District Finance

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Does your district need new budget moves?

In school districts around the country it’s that special time of year we call “The Budget Dance.” Now is a good time to take stock of what’s missing from the annual process, and ensure leaders are including equity and performance data in every step going forward.

New & Notable

Graphs showing CA districts typically spend more on small elementary schools

Newsletter

Looking to avoid closures? Districts have options...

Commentary

Big-City Districts Are Beset by Financial Dysfunction - and Kids Pay the Price

bar chart showing higher needs elementary schools in 20 of California’s largest districts saw the smallest growth in spending from 2019–20 to 2022–23.

Analysis

No silver school-spending bullets: 5 lessons from ESSER to help drive continued learning recovery

Featured Research, Data, & Analysis

Looking for tools to help set next year's school budget?

The Grid is a framework to help explore budgeting choices. The Grid helps school, district, and state leaders strategically weigh proposed investments to assess which can do the most for students with the dollars at hand. It offers a roadmap for deciding what budget options to pursue, and which to sustain, modify, or cut to meet evolving student needs and academic goals.

Use the Worksheet

Are students benefiting from the rising costs of special ed?

With new data emerging, we took a fresh look at special ed spending to better understand the extent to which rising identification rates and staffing increases deliver value for students. State-by-state comparisons make it clear that systems are making different choices when it comes to serving students with disabilities and those choices are delivering wildly different results for students.

Learn more about our findings

Most districts now have more staff than ever before

Federal relief funds triggered a hiring frenzy (which then triggered a staffing shortage). In the states where we’ve combed through the data, we see a big jump in non-teaching specialists and aides. Teachers are up too (albeit at a smaller proportionate increase), as are administrators. Per usual, Edunomics Lab asks: Is it working? Are students benefiting?

Read the Analysis

Widespread teacher shortages are mostly over (for now)

District conditions are changing rapidly. While federal relief funds triggered mass hiring, those funds are ending. Now, districts must find ways to shrink their budgets and their staff rolls. It’s more important than ever to track real-time data.

Read the Analysis