Publications & Resources
- Newsletters
- Jan 21, 2026
Can financially strapped districts afford tutoring? YES
How budget-strapped districts can afford tutoring by redeploying existing staff from non-teaching specialist, administrator and support staff roles.
- Newsletters
- Jan 08, 2026
Fraud, waste, and abuse: Here’s what we see in K-12
Learn how fraud, abuse, and waste drain K-12 education budgets. From gift card theft to ineffective programs, discover why districts need zero-tolerance policies and data-driven budgeting to protect taxpayer funds and restore public trust in schools.
- Tools & Infographics
- Aug 07, 2025
Assessing the Cost of Teacher Professional Development
This tool helps district leaders strategically weigh teacher professional development investments.
- Articles & Publications
- Aug 09, 2023
Recipe for High-Impact Research
In this blog published by IES, the Edunomics Lab team shares lessons learned about making research more useful for practitioners, including designing visualizations and other tools around user needs to make data accessible, actionable, and impactful.
- Tools & Infographics
- Jul 13, 2023
The Grid: A Framework to Explore Budgeting Choices
This tool helps school, district, and state leaders strategically weigh investments by calculating per-student costs and spelling out desired results, risks involved, and how effectiveness will be measured.
- Tools & Infographics
- Jun 03, 2023
NERD$ Lessons Learned
Why NERD$? For decades, large financial datasets captured only district-level spending data. But districtwide averages, whether for performance, spending, teacher salaries, or other data points, mask variation at the school level within districts. As with many other industries and policy areas, the use of aggregated and/or average data in education finance obscures the factors that may […]
- Articles & Publications
- Apr 24, 2023
A Guide for SEA-led Resource Allocation Reviews
Resource allocation reviews (RARs) in districts that serve low-performing schools offer a new opportunity to examine the connection between resource allocation and academic outcomes. We've created guidance documents, templates, and tips to help SEAs prepare for and conduct RARs.
- Webinars & Presentations
- Apr 05, 2023
30-Min Webinar: Make it or break it! This spring’s district budget choices matter tremendously for the years ahead.
Never before have district leaders faced such competing priorities: spend down relief dollars in ways that bring value for students, while also bracing for budget gaps unlike any in history. In this webinar we share what we're seeing in district balance sheets, and outline key issues for this spring's budget discussions.
- Articles & Publications
- Mar 17, 2023
Districts face deep financial pain in the next two years. Decisions made this spring will determine how it all plays out.
Marguerite Roza suggests keeping an eye on six critical issues during this spring's district budget discussions, as decisions made there will determine what happens on teacher layoffs, school closings, program cuts, and more.
- Articles & Publications
- Feb 14, 2023
The Stakes Are Only Getting Higher For Pandemic School Aid Spending
Higher spending in the final months of ESSER makes for deeper cuts come the 2024-25 school year, writes Marguerite Roza in Forbes. Meanwhile, students are still far behind where they should be.
- Articles & Publications
- Dec 08, 2022
Let’s Pay Parents to Help With Learning Recovery
Some school districts are flush with cash, but can’t find enough people to fill their open roles. In this Education Week commentary Chad Aldeman asks: what if schools engage families to help make headway on student recovery efforts?
- Tools & Infographics
- Dec 01, 2022
District Budget Decisions & Labor Implications Tracker
This working document aggregated district choices in response to the economic downturn and budget implications related to cuts or labor impacts.
- Webinars & Presentations
- Nov 17, 2022
30-Min Webinar: Is it too late for districts to redirect ESSER commitments to tackle learning gaps?
The school year had already started when test scores emerged showing deep gaps in learning. Is it too late for districts to adjust their ESSER commitments to boost recovery efforts? In this webinar we share our latest look at ESSER spending and suggest ways that districts can redirect, and in some cases refocus, their federal relief funds to respond to...
- Newsletters
- Oct 21, 2022
Did public education miss the data revolution?
What data can shed light on whether recovery efforts are working? Are rates of chronic absenteeism coming down? Are students back on grade level in math? District leaders will only know to pivot if they look at the data.
- Articles & Publications
- Oct 05, 2022
Public Education Missed the Data Revolution. It’s Time to Catch Up
Data-free schooling means the system can’t learn as it goes and improve on what it does. It means students aren’t getting the full value from the nation’s investment in public schooling, write Marguerite Roza and Chad Aldeman. What can be done to chip away at this data desert?
- Articles & Publications
- Aug 18, 2022
What Goes Wrong When Some School Board Members Don’t Understand District Finances?
A lack of school board financial expertise is especially problematic as members wrestle with the pressures of enrollment declines, inflation, and the temporary nature of federal relief funds, writes Marguerite Roza in Forbes.
- Webinars & Presentations
- Aug 18, 2022
30-Min Webinar: The financial forecast is in! School district budgets are headed for a wild ride.
School district budgets are about to be hit by a powerful wave of financial pressures. In this webinar we walk through a mix of factors, explain how - and when - they're likely to hit district budgets, and discuss how district and state leaders can make smart decisions now to prepare.
- Articles & Publications
- Jul 01, 2022
ESSER is fueling one-size-fits-all strategies. Let’s use data to deliver more targeted efforts.
The pandemic left schools with mammoth challenges. Using data to zero in on problem hotspots makes tackling them much more manageable. That should happen now, write Marguerite Roza and Ellie Roza, while federal relief money is still on the table.
- Webinars & Presentations
- Jun 28, 2022
30-Min Webinar: How can districts measure learning loss recovery costs?
In this webinar we share “The Calculator,” a new tool that estimates lost learning time in more than 8,000 school districts and how much a district would need to invest to get students back on track.
- Articles & Publications
- Jun 24, 2022
New Learning Loss Calculator Estimates COVID Slide, Costs of Catching Kids Up, in 8,000 School Districts
The Edunomics Lab team used the results from new research to build a calculator tool that estimates lost learning time in more than 8,000 school districts and what it will cost to get students back on track. In this commentary published by The 74, the authors urge district leaders to take stock of where their students are, and invest federal...
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