Transforming School Funding for Equity, Transparency, and Flexibility: An Introduction to Student-Based Budgeting

Student-Based Budgeting (SBB) has become a popular initiative for district leaders who seek to allocate scarce resources to schools, especially in the face of stubborn achievement gaps, changing and complex demographics, and shrinking federal and state support. SBB—also called weighted student funding, fair student funding, student-based allocations, or student-centered funding—is a school funding system where schools receive dollars based on the number of enrolled students and their individual needs (such as English language learners, or students from high-poverty backgrounds), and often includes giving school leaders more control over their budgets. SBB has grown remarkably over the past few years. 

In this report, we dig deeper into setting a clear vision of SBB, see what it looks like in real districts, and consider what it takes to implement.