Financial Decision Making Exploring Resource Allocation Across Schools

Financial Decision. Making: Exploring Resource Allocation Across Schools September 25, 2020 Marguerite Roza Hannah Jarmolowski Photo is for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the photo is a model.

Moving from Transparency to Decision-making Thank you, Liz Ross! Welcome, Hannah Jarmolowski! Hannah at hj 254@Georgetown. edu 2

Financial Stimulus Update US ED Per-Pupil Expenditure Transparency Site Agenda Spending by School: Visualization and Decisions • SEA and RC role SEA Questions / Future Topics 3

Stimulus Update Whiteboard Advisors: Insiders’ view of likelihood of a Phase 4 stimulus: “One would think the politics would pressure all to a deal. But the D politics against an apparent Trump win seems to be trumping ordinary politics. Whethere’s a stimulus package after the election depends on the outcome of the election. The uncertainty of the election makes it too difficult to predict a deal even then. If the Ds win it all, the deal will be HUGE, and unparalleled in history. If the Rs win or it’s shared, getting a deal will depend on how much the economy necessitates one. ” 4

ED Launches One Stop Shop With School-by-School PPE! A. Why? B. Where’d they get the data? C. Why isn’t my state included? D. Are the PPE comparable across states? E. Does it include student mix? Student. Spending. ed. gov F. Are there errors? Some SEAs offer richer data displays. Direct link to each SEA’s display is available 5 at: https: //edunomicslab. org/our-research/data-hub/

ED Site Allows Comparison of PPE Across All Schools in a District Why is it important to see PPE for all schools in a district? 6

A. Up ’til now, ed finance has focused mostly on how much $ came to the district B. But that ignores major decisions happening at districts on how to spend that $ Districts decide how to spend $700 billion in public funds ≫Anoka-Hennepin (MN) $568 million ≫Cypress-Fairbanks ISD (TX) $1. 2 billion ≫Douglas County (CO) $689 million ≫Hillsborough County (FL) $2. 7 billion ≫Fresno Unified (CA) $1. 4 billion This money gets spent via gobs of choices: Pay for Senior Teachers Staffing Decisions LIFO, CBAs Extracurricular Enhancements © 2019 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

K J I H G F E D C B A Higher-Poverty (%FRL) Lower-Poverty (%FRL) ZZ XX YY VV W W TT UU 38% SS RR $10 129 $10 557 $11 081 $11 311 $11 404 $11 614 $11 657 $11 722 $11 778 $11 872 $11 919 $12 076 $12 089 $12 113 $12 163 $12 352 $12 387 $12 438 $12 470 $12 549 $12 654 $12 722 $13 033 $13 059 $13 063 $13 120 $13 164 $13 220 $13 242 $13 256 $13 363 $13 372 $13 463 $13 686 $13 896 $13 905 $13 938 $13 969 $13 981 $14 141 $14 648 $14 908 $15 168 $15 527 $15 760 $15 770 $16 092 $16 378 $16 611 Chat any reactions! What stands out? PP QQ OO LL M M NN JJ KK II HH GG EE FF DD CC BB Z AA Y X W V U T S R Q P O N L M ol ho Sc Federal $ State and Local $ $19 292 Poll: If uneven spending is caused by uneven salaries, should districts care? Y/N 97 % 33% 97 % 96 % 38% East Baton Rouge Elementary Schools (FY 19) $7, 000 8

$ 15 511 Lawrence Public Schools Elementary Schools (FY 19) $ 12 976 $ 13 248 $ 13 539 $ 13 755 $ 13 891 $ 13 926 $ 14 135 $ 14 137 $ 14 605 $ 12 346 Highest poverty school Second highest poverty school Poll: Assuming a district needs to make a 5% cut, do you think the district should A. Make uniform cuts to affect all staff/schools equally B. Tailor cuts to current spending levels and poverty levels C. Other - Specify in the chat South Lawrence East Frost Parthum Wetherbee Hennessey Tarbox Oliver Partnership Leahy Guilmette Bruce Comm Day Arlington

State Spotlight: Michigan Array the Data 12 SEAs allow comparison of spending across all schools in a district Mackensen ES Auburn ES Mc. Alear - Sawden ES Western MS Kolb ES Hampton ES Lindsay ES Bay City Eastern HS Bay City Western HS Bay City Central HS Mac. Gregor ES Handy MS Washington ES But all SEAs/RCs could still make these displays for their districts 10

Poll: Do districts in your area(s) examine schoolby- school spending data? A. Yes B. No C. Not sure ≫Our sense is that most districts leaders aren’t taking stock of their role in resource allocation. What districts see as “costs” are actually “spending choices” 11

Poll: Do you believe there is an SEA role to play in getting districts to use school-by-school data in financial decisions? A. Yes - via training, SEA data displays, etc B. No - this is not the SEA’s role C. Don’t know What can SEAs and RCs do? Build “array the data” displays for large districts or districts of concern to allow comparison across the whole district Nudge districts to factor in spending by school when making future financial decisions (via announcement, webinar, etc. ) 12

Want an array? SEAs that display array graphs: DE, IL, ME, MI, WY (OK*, RI*) SEAs that display data in tables: AZ, CT, MS, NE, NV, TX, WV The Data Hub has direct links: https: //edunomicslab. org/ourresearch/data-hub/ Happy to share arrays we’ve done: ≫AZ: Osborn Elementary SD, Roosevelt Elementary SD ≫CA: Corona-Norco, Fullerton, Long-Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Orange, Oxnard, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan, Santa Ana ≫DC: DCPS* ≫FL: Hillsborough County, Miami Dade ≫IL: Chicago ≫LA: East Baton Rouge ≫MA: Lawrence ≫NJ: Dover ≫NV: Clark Co. * ≫NY: Rochester ≫TX: San Antonio, Houston* 13 ≫VA: Arlington, Chesterfield, Culpeper

In the current moment, boards are granting superintendents emergency financial powers - providing flexibility but also risk and less transparency 14

ESSA spending data and display tracker 15

SEA questions Future topics? CHAT THOUGHTS: 1. What are SEA requirements on content and format for annual district budgets? (Illinois) A. Measuring district fiscal solvency 2. What mechanisms and criteria do SEAs use to evaluate the fiscal solvency of districts? (Illinois) C. Building district capacity to make budget cuts (or even add money) in thoughtful ways B. Incorporating spending data in school evaluations D. Controlling costs of private Sp. Ed placements E. Other (chat) 16

Next Fi. DWi. G Meeting! Got questions? We’re here! Oct, 29: 1: 00 pm ET Marguerite Roza mr 1170@Georgetown. edu Hannah Jarmolowski hj 254@Georgetown. edu Oct. 21 -22, 2020 Virtual Delivery Resources for Financial Decisionmaking During the Pandemic https: //compcenternetwork. org/national-center/our-work/ 17

This presentation is in the public domain. While permission to reprint is not necessary, publication should be cited. The presentation is prepared by the National Comprehensive Center under Award #S 283 B 190028 for the Office of Program and Grantee Support Services (PGSS) within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) of the U. S. Department of Education and is administered by Westat. The content of the presentation does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the PGSS or OESE or the U. S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U. S. Government. © 2019 Westat. 18