Benito Aranda-Comer (he/him) is a TK-12 Policy Analyst at EdTrust-West. Before joining EdTrust-West, Benito was an 8th-grade English Language Arts teacher in Houston, Texas, where he is from. As a classroom teacher, Benito had the distinct opportunity to serve his students by facilitating rigorous coursework that reflected their lived experiences and pushed them to continually develop their own capabilities. Benito’s experience in a public charter school system further highlighted the existing inequities faced by students of color and served as a wake-up call about the realities at play for students and educators alike. Benito saw firsthand, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, how the nation’s most vulnerable students could be affected and how communities still demonstrated their values of resilience and commitment to students. Though chronic issues in the profession were constantly emphasized throughout daily work, the dedication of educators and their belief that all children could succeed remain key motivating factors in supporting their work through policy advocacy.
In response to the global pandemic and to confront the systemic issues plaguing our education system, Benito chose to pursue his Master of Public Policy at Georgetown University to equip himself with the tools needed to advocate for his community. During his graduate studies, Benito also worked as a research associate at FutureEd, an independent, solution-oriented think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. There, he authored several explainer pieces on topics including trauma-informed teaching practices and compiled information from legislative bills on teacher pay. Benito was also the Co-President of the McCourt Education Policy Initiative and leveraged every opportunity to engage in education-related instruction and skill acquisition.
Benito holds a B.A. in both History and Latin American Studies and a minor in Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities from Rice University. He also has an MPP from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and a Certificate in Education Finance from their Edumonics Lab.
