Shows
Adventures in Ed FundingIntroducing a New Podcast: The Some of the Above Education News Comedy QuizThese are definitely challenging times for public funding and public education. So, if you need a bit of laughter to help the latest education news go down easier, there's a new podcast that's got you covered: The Some of the Above Education News Comedy Quiz.Each month you can listen and play along with two special guest contestants from the world of education as they're asked questions about education news and issues. Guest contestants for this episode are two school funding and policy experts who will be familiar to many listeners -- Kevin Gordon and J...
2025-07-0346 min
Budgeting for Educational EquityMeeting the Needs of All Students: How Can Educators, Leaders and Education Systems Better Attend to the Intersection of Language and Disability for Multilingual LearnersThis episode we’re bringing attention to an important but still under-examined subject: the need for schools and school systems to better attend to the intersection of language and disability for young multilingual learners. Focusing on multilingualism and disability offers insight into a larger and more persistent question we’ve dug into throughout this series—that is, how can district leaders, including superintendents and school business officials, make decisions and take actions that more effectively identify and meet the needs of all their students?Host Jason Willis is joined by two WestEd colleagues, Jamey Burho and Eliz...
2024-03-2641 minBudgeting for Educational EquityWhat You Need To Know about California’s New Equity Multiplier – And Related School Accountability System ChangesThe Equity Multiplier -- a new $300 million component to California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) -- is rolling out this school year. Guests Natalie Wheatfall-Lum and Sara Pietrowski join Jason Willis to describe how the Equity Multiplier works, how it came about, and related changes to the state’s accountability system, including what districts must now report in their Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs). Along the way, they consider broader policy issues and implications for targeting LCFF funds directly to the school sites whose student populations generate them; helping LEAs better identify and address...
2024-03-0757 minBudgeting for Educational EquitySchool Closures and Consolidations in California: Deepening Our UnderstandingClosing or consolidating neighborhood schools is a painful decision that no school district or community ever wishes to face, but increasingly it may be on the table due to declining enrollment trends and budgetary pressures. In this episode, host Jason Willis and school finance and policy veteran Carrie Hahnel deepen our understanding about school closures and consolidations. They delve into current factors that could lead to more closures and data showing how closures have disproportionately impacted different student populations. They pinpoint the tension schools and communities must try to resolve between difficult and necessary budget decisions on o...
2024-02-2146 minBudgeting for Educational EquityAdvancing Equity Through Locally-Driven School Funding Formulas: Los Angeles USD's Groundbreaking Student Equity Need Index (the "SENI")California's Local Control Funding Formula or LCFF took a major step towards advancing equity. But as LCFF came into existence 10 years ago, education and community leaders in the state’s largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, recognized this new formula might not go far enough in helping to address deeply rooted inequities within its student population. Through a unique partnership between the local community and school district, the groundbreaking Student Equity Need Index (SENI) was born. In 2024, the SENI turns ten. It’s an example of a powerful partnership between students, parents, community advocates and school district leader...
2023-11-071h 03Budgeting for Educational EquityA New Era of School Business in California: Innovative Thinking About Where We're Headed -- with CASBO CEO Tatia DavenportTatia Davenport, CEO of the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) sits down with Jason for a compelling discussion about the size, scope and future of school business in California. Tatia shares what was learned from the first comprehensive survey of California school business executives in nearly 25 years, including where professional development is headed, the changing face and vital voice of CBOs, and how school business leaders can work more to advance equity. She offers timely perspectives about some of the persistent challenges California faces in maintaining an effective and efficient public education system -- one th...
2023-10-2446 minBudgeting for Educational EquityExpanding Access to Behavioral Health and Other Services for Students and Maximizing Interagency CollaborationIn this episode, dig into ways schools can advance equity by expanding "whole child" services that are available to students at sites. Dr. Chaun Powell, Senior Chief of Student Services for the Alameda County Office of Education, helps identify key approaches for maximizing funding sources for these services -- with a particular focus on behavioral and mental health supports -- and seizing new opportunities to partner with other agencies that serve children. *Be sure to check out the Companion Brief to this episode*California is in...
