Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, August 2015
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Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter

Student-Based Budgeting Newsletter, August 2015

"Student-based budgeting isn't about the dollar amount. It's about the ability to design a school."

Notable Quotable

“Student-based budgeting isn’t about the dollar amount. It’s about the ability to design a school.” John LePelley, William Cullen Bryant Elementary School Principal

Student-Based Budgeting in the News

U.S. Senate Committee Adopts Weighted Student Formula Pilot Program in ESEA Reauthorization
The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) adopted Michael Bennet’s proposal to establish a weighted student funding flexibility pilot program in the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015.

Nevada Governor Calls for Weighted Formulas
Governor Brian Sandoval spent considerable time during January’s State of the State address outlining proposed education reforms, including using weighted student formula to allocate funds.

Georgia Governor Indicates Support for Weighted Student Formula
Governor Nathan Deal’s Education Reform Commission will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of how to improve education in the state including potential changes to its Quality Basic Education funding system.

Minneapolis Public Schools Transitioning to Weighted Student Formula to Hit Performance Targets
MPS is transitioning to a weighted student formula in order to meet comprehensive performance targets laid out as part of its Acceleration 2020 plan.

Pennsylvania Disparity: Some Districts Got $10,000 per Child, Some Just $3,000 per Student
Pennsylvania’s Education Funding Commission is currently exploring ways to make the state’s funding formula more equitable.

Metro Nashville Public Schools to Increase Budgetary Discretion from 5% to 80%
Metro Nashville Public Schools continues its efforts to decentralize budgeting and empower principals via student-based budgeting, which all of the district’s 139 schools will use next year.

Jeffco Public Schools to Implement Student-Based Budgeting
Colorado’s Jeffco Public Schools is implementing student-based budgeting after two years of due diligence.

Survey Finds Hawaii Principals Strongly Support Flexibility
The Hawaii Education Institute (HEI) surveyed 144 principals statewide and found that respondents strongly supported school empowerment, including Governor Ige’s plan to expand funding allocated through the state’s weighted student formula.

California Needs to Measure Academic Progress
For the second year in a row, California’s parents, schools and education policymakers will have very little data to measure whether students, especially the most disadvantaged ones, are making progress in math and reading.

Improved Accountability System Can Help Texas’ Failing Schools
The Texas system of accountability allows underperforming schools to settle for mediocrity-adopting a recovery-style school district can help fix this.

Money Alone Can’t Buy School Equity
Years of legal, political, and bureaucratic wrangling have left Texas with a convoluted school finance system that fails to provide students with equitable funding.

Backpack Funding: The Big School Reform That Fits in a Tiny Package
Reason TV presents the case for weighted student formula as a simple solution to a widespread problem.

Annual Privatization Report 2015: Weighted Student Formula Expansion in the United States
Interest in student-based budgeting continues to grow as governors, school boards and superintendents seek to make funding more equitable and close achievement gaps.

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Student-Based Budgeting 101

Student Based Allocation 101
Edunomics Lab’s Student Based Allocation 101 provides a concise and accessible summary of student-based budgeting.

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Best Practices Spotlight

Denver Public Schools Releases Citizen’s Guide to Budget
Last fall DPS released its first Budget for Success guide, which is intended to help community stakeholders better understand its budget.

Education Resource Strategies: Student-Based Budgeting Must Be Linked With Strategic School Design
Through its work with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, ERS has created a roadmap for implementing student-based budgeting, which identifies seven factors critical to success.

Common Enrollment, Parents, and School Choice: Early Evidence from Denver and New Orleans
The Center for Reinventing Public Education has found that common enrollment systems, in which families complete a single application for any school they wish to apply to, can effectively streamline school choice systems.

Weighted Student Formula Implementation Study
REL West conducted a descriptive study that explores San Francisco Unified School District’s adoption of weighted student formula.

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Follow School Finance Groups and Experts on Twitter

Center for American Progress @EdProgress
Education Research Strategies @ERStrategies
EdBuild @EdBuild
Center for Reinventing Public Education @CRPE_UW
Afton Partners @aftonpartners
Edunomics Lab @EdunomicsLab
Public Impact @publicimpact
Reason Foundation @LisSnell
Reason Foundation @AaronGarthSmith

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