Scholars

David Dorsey is a Senior Education Policy Fellow with Kansas Policy Institute. His primary emphasis in this role is combining his time spent as a public school teacher with policy research on issues related to K-12 finance, student achievement, and education reform. Prior to joining KPI, David spent 20 years as a public school elementary teacher, seventeen in Kansas. He was both a classroom and specialty teacher and served in various leadership capacities in those schools. David finished his teaching career with eight years as a mathematics interventionist at Lowman Hill Elementary School in Topeka USD 501 working with at-risk students. Prior to teaching he spent 15 years working in state and local government in Arizona as a city administrator, research analyst for the Phoenix Police Department, and a program evaluator for the largest state agency in Arizona. He earned a Master of Arts in Political Science from Arizona State University with an emphasis on research and statistical analysis in 1980. David was born and raised in South Dakota and received a BS degree from the University of South Dakota in 1977 with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics.

Vance Ginn, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow at Kansas Policy Institute, President of Ginn Economic Consulting, and Host of the Let People Prosper Show. He collaborates with more than 20 influential organizations across America to advance a pro-growth approach that lets people prosper. His expertise spans across sustainable budgeting, tax relief, labor markets, education freedom, patient empowerment, and more, crafting key local, state, and federal reforms. From June 2019 to May 2020, he was the Associate Director of Economic Policy (“Chief Economist”) at the first Trump White House’s Office of Management and Budget, where he worked on key policy initiatives. Frequently featured in major outlets like Fox Business and The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Ginn’s insights translate complex economic topics into simple, actionable paths to unlock poverty. Raised in a lower-income, single-mother household in South Houston, Texas, he is a first-generation college graduate who earned his doctorate in economics from Texas Tech University. He lives near Austin, Texas, with his family and is committed to fostering prosperity and freedom for all.

John Merrifield, Ph.D., an Education Policy Fellow at KPI, is a member of the economics faculty at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a position he has held since 1987, the Editor of the Journal of School Choice, and Director of the E.G. West Institute for Effective Schooling. He has published The School Choice Wars, School Choices, Parental Choice as an Education Reform Catalyst: Global Lessons, 45 peer-reviewed journal articles, and several chapters in edited books in his primary teaching and research fields of Education Economics, Urban and Regional Economics, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, and Public Finance. Merrifield received a B.S. in Natural Resource Management from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1977, a M.A. in Economic Geography from the University of Illinois in 1979, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wyoming in 1984.

Barry W. Poulson, Ph.D., an Adjunct Fiscal Policy Fellow at KPI, is a professor (retired) at the University of Colorado – Boulder and is the past president of the North American Economics and Finance Association. Additionally, he has served as a visiting professor at universities around the world including the University of North Carolina, Cambridge University in England, and Konan University in Japan. Beyond academia, Dr. Poulson has served in advisory roles to government and elected officials as a member of the Colorado Tax Commission, Vice Chair of the State Treasurer’s Advisory Group on Constitutional Amendments, and a member of the Commission to Strengthen and Secure the Public Employees Retirement Association. Dr. Poulson also serves in scholarly roles with Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, the Independence Institute, and the American Legislative Exchange Council. He is the author of numerous books and articles on a variety of economic topics and his “Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights” model legislation has been considered by many different state legislative bodies.

Jonathan Williams is an adjunct Fiscal Policy Fellow. He is Chief Economist and Vice President of the Center for State Fiscal Reform for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where he works with state legislators and the private sector to develop free-market fiscal policy solutions in the states. Prior to joining ALEC, Jonathan served as staff economist at the non-partisan Tax Foundation, authoring numerous tax policy studies. His work has been featured in many publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Forbes and Investor’s Business Daily. With Dr. Arthur Laffer and Steve Moore, Williams co-authored Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer Economic Competitiveness Index. Jonathan has been a contributing author to the Reason Foundation’s Annual Privatization Report and has written for the Ash Institute at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. A Mid-Michigan native, Williams graduated magna cum laude from Northwood University in Midland, Mich., majoring in economics, banking/finance, and business management. While at Northwood, he was the recipient of the prestigious Ludwig von Mises Award in Economics.

Ben Scafidi is a professor of economics and director of the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University. He is also a Friedman Fellow with EdChoice (the legacy foundation of Milton and Rose Friedman), a senior fellow with the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, and was recently appointed by Governor Brian Kemp to serve a second stint on the Georgia Charter Schools Commission. Previously, he served as the director of education policy for the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program, the first chair of the state of Georgia’s Charter Schools Commission, a member of the Charter Advisory Committee, the Education Policy Advisor to Governor Sonny Perdue, a staff member to both of Governor Roy Barnes’ Education Reform Study Commissions, and as an expert witness for EdChoice and the Institute for Justice in education choice litigation and the state of Georgia in school funding litigation. He has written widely on education and urban policy. He received a BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in Economics from the University of Virginia.