2023-10-0354 minBudgeting for Educational EquityImplementing Major New Initiatives Like Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK): Resource Equity and Other Considerations (Part Two -- A School District Perspective )What does it take to implement major new initiatives in our school systems? In Part Two of our episode about implementing initiatives such as Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) and Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK), we dive into this question with lots of hands-on, practical advice from a local school district perspective with Maria Ceballos, executive director of the early learning department at Fresno USD. Maria shares how her district, Fresno Unified, has been working to expand access to early learning for all children and families. **Be sure to check out the Episode 3 Companion Brief
2023-09-1445 minBudgeting for Educational EquityImplementing Major New Initiatives Like Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK): Resource Equity and Other Key Considerations (Part One -- A Statewide Perspective)Two years ago, California’s state budget agreement included an ambitious new initiative to fund and implement Universal Transitional Kindergarten (or UTK), so that all 4-year-olds in the state have access to it by 2025-26. It’s part of a larger long-term goal the state and school districts have been working towards to expand early education and also provide access to Universal Pre-Kindergarten, or UPK, for all students. In this first of a two-part episode, Sarah Neville Morgan, Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education and longtime early education policy leader, describes this historic moment we're in wh...
2023-09-1233 minBudgeting for Educational EquityBuilding Systems Alignment and Coherence to Meet Students’ Needs: Personalized Learning in Lindsay USDLindsay Unified School District in California’s Central Valley reinvented its approach to education by launching a Performance Based System in 2007, following an extensive community engagement process. It’s an approach that fundamentally changed experiences for the community’s learners, families and educators -- and led to impressive outcomes that have been highlighted in multiple studies and reports.Two dynamic leaders from Lindsey USD – Grant Schimelpfening, Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services, and Cheri Doria, Early Childhood Education Director – provide an “under the hood” look at the systems and culture their district has built to help advance equity through a person...
2023-08-2555 minBudgeting for Educational EquityScoping Out the Current Educational Equity Landscape with Veteran School Business Leader Nina BoydIn this first episode of our new season, we gain the perspective of someone who has had her finger on the pulse of school business and resource equity for a long time, both from a local and a statewide perspective – Nina Boyd. Nina is a school business official, administrator and statewide leader who has seen a lot transpire during her nearly 40 years in public education – and she is still on the frontlines impacting change. Nina shares insight and perspectives related to:How she sees us having gone both forward and backward with regard to advanci...
2023-08-1036 minBudgeting for Educational EquityCOMING SOON: All new episodes of Budgeting for Educational EquityHost Jason Willis provides a quick update on our upcoming new season. Plus, we replay our initial episode featuring several guests as a way to re-establish the context for the new episodes and help you get your "resource equity bearings."Guests on the replay include:Christopher Edley, Jr., J.D., interim dean, U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Education; co-founder and president emeritus of The Opportunity Institute; professor and dean emeritus, U.C. Berkeley School of Law; former professor, Harvard Law School; and co-chair, National Commission on K-12 Excellence & EquityMaria E...
2023-07-2923 minBudgeting for Educational EquityKey Ingredients For Making Good Decisions – Especially When You’re In The Pressure CookerEducation leaders, school business officials and practitioners continue to confront a full plate of difficult and time-sensitive decisions. How can we reflect on and improve practices and approaches for making those decisions to better serve students? In this episode, host Jason Willis and special guest Alex Jacobson from WestEd explore how good decisions in our school systems that lead to successful outcomes for all students are in part contingent on the ways in which people make those decisions. As part of this exploration, we’ll look through the frame of what’s known as System 1 and System 2 think...
2022-02-1127 minBudgeting for Educational EquityOne School District’s Approach to System Improvement and Equity During the Pandemic: Don’t Just Navigate, AccelerateCOVID-19 and other crises have put extreme operational pressures on public school systems. And these pressures, as Dr. Rosanna Mucetti, Superintendent of Napa Valley USD says, can break or make organizations. In this episode, Rosanna and Rabinder "Rob" Mangewala, NVUSD’s Assistant Superintendent and Chief Business Official, describe how their district actually leveraged challenges during the crisis to accelerate their focus on resource equity and school improvement. “All of a sudden, work that was probably going to take us three to five years to implement as articulated in our strategic plan was in overdrive and things got adopt...
