School Finance Toolkit

District leaders face ever-increasing challenges around school finance—scarce revenues, lawsuits, new mandated reporting, and so on. These resources will demystify some of these complex realities that district leaders must navigate. Contact us with any questions.

Financial Transparency and Equity

• What is Resource Equity? (publication from March 2018)
  This document’s 9 Dimensions of Resource Equity can enable system leaders to take stock of their investments in equity and make deliberate decisions about how to reallocate and invest to align these resources with need, consistent with district strategy and context.
• From Financial Transparency to Equity, Part 1: Using ESSA to Advance Equity and Excellence
  A publication by ERS and Chiefs for Change
• School-Level Reporting Self-Assessment & Diagnostic Tool (Excel file)
  A tool to help you assess the readiness of your current school-level reporting. Get help attributing the 30-55 percent of your resources typically reported centrally in a meaningful way so the dollars reported at each school reflect what students are experiencing. This Excel tool was funded by the State Support Network.
• Is School Funding Fair?
  An Education Week roundtable debate including "A Little Transparency Goes a Long Way. Maybe." by Karen Hawley Miles and Jonathan Travers.
• Informing Equity: Student need, spending, and resource use in Oakland's public schools
  A report by ERS and The Oakland Achieves Partnership

Today’s District Challenge

• How Three Districts Are Confronting the "Triple Squeeze"
  A blog by Karen Hawley Miles
  The “triple squeeze” is a set of challenges school systems inherited and that require sustained, strategic action and political will to address. See how leaders in Baltimore, Boston, and Oakland are addressing these challenges.