Katherine Bathgate
Senior Advisor for Education Strategy

Katherine advises state think tanks across the country on their education policy and advocacy work. She is also the CEO and Founder of SchoolForward, a communications and advocacy firm focused on education reform.

SchoolForward has fought in capitols and courthouses for education freedom. Their work includes victories such as helping pass Kentucky’s first charter school bill, Missouri’s tax credit education savings account, contributing to the defeat of more than 40 anti-charter school bills in Texas, and helping thousands of teachers across the country make informed decisions about union membership. SchoolForward led media relations for Supreme Court cases Janus v. AFSCME and Friedrichs v. CTA.

Bathgate has spent more than 15 years working at the intersection of public policy and communications. She previously led the communications and marketing team at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and from 2011-2013, she was the Deputy Press Secretary for the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce where her work won a Platinum Mouse Award from the Congressional Management Foundation.

Bathgate has a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Public Affairs from Claremont McKenna College. She resides in Park City, Utah with her husband and four children and recently helped start a classical microschool. She enjoys skiing, hiking, and raising chickens.