2022-02-0250 minBudgeting for Educational EquityThe Locus of Local Control: Revisiting the LCFF (Part Two)How has California's shift to the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) impacted equitable resource allocation? In part two of our focus on LCFF, host Jason Willis and special guests consider this and other vital questions, including:How do we best strike a balance between local autonomy, innovation, compliance and accountability?How effective are Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) that all districts must adopt with stakeholder input? What role can school boards in particular play in the LCFF-LCAP process? Plus, we delve into the practical, hands-on experiences of a veteran chief school business official who ha...
2021-12-0448 min
Adventures in Ed FundingRevisiting the LCFF -- A new episode from the Budgeting for Educational Equity podcastHave you had a chance yet to check out the Budgeting for Educational Equity podcast? We're sharing the latest episode here because it delves into a subject near and dear to anyone interested in California education funding: the Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF, which was adopted in 2013.The LCFF is regarded by many as the most significant resource equity reform the state has ever enacted. It definitely ushered in a new era of school funding for school districts. But how has the LCFF actually worked? Has it accomplished what it was intended to? And...
2021-11-171h 00Budgeting for Educational EquityRevisiting the LCFF (Part One): California's Landmark School Funding ReformThe Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF, ushered in a new era of school funding in California when it was adopted in 2013. It's regarded by many as the most significant resource equity reform the state has ever enacted. But how has the LCFF worked? Has it accomplished what it was intended to? And how are inherent tensions between local and state decision making authority, oversight and accountability being navigated? In this episode, host Jason Willis and special guests explore key elements of the LCFF. Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez provides a review of the...
2021-11-0258 minBudgeting for Educational EquityUpdates -- Plus, Be Sure To Check Out Our Companion BriefsWe hope you've been enjoying the series so far and taking away a lot of useful information. This is a quick update to let you know we are busy working on several new episodes that will start posting in a few weeks. We also wanted to make you aware of the companion briefs that are now available online. To describe these more, host Jason Willis introduces John Diaz, a financial analyst at WestEd, who has been leading the work in developing the companion briefs. The briefs serve as a helpful, interactive tool for listeners, building on strategies or...
2021-09-2805 minBudgeting for Educational EquityConnecting Student Learning and School Business Through an Equity Lens: One Instructional Leader's Journey to Becoming a Chief School Business OfficialEach person’s equity journey is unique, including the one taken by Marguerite Williams, Ed.D. After serving as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent for academic services, she became increasingly interested in the business side of schools and completed the CASBO CBO Certification program. That helped lead to her recent appointment as assistant superintendent/CBO for a charter management organization in Vallejo that operates four schools and serves approximately 1,400 students.In this episode, Marguerite shares valuable insights about resource allocation and equity from her unique perspective as an instructional leader and a new CBO. She describes ke...
2021-09-1441 minBudgeting for Educational EquityThe Time and Space to Innovate Toward Equitable School SystemsSchool districts face extreme urgency to safely return students to in-person environments and help them recover from a pandemic that has not yet ended. At the same time, leaders and practitioners are pressing to expeditiously but thoughtfully allocate a windfall of new state and federal dollars – all the while trying to leverage the unique opportunity created by these circumstances to bring about transformative changes to our public school systems. How can school communities make the most of this moment to innovate towards a greater equality of outcomes for all students? That's the question we explore in this ep...
2021-09-0138 min
CASBO ConnectNew Podcast Series: Budgeting for Educational EquityHow can dedicated teams of leaders, school business officials, educators, and entire school communities allocate resources to better meet the needs of all students?That’s the story we’re sharing in this new limited series presented by CASBO and WestEd. In each episode, our host Jason Willis welcomes education leaders and practitioners to discuss funding, educational improvements, and advancing resource equity across all levels of California’s public education system. We’ll explore their motivations, the tools they’re using, and what’s working, and what they’ve learned. Join us to tap into the experiences of guest exper...
