School Funding Systems:
Equity, Transparency, Flexibility
ERS, September 2010
You’re a district leader who wants to see higher student achievement and balance your district budget — and that is getting harder. Budget cuts loom for at least another couple of years. There is pressure to use federal stimulus dollars to fill gaps and backfill longstanding programs but also to turn around struggling schools. This confluence of tough times and unprecedented federal support presents a major opportunity to transform school systems through effective funding practices.
This guide offers practical guidance for remedying specific funding problems.
- Use the Online Self-Assessment to determine whether your district is achieving the goals of equity, transparency, and flexibility.
- Learn more about equity, transparency, and flexibility, as well as the causes of misalignment between resource allocation and strategic goals.
- Apply the methodology detailed in the worksheets in this guide to figure out the extent of the misalignments in your district.
- Identify action steps you can take.
- Determine your priorities for reallocation of resources and leveraging federal dollars.
Download a print version here.
Also, consider checking out the other Practical Tools for District Transformation we have available:
