SPEND Initiative

We are securing the future of critical national datasets while modernizing the infrastructure behind them. We provide the objective foundation necessary for effective governance, robust research, and evidence-based decision-making in public education.

About the SPEND Initiative

Accurate and comparable education finance data is the essential foundation for effective governance and robust research. The Strategic Public Education National Data (SPEND) Initiative is a non-partisan organization and a fiscally sponsored project of Education Resource Strategies (ERS). Our mission is to maintain and modernize the technical pipeline that improves the accuracy, comparability, and timeliness of education finance data. We aim to provide a stable, objective data foundation—a modern data utility that serves the needs of researchers, state and district leaders, and the broader education field.

Why Work at SPEND?

• Build Something from Scratch: SPEND is a new organization with a still-developing external presence—and this role is how that changes. You won’t be maintaining someone else’s communications infrastructure. You’ll be designing it, building the audience, and establishing the voice that the field will come to associate with SPEND.
• Work at the Intersection of Technical Rigor and Public Impact: The data SPEND produces underpins billions of dollars in education funding and decades of research on resource allocation. The communications challenge here is real: making technically complex, genuinely important work accessible and findable to the researchers, state and district leaders, and policymakers who need it.
• Shape How a Field Understands a Critical Problem: Education finance data infrastructure is fragmented, inconsistent, and at risk. SPEND exists to fix that—and this role is how we make sure the right people know it. You’ll have a direct hand in how the field perceives and engages with one of the most consequential data challenges in public education.
• Join a Mission-Focused Team with Institutional Stability: Contribute as a foundational member of a new initiative supported by a multi-year general operating grant and the established operational infrastructure of ERS.