Vol 30 - Mike Kirst Digs In

In this special episode of WonkyFolk, Andy Rotherham and Jed Wallace sit down with education policy legend Dr. Mike Kirst—a man whose career spans six decades of shaping education in California and beyond.From working in the Office of Management and Budget under the Great Society programs to chairing the California State Board of Education under two governors, Kirst shares an insider’s view of how education policy gets made—and remade. He walks us through his incredible journey from Harvard to Washington to Stanford, including his role in designing Title I, navigating political upheaval, and helping reinvent California’s education finance system.You’ll hear:How Mike stumbled into K–12 education policymaking—and never leftBehind-the-scenes stories from the federal and state levelsReflections on the evolution of school finance reformThoughts on what California’s education system got right—and still needs to fixThis is a masterclass in education policy, history, and political resilience from someone who’s truly seen it all.Show Notes: Andy on the ESA division question: https://eduwonk.substack.com/p/will-the-trump-administration-goOverview of California's "Local Control Funding Formula" (LCFF) enacted in 2013-14: https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/lc/lcffoverview.asp