Mary Perry

mperry
Mary Perry
Education Consultant and Former Vice President of Education,
California State PTA

Mary Perry is an independent education consultant specializing in K-12 education policy research, writing, and analysis. She served as vice president of education for the California State PTA and was deputy director of EdSource for 18 years, where she became a recognized expert on California’s public school finance system and authored numerous publications on the subject. She was also an adjunct lecturer in the Educational Doctorate program at San Francisco State University and a governing board member for the Campbell Union School District. Perry is currently a volunteer with the Climate Ready Schools Coalition, CA State PTA, and Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, working to connect climate change and education policy. She earned her BA in journalism from the University of Oregon and an MA in liberal arts from Stanford University.

updated 2025

Contributing topics
Access, quality & alignment in early childhood education
College access & postsecondary success
Continuous school improvement & support
Education finance
Educational governance & policy
Educator workforce & effectiveness
Understanding, measuring & improving student outcomes
Contributing initiatives
Getting Down To Facts II
LCFF Research Collaborative
Mary Perry in the Media
: Summer Learning—A Smart Investment for California School Districts
: 24 Ideas for Improving the Local Control Funding Formula
: Expanding Learning: A Powerful Strategy for Equity
: Report Questions Impact of Brown’s Finance Formula on Career Tech
Publications by Mary Perry
R_Perry_Feb20
What’s Next for California Schools?
A Progress Report One Year After Getting Down to Facts II
The 2018 Getting Down to Facts II research project drew attention to California’s continued need to focus on the achievement gap, strengthen the capacity of educators in support of continuous improvement, and attend to both the adequacy and…
Approaches to Reducing Chronic Absenteeism
California has added student attendance to its accountability system to emphasize its importance, but chronic absenteeism's causes are not well-understood. Schools face the expectation to address absenteeism, but myths about attendance persist. The…
Promising Practices in Local Stakeholder Engagement in School Governance
Community engagement remains one of the most challenging expectations of California’s Local Control  Funding Formula (LCFF), so much so that state leaders have funded an
Summer Learning
A Smart Investment for California School Districts
Flexible funding formulas have made high-quality summer learning programs more accessible for school districts seeking to close the achievement gap. Programs that combine engaging summer camp activities with intentional learning goals can help…