2021-08-2401 minBudgeting for Educational EquityCollaborating and Planning for Change: Resource Equity Learnings From a School District Leader Advancing the WorkIn this episode, Sanger Unified School District Superintendent Adela Madrigal Jones highlights approaches and actions her district has taken to advance equity. It’s chock-full of practical guidance, real-life experiences and candid reflections from a lifelong educator who has helped lead successful work in this Central Valley district.One of the key strategies Sanger USD utilizes are “Principal Summits.” These summits engage school site leaders in reviewing data, collectively exploring how dollars are invested (including LCFF-LCAP funds), developing plans and actions to meet the needs of all students, and regularly monitoring those plans. Su...
2021-08-2447 minBudgeting for Educational EquityIt Starts With Data and Listening to the System – Practical Ways to Approach Equitable Resource AllocationVeteran school district CBO Jayne Christakos joins us to help build our practical understanding of equity and resource allocation in educational systems, and to identify some good places to start. She emphasizes the crucial importance of embracing a districtwide culture that is comfortable using data, asking questions and "listening to the whole system."Throughout our series, we’re sharing specific experiences and examples of leaders and practitioners who are doing the work of ensuring a more equitable allocation of resources. We explore their motivations, what tools they’re using, what’s working, and what they’ve learn...
2021-08-1721 min
Adventures in Ed FundingIntroducing a new limited series about California schools: Budgeting for Educational EquityWe're excited to share with you this first episode of a new limited series podcast presented in collaboration by WestEd and CASBO. It's called Budgeting for Educational Equity.About this new seriesHow can dedicated teams of educators, administrators, school business officials and entire school communities allocate resources to better meet the needs of all their students -- especially at this watershed moment when student needs have never been greater due to the pandemic and an influx of additional federal and state dollars available to support transformative change? That's the...
2021-08-0624 minBudgeting for Educational EquityIntroduction: Getting Our Resource and Educational Equity BearingsAdvancing equity continues to be a major focus for California public education at all levels of the system. Yet, as education leaders and school business officials, it's not always easy to press your way forward into the noisy, bustling, sometimes uncomfortable intersection where equity meets educational resources. In our first episode, host Jason Willis, director of strategic resource planning and implementation for WestEd and a former chief business official in several California school districts, invites several guest policy experts, advocates and school district leaders to share how they think about and define resource equity in ed...
2021-08-0321 min
CASBO ConnectRethinking Special Education FundingThe way California provides funding for students with disabilities has not changed in decades and is the largest remaining categorical program in the state. WestEd has been researching alternatives that could provide more efficiency in how existing resources are distributed to school districts along with better accountability to enhance services and improve outcomes for students. The WestEd study on special education finance has been released. We talk to one of the study authors on their findings and recommendations to rethink the state's funding model and align it with other current accountability systems.Guest: Jason Willis, Director, Resource Pla...
2021-07-3051 minAdventures in Ed FundingWhat’s Ahead for School Funding in California?How do education stakeholders, political leaders and policy experts view California’s school funding system and what would it take to come together around a comprehensive, coordinated effort to increase funding in California? In this new episode, we explore these and other timely topics with Jason Willis and Carrie Hahnel, two co-authors of “Securing and protecting education funding in California,” a new study from Policy Analysis in California Education (PACE).The report includes a great primer on California's education finance system -- and it provides an excellent frame for thinking about and addressing Californ...
2020-10-1554 minAdventures in Ed FundingUnder Pressure: What Are the Rising Costs and Budget Challenges Facing California School DistrictsHow can it be that many California school districts are staring into the face of painful budget cuts, even as overall school funding has increased in recent years? Why isn’t more funding available in many districts for priorities such as hiring additional counselors, teachers and staff and adding programs for students? It’s an unusual situation one researcher called, “The Silent Recession” – and it’s the subject of this episode's adventure. Special guest John Gray, president and CEO of School Service of California, helps us explore why some districts are struggling just to keep up with their costs...
2020-03-1338 min