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Budgeting for Educational Equity

Budgeting for Educational Equity

CASBO and WestEd

1 Creator

1 Creator

How 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. 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 experts and colleagues who are doing the work every day of ensuring a more equitable allocation of resources. It's valuable insight you won't want to miss!Want to learn more ways to put what you hear about resource equity into action? Check out our episode companion briefs, available via WestEd at https://www.wested.org/budgeting-for-educational-equity-podcast-series/
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Top 10 Budgeting for Educational Equity Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Budgeting for Educational Equity episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Budgeting for Educational Equity for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Budgeting for Educational Equity episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Education 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 thinking – and discuss how education leaders can begin to apply some of what the research tells us to strengthen approaches to decision making, both individually and organizationally.
ABOUT OUR GUEST

Alex Jacobson is a Senior Research Associate with the Comprehensive School Assistance Program at WestEd. In this role, he serves on research projects related to education finance, strategic resource allocation, and cost modeling. Alex also provides collaborative, research-based capacity building to education practitioners, including direct organizational improvement assistance and facilitating stakeholder engagements. He also supports state education agencies across the U.S. through Regional Comprehensive Centers at WestEd. Prior to joining WestEd, Alex served as a researcher and technical assistance provider for the American Institutes for Research (AIR). He has a Masters of Public Policy from Georgetown University.
RESOURCES
Jason and Alex refer to some key studies in this episode:

ABOUT OUR HOST
Jason Willis serves as the Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, where he oversees and guides the agency’s school finance, governance, and accountability efforts. Prior to WesEd, Jason served as a chief business official in several California school districts,

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented in partnership between the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO), the premier resource for professional development and best practices for more than 24,000 California school business leaders, and WestEd, a national nonprofit research development and service agency that works to promote excellence and equity in education. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for providing additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music and editing by Tommy Dunbar. John Diaz at WestEd develops our companion written briefs. Follow us at @budget4edequity.

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Budgeting for Educational Equity - COMING SOON: All new episodes of Budgeting for Educational Equity
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07/28/23 • 23 min

Host 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 & Equity
  • Maria Echaveste, J.D., president and CEO, The Opportunity Institute; and former White House deputy chief of staff
  • Michael Kirst, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University; and past president, California State Board of Education
  • Jayne Christakos, former chief business officer, San Bernardino City Unified School District
  • Marguerite Williams, Ed.D., chief business official, Inglewood Unified School District;; and former senior director of equity and diversity, Association of California School Administrators
  • Adela Madrigal Jones, (retired) superintendent, Sanger Unified School District
  • Jason Willis (host), director of strategic resource planning and implementation for WestEd and a former chief business official in several California school districts

Download the Interactive Companion Brief for this episode.
Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) in partnership with WestEd.
We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for providing additional support.

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In 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 advancing equity, including recent pushback about what is taught in schools;
  • The importance of educational administrators and leaders continuing to be authentic in the spaces they serve and using their voices to correct misinformation;
  • The evolving role of Chief Business Officers in inviting more diverse perspectives into the dialogue about school issues; and more.

Key questions addressed include:

  • Is California doing a better job of directing resources that turn into opportunities and access for students?
  • Are major investments in new initiatives helping to move the needle for those furthest from opportunity?
  • How are schools navigating this current climate of rising civic divisiveness?

About our guest
Nina Boyd
currently serves as Deputy Superintendent for Operations, Government and Community Partnerships, for the Orange County Department of Education (OCDE), which supports supports 28 Public School Districts and 23 board-approved Public Charter Schools. Orange County public schools serve nearly 200,000 students; about 80 percent of whom are students of color.
Nina began her career in education as a temporary account clerk in Santa Ana Unified School District. She had planned to become a school psychologist but instead went on to a distinguished career serving in multiple administrative leadership roles at the OCDE, including as Administrator, Purchasing Contracts & Operations; Executive Director of Facilities and Operations; Assistant Superintendent Human Resources and Support Services; and Associate Superintendent Alternative Education.
At the statewide level, Nina has been a key advocate and leader, including serving for many years on the CASBO Board of Directors and as CASBO President in 2017-18. She also served an eight-year term on the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH) state board and held a variety of positions to support facility and maintenance issues primarily in the areas of regulatory, advocacy, and legislation. Nina has facilitated and provided trainings and workshops at both the local and state level, including a focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion when she was a leader at CASBO. She also teaches in CASBO’s Business Executive Leadership program.
About our host

Jason Willis serves as Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts

About our series
Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music, mixing and sound by Tommy Dunbar. Alyssa Perez at WestEd provides research and develops the written briefs that go along with each episode.

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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 from WestEd*

In Part One, we gained a statewide perspective about this historic moment for early education in California from Sarah Neville-Morgan, Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education.

In this episode, Maria takes us inside some of Fresno USD's planning and approaches for expanding access to early education. Two keys, she says, were being concrete about the work and having the right people at the table. Maria says her district’s leadership and all departments were clear on the value of early learning, and shared both a sense of urgency and a sense of opportunity for their community to serve more children through high quality programs.
Their efforts have included not only the early education team, but facilities, purchasing, finance, HR, teacher development, special education, local and county partners, the Fresno County Superinendent of Schools, and more.
Maria also describes how building strong relationships enabled the district to pivot quickly when some things didn't go as planned or projected .

