elizabeth H. DeBray,...
Drawing on Boddie’s adaptive discrimination framework, this article analyzes changes in demographic trends from 2002–2021. Our findings reveal a continuation of...
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Matthew Gardner Kelly @mgardnerkelly.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
This is great news! Congratulations, Ericka!
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Our EEPA paper on the media's role in shaping our understanding of student loans, race, and racism is here! Email me if you don't have access & want a copy. One of my fav papers for a few reasons but, most of all, it's my first paper with my husband 😍 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/...
Screenshot of the top of the article published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Title is Race below the fold: The absence of race in the news media's coverage of student loans. Written by me, Lauren Shook, Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza, and Christopher Bennett. Abstract reads: The media discourse on student loans plays a significant role in the way that policy actors conceptualize challenges and potential solutions related to student debt. This study examines language that explicitly indicates race and racism in student loan articles published in eight major newspapers from 2006 to 2021. We found that 18% of articles use any of this language, though use has accelerated since 2018. This increase appears driven by terms that denote groups of people instead of structural problems, with 8% of articles mentioning “Black” in a racialized context but less than 1% mentioning “racism.” These findings emphasize the importance of treating the media as a policy actor capable of shaping the salience of racialization in discussions about student loans.
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Ansley Erickson @ansleyerickson.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Joining with TC colleagues to say, among other things, that elite universities need to see and hopefully act in solidarity with K-12 educators and school systems in this moment we are all under attack.
columbiaspectator.com
Trump threatens all education, not just universities
On April 21, former interim University President Katrina Armstrong <a href="https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/03/21/columbia-to-acquiesce-to-trump-administrations-demands-amid-federal-fundin...
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Matthew Gardner Kelly @mgardnerkelly.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
OAH was a bright moment in an otherwise troubled time. We had a great session, I was honored to receive DeSantis Book Prize from SHGAPE for Dividing the Public, and I got to see Myra Armstead--a phenomenal historian, my undergraduate adviser, and the person who convinced me to become a historian!
image of a certificate that says Vincent P DeSantis Book Prize for book Dividing the Public: School Finance and the Creation of Structural InequityTwo people smiling at a conference
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Hannah Alpert-Abrams @halperta.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
I spent the last five years serving public history, arts, and culture at NEH. Please take a moment to let your representatives know you support NEH. Or read on and I can tell you a little bit about why I believe in public funding for the humanities.
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Ansley Erickson @ansleyerickson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
These are their names. You may not agree with every action these people have ever made. But please recognize that this is ideological persecution, likely aided by digital surveillance evidence, and with no due process. 1/ Mahmoud Khalil (Columbia) (still detained) www.aclu.org/.../a-letter....
aclu.org
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Matthew Gardner Kelly @mgardnerkelly.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
I’m quoted in this NPR article trying to communicate the devastation from the loss of the dedicated staff at NCES who made sure critical data was collected to ensure low income and rural schools receive the formula funds they need to serve their students. www.npr.org/2025/03/21/n...
npr.org
How the Education Department cuts could hurt low-income and rural schools
With cuts to nearly all the staff at the Department of Education's primary data agency, low-income and rural schools may not get the federal funds they rely on in coming years.
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Ansley Erickson @ansleyerickson.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
I have a family story + scholarly interpretation of it that I think/hope is politically potent at this moment. Am trying the regular op-ed route, but starting to imagine other media too. If you are/know of an illustrator/animator, especially who is from or knows Montana, pls be in touch.
Wolf Creek bridge on the Missouri River on a sunny day. Green meadow grassed next to the water reflecting the blue sky. Steel bridge across the water.
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Bruce D. Baker @schoolfinance101.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Summing up the damages
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