ERS Team

Principal Associate

Email Walter

Through three years of district work at ERS, Walter has developed substantial expertise in funding system design. Currently, Walter supports the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) to refine the student-based budgeting system, grounded in the post-COVID vision for the desired student experience. He facilitates decision-making across finance and academic leadership to generate SBB allocations for the upcoming school year.

Walter worked with the Texas Education Agency to provide technical assistance to define the funding system for schools within the System of Great Schools network. As part of this work, Walter built capacity among finance staff across three Texas districts.

Walter led the development of ERS's Strategy Resource Blitz service line, a week-long comprehensive analysis to identify current resource use patterns and recommend promising shifts related to human capital, funding, portfolio, school design and school support. In other ERS projects, Walter has worked public school districts in Massachusetts, New Orleans, LA; Memphis, TN; Jackson, Mississippi; and Allen Parish, LA.

Before ERS, Walter worked at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, thinking about how student-centered learning can be used as a lever for racial equity in New England. Prior to that, Walter graduated from Bowdoin College with a BA with honors in Sociology and Education. There, his independent research focused on the intersection of race and class in determining access and inclusion in higher education.