Fresno's early learner support also has included a unique focus on dual language learner professional development for teachers.

About Fresno USD

Fresno USD is the third largest district in the state with nearly 73,000 students, preK-12. Approximately 17.5% are English learners, and 85% are socioeconomically disadvantaged. The district includes 66 elementary schools, 14 middle schools, 10 high schools, alternative schools, and of course – early education programs. Currently, Fresno USD has six year-round, full-day child development centers serving infant, toddler and preschool aged children; they also have 72 part-day preschool programs, and 127 transitional kindergarten programs including special education – all serving about 5,000 children.

About our host

Jason Willis serves as Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts

About our seriesBudgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support.

Recorded in spring, 2023

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In 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.

Superintendent Madrigal Jones shares further insights into the mechanics of budgeting for equity, including describing how some recent allocation models called for distributing dollars equally, and some equitably. In addition, she takes us inside some of her district’s recent discussions about how best to utilize newly available one-time state and federal dollars to accelerate recovery from the pandemic.

Later in this episode, Sanger USD Chief Business Official Marsha Alfving joins Adela to discuss the key importance of superintendents and chief business officials working together and with their teams to support resource equity. CBO Alfving describes several ways that school business officials can deepen their engagement in their district's conversations around equity and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to best meet the needs of all students.

Finally, Superintendent Madrigal Jones looks back on a key success in her district that improved early literacy. Plus, she recommends a few things that all educational leaders should consider bringing along as they prepare to embark on their own resource equity and "cultural shift" journeys.

Guests

Adela Madrigal Jones has served as superintendent of Sanger USD since July 2018. Prior to that, she served as associate superintendent, as a principal and a teacher, all in the district. She has also worked extensively with English Learners. In total, she has spent more than 37 years in public education.

Marsha Alfving has served in Sanger USD for more than a decade, including as Chief Financial Officer since 2013. She’s also a Certified Public Accountant and prior to joining Sanger, served for several years in public accounting.

Sanger USD is located in California’s Central Valley. The district serves about 11,000 students, nearly 70% who qualify for free and reduced price meals and 15% who are English Learners. The district has been recognized in research literature, such as the 2019 Learning Policy Institute brief, for its promising practices and outcomes, especially for students of color.
Download the Interactive Companion Brief for this episode.
*
Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO), in partnership with WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for providing additional support.
Engage with us on Twitter at @Budget4EdEquity
Budgeting for Educational Equity is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music, mixing and sound by Tommy Dunbar. John Diaz at WestEd develops our related written materials.

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Budgeting for Educational Equity - 7 - The Locus of Local Control: Revisiting the LCFF (Part Two)
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12/03/21 • 48 min

In part two of our focus on California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), we examine more closely the concept of local control, especially as it relates to educational equity. Host Jason Willis and special guests consider vital questions, including:

  • How does the State’s shift to local control impact equity? 
  • How do we 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 has implemented LCFF in her small, rural school district. She shares valuable strategies that school district leaders and business officials can draw on when implementing LCFF.

Guests:

  • Heather Naylor has served as CBO in Gridley USD in Butte County for 17 years. The district serves approximately 2,100 students, 75% who qualify in the “unduplicated" student count. Gridley USD was recognized in a 2019 Learning Policy Institute study as a "Positive Outlier" for its promising practices and outcomes in closing opportunity gaps for students of color and all students.
  • Christopher Edley, Jr., J.D., serves as interim dean for the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Education, and as professor and dean emeritus at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law. 
  • Maria Echaveste, J.D., serves as president and CEO of The Opportunity Institute. She previously served as White House deputy chief of staff.
  • Mike Kirst is a former State Board of Education President and current Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. He was the chief architect of the LCFF under Gov. Jerry Brown.
  • Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez serves as a school board member in Azusa USD, and as Deputy Director for Californians Together, a statewide advocacy group. She is immediate past president of the California School Boards Association.

More resources

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music and editing by Tommy Dunbar. John Diaz at WestEd develops our companion written briefs.
Follow us at @Budget4EdEquity.

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The 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 law, based on her unique perspective both as a locally elected school board member in Azusa USD and as Deputy Director for Californians Together, a statewide group that advocates on behalf of English Learner students.  Xilonin also serves as immediate past president of the California School Boards Association.

Richard De Nava, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, shares insights about the policy and practical implications of the LCFF. Richard also serves as president of CASBO.

And Mike Kirst, former State Board of Education President, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, and chief architect of the LCFF under Gov. Jerry Brown, offers a remarkable glimpse into the development of the formula, including some of the difficult choices, innovative thinking and pragmatic considerations that went into creating the new law.


