About Equitable Student Funding (01.21.11)
Posted by Catherine Wilson on 3/17/2011 10:00:00 AM
John Scanlan, Deputy Superintendent of Administration
For the past two years we have studied the way we distribute and use funds in RCSD. By analyzing where and how we spend our resources we are able to gain a more detailed understanding on how to support the work of teachers and Principals in our schools. We have created a plan to increase equity for our students through a funding system called Equitable Student Funding (ESF). This method of distributing dollars to our schools is designed to accomplish three (3) goals for the district:
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ESF supports our objective by allowing those closest to our children to make the best informed decisions in distributing our resources and money aligned to the school’s academic plan.
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By distributing the funds based on characteristics and needs of our children we are, over time, building more equity into our system. Across the district we will provide the same level of resource to cover the needs of all of our children.
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The funding method is designed to support those priorities that improve the academic outcomes for all of our students. The resources are targeted to our core work of academic instruction and student learning.
While complex in implementation, ESF is really as simple as these key concepts. We will change and adapt our system to serve schools in the same way we differentiate student learning based on individual students’ needs. ESF is designed to provide teachers and schools the resources available as they work to “create masterpieces.”
We will be providing more information in the coming weeks and months around this and other work.
