In March 2010, urban education leaders gathered in Baltimore, MD for the Fair Student Funding Summit, a conference that brought together districts that use weighted student funding (WSF)—also known as student-based budgeting—as an approach for allocating dollars to schools. Convened by Education Resource Strategies (ERS) and hosted by Baltimore City Public Schools, the purpose of the summit was to provide a forum for districts to share ideas on school funding, discuss what is and isn’t working, and spark new approaches. These conference proceedings document the discussion, some lessons learned and recommendations.
Summit participants included staff from a variety of district departments, including Operations, Accountability and Assessment, Academic Services, School Support, Special Education, Strategy and Program Development, Budgeting, and Finance. Of the 14 districts represented, six have implemented WSF, two have tried it and retreated, and six districts are piloting or moving toward WSF. Check out our summaries of participating districts’ background characteristics and approaches to WSF.
School Districts
Other Organizations