https://civilytics.com/newsletter/2026-06-24T20:37:07ZTurning public data into clear, actionable analysis for government and civic institutions.Civilytics Consultingjared@civilytics.comhttps://civilytics.com/newsletter/rebrand/2026-05-11T10:52:37-04:002026-05-11T10:52:37-04:00

Annoucing our new visual look and our brand new website.

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To pique your interest: Out of 1000s of school districts in the U.S., how many do you think accounted for over half of all school-based arrests of American Indian and Alaska Native students in 2021-22? Keep reading for the answer.

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What a doozy the start of this year has been.

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When you think about government constraints, what comes to mind? Money? Political will? Public opinion? Lack of staff?

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We said we’d have another newsletter coming soon…and we kept our word for once! We strive to be super reliable to clients and always meet their deadlines, but our self-imposed newsletter timelines are another story…

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In 2024, we worked with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth team to analyze data on students experiencing homelessness. We were so impressed by the team’s knowledge of the students and schools they were trying to serve – and were really struck by the number of children experiencing homelessness in Wisconsin, a state not particularly known for this issue.

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This edition of the Civic Pulse is off to a cheeky start as Jared was speculating earlier in the week about whether there are currently more coal miners or education researchers. Determining the current number of coal miners – about 40k – is easy thanks to the gold standard source of economic data: FRED. Unfortunately, education researchers don’t get our own labor category so our population count is less clear. The American Educational Research Association (AERA) claims 25k members although that includes students and international members. Considering major contractors like AIR, Mathematica, WestEd, and others as well as myriad researchers at state and local education agencies, we’ve got to be approaching 20,000 or more education researchers right? Will we merit any Emmy-award winning TV shows or Pulitzer Prize-winning books?1

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The Civic Pulse has been on an unplanned 14-month hiatus as we were blessed with lots of interesting projects keeping us busy. Now it’s back, making an unplanned reappearance, because lots of those projects were abruptly canceled last week with the termination of most contracts at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). To learn about the cancellations from a more objective perspective, please check out these articles from Education Week and The Washington Post. Why write now? We hope to achieve three things:

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Did you know that local governments (cities, counties, school districts) spent over $2.2 trillion in 2021?​*​ That’s nearly as much as all state governments combined and about ⅓ of total federal spending including Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. In other words, thousands of local government decisions across the country account for a large part of the public investment that shapes our lives.

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Early this year we were awarded a research grant from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Grant Program funded by the National Science Foundation. Our proposal was titled: Equity analysis at a large scale: Using small area estimation to get the most from the CRDC school arrest data and Hannah and I will both be serving as Co-Principal Investigators.

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The steps you need when using data to contend with power

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Plus why the timesheet and benefits portals at your job are so bad

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At Civilytics, we’ve seen firsthand the higher burden advocates face when seeking to use data to make change. That’s why we were excited to partner with Tableau on creating a 5-step guide to #defendyourdata.

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In memory of Jim Knowles

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I have a new habit when I’m brushing my teeth at night – counting vacant houses. Last night I counted 6 vacant units visible out my window. This is in the middle of one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. Vacant houses are on my mind personally (I live in a home that was formerly vacant) and professionally as a shortage of housing sends prices skyward nationwide.

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Understanding how state and local governments are spending their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds can be challenging, but several groups have put together excellent trackers to aid in this quest. This post highlights key features (and a few limitations) of four trackers.

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Jared recently talked with Leanpub co-founder Len Epps on the podcast Frontmatter. This post has 5 fun facts Jared shared in the episode.

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A retrospective on the use of data in the school closure debate

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Civilytics made 5 requests to Treasury in our comments on the Interim Rule this summer, and we were eager to see how they responded this month. Here we share a recap of our original comments, Treasury’s recent responses, and our takeaways.

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The final rules are now available for the American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Here we briefly review changes in the final rules and what they mean for how local governments can use funds.

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