Shows
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 Brief2023-09-1445 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 min