Merging data from two U.S. government agencies shouldn’t be this arduous, but the payoff is worthwhile. I have begun the long process of updating the enrollment, per-pupil spending, labor costs and five-year trends for about 13,600 public school districts.

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas and California are up, and I plan to add a few more every day until complete. That’s bad news if you’re waiting for Wyoming, but you can just ride your bronco a few more times around the ranch in the meantime.