Matthew Ladner

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matthew Ladner

My background story

What I did before joining Step Up For Students

What do I do on my day off?

How to reach out?

04/22/25 | Matthew Ladner

The inevitable is always certain but not always punctual: self-driving school carpools

Back in 2017, techno-optimist Jason Bedrick made the skeptical Robert Pondiscio a bet on the adoption rate for self-driving cars in the Phoenix area: “Robert and I are putting our...

04/17/25 | Matthew Ladner

Texas choice triumph calls for celebration and a shift for the movement

Texas school choice opponents are strong. I recall going to look up the number of lobbyists on retainer by groups opposed to choice during the 2013 legislative session, and the...

04/15/25 | Matthew Ladner

Lessons from SNAP wargames

On Dec. 16, 2017, the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture held a committee hearing on “Pros and Cons of Restricting SNAP Purchases.” SNAP is a federally financed food assistance program...

04/08/25 | Matthew Ladner

Open enrollment is the King Kong of Arizona district enrollment loss

If you look at enrollment trends in the Arizona districts with the largest total enrollment losses, look at the Arizona Open Enrollment report and the Quarterly ESA report, you get...

04/01/25 | Matthew Ladner

Arizona continues to build Schools to Nowhere

In examining the 2024 NAEP results for Arizona, a rather stark picture emerged that Arizona charter and Arizona districts had strongly diverged– Arizona charter schools show academic recovery, whereas Arizona...

03/25/25 | Matthew Ladner

Texas 2025 debate resurrects Edgewood Horizon claims

The current debate over ESAs in Texas has brought irresponsible claims about the Edgewood Horizon program back to life. A voucher program funded by philanthropists, Edgewood Horizon made all Edgewood...

03/18/25 | Matthew Ladner

It all keeps adding up

I received some interesting responses to last week’s post where I showed some math on how few votes it could have swung control of the Arizona State Senate in the...

03/04/25 | Matthew Ladner

Arizona legislative races may have swung on K-12 choice in 2024

Arizona’s politics might be described as “Chaotic Purple,” but 2024 elections proved quite red at the state legislative level, with Republicans making gains in both the Arizona Senate and House....

02/25/25 | Matthew Ladner

Nation’s report card has better grades for charter schools

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) created a new measure of socioeconomic status for the 2024 exams. This is a welcome addition, and a better measure of student economic...

02/18/25 | Matthew Ladner

Why school systems fail

Authors Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson distinguished between “inclusive” and “extractive” institutions in their 2012 book “Why Nations Fail.” Inclusive political institutions allow broad political participation and are a...

02/11/25 | Matthew Ladner

Can Arizona regain the lost golden age of NAEP improvement?

“Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Find...

02/04/25 | Matthew Ladner

Nation’s Report Card documents continued academic decline

The NAEP released 2024 results last week, and the results continued to disappoint, especially for disadvantaged student groups. While scores began to recover among high end performers, the decline continued...

01/27/25 | Matthew Ladner

Bootleggers don’t find religious tolerance convenient or profitable

In 2022 I wrote a piece here at Next Steps declaring myself President of the “Religious Charter Schools Should Be Permitted, Mandatory and Non-existent” club. Every other group under the...

01/21/25 | Matthew Ladner

Shall we play a game?

Australian defense economist/YouTube PowerPoint superstar Perun has provided another insightful video which is must-see viewing for anyone seeking to understand politics. US Navy Procurement Disasters – The Littoral Combat Ship...

01/14/25 | Matthew Ladner

Can you get ‘enough’ school variety?

Last week I had an opportunity to speak in Boise, Idaho, on school choice and the Arizona experience. In an interview on NPR, I addressed claims by choice opponents that...

01/07/25 | Matthew Ladner

Growth vs. decline

The Brennan Center has released projections of congressional reapportionment following the 2030 Census. The Brennan Center projects Florida and Texas to be the big winners, with each state gaining four...

12/24/24 | Matthew Ladner

ESA opponents endorse Anarcho-Capitalism in surprise move

When I was in graduate school, one of my fellow students described the movie Sudden Death to me. Something about terrorists, the vice president, a professional hockey game and Jean-Claude...

12/17/24 | Matthew Ladner

ProPublica goes full Dale Gribble

The television classic “King of the Hill” included a character known as Dale, who despite being a conspiracy theorist is entirely oblivious to the fact that that his wife is...

12/10/24 | Matthew Ladner

Ivy League Plus: Destructive or overrated?

David Brooks has a piece in the Atlantic called How the Ivy League Broke America: The meritocracy isn’t working We need something new that is generating a lot of...

12/04/24 | Matthew Ladner

Surpluses are just a party, and parties…

During World War II the British kept a group of stately manors for high-ranking German military prisoners. The British treated them well in these gilded cages, giving them full access...