Additional Background

As part of the LCFF, all Local Education Agencies receive a per-student funding allocation known as a base grant, plus targeted additional funding depending on the needs of certain students (known as supplemental and concentration grants). Districts must also engage stakeholders before adopting a Local Control and Accountability Plan. While the new law has shifted more discretion for budgetary decisions to local school districts, it has also brought to the surface inherent tensions between local and state decision making authority. 


More resources


About our series

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music, mixing and sound by Tommy Dunbar. John Diaz at WestEd  develops the written briefs that go along with each episode.

Follow us on Twitter at @Budget4EdEquity to keep up to date on the series and share your thoughts, ideas, questions and feedback. 

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Budgeting for Educational Equity - The Locus of Local Control: Revisiting the LCFF (Part Two)
play

12/03/21 • 48 min

In part two of our focus on California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), we examine more closely the concept of local control, especially as it relates to educational equity. Host Jason Willis and special guests consider vital questions, including:

  • How does the State’s shift to local control impact equity? 
  • How do we strike a balance between local autonomy, innovation, compliance and accountability?
  • How effective are the 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, in our final segment, we delve into the practical, hands-on experiences of Heather Naylor, a veteran chief school business official who has implemented LCFF in her small, rural school district. She shares valuable strategies that school district leaders and business officials can draw on when implementing LCFF.

Guests:

  • Heather Naylor has served as CBO in Gridley USD in Butte County for 17 years. The district serves approximately 2,100 students, 75% who qualify in the “unduplicated" student count. Gridley USD was recognized in a 2019 Learning Policy Institute study as a "Positive Outlier" for its promising practices and outcomes in closing opportunity gaps for students of color and all students.
  • Christopher Edley, Jr., J.D., serves as interim dean for the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Education, and as professor and dean emeritus at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law. 
  • Maria Echaveste, J.D., serves as president and CEO of The Opportunity Institute. She previously served as White House deputy chief of staff.
  • Mike Kirst is a former State Board of Education President and current Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. He was the chief architect of the LCFF under Gov. Jerry Brown.
  • Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez serves as a school board member in Azusa USD, and as Deputy Director for Californians Together, a statewide advocacy group. She is immediate past president of the California School Boards Association.

More resources

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music and editing by Tommy Dunbar. John Diaz at WestEd develops our companion written briefs.
Follow us at @Budget4EdEquity.

bookmark
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Budgeting for Educational Equity - The Time and Space to Innovate Toward Equitable School Systems
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08/31/21 • 38 min

School 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 episode. Education reform experts Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn share powerful ideas and insights from their work. Both have advised school systems in California and throughout the world. They’ve co-authored many books and papers, including their latest, “Right Drivers for Whole System Success.”
Fullan and Quinn help us to look through the lens of equity and learning, emphasizing that education leaders should prioritize engaging all of their students.
The possibilities for investing this influx of new, one-time funding to address inequities is truly exciting. But not so simple. School business officials especially may find themselves caught in a tension, on the one hand focused on fulfilling their important, traditional role of ensuring fiscal health and responsible accounting (including spending down Covid-recovery funds within prescribed timelines) while also being presented an opportunity to help their districts think and act in new ways that can be sustained over time.
CASBO CEO and executive director Tatia Davenport also re-joins Jason to put some of Michael and Joanne’s ideas through a school business “reality check.” Tatia describes why focusing on increasing the long-term yield of our public school investments is so critical, plus she highlights why district leaders need more time and space to plan, so they can develop a cohesive strategy with their communities for effectively spending their funds and improving outcomes.
Download the Episode 4 Companion Brief here.

Guests

Joanne Quinn is an international consultant and author on system change, leadership, and learning. As co-founder and Global Director of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, she leads partnership work across eight countries focused on transforming learning. Joanne has provided leadership at all levels of education as a superintendent, implementation advisor to the Ontario Ministry of Education, and Director of Continuing Education at the University of Toronto.

Michael Fullan, O.C., is the Global Leadership Director of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning and a worldwide authority on educational reform with a mandate of helping to achieve the moral purpose of all children learning. A former Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto, Michael advises policymakers and local leaders around the world to provide leadership in education.
*
Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO), in partnership with WestEd. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music, mixing and sound by Tommy Dunbar. John Diaz at WestEd develops our related written materials. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for providing additional support.
@Budget4edequity

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Budgeting for Educational Equity - 6 - Revisiting the LCFF, California's Landmark School Funding Reform
play

11/02/21 • 58 min

The 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 law, based on her unique perspective both as a locally elected school board member in Azusa USD and as Deputy Director for Californians Together, a statewide group that advocates on behalf of English Learner students.  Xilonin also serves as immediate past president of the California School Boards Association.

Richard De Nava, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, shares insights about the policy and practical implications of the LCFF. Richard also serves as president of CASBO.

And Mike Kirst, former State Board of Education President, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, and chief architect of the LCFF under Gov. Jerry Brown, offers a remarkable glimpse into the development of the formula, including some of the difficult choices, innovative thinking and pragmatic considerations that went into creating the new law.


Additional Background

As part of the LCFF, all Local Education Agencies receive a per-student funding allocation known as a base grant, plus targeted additional funding depending on the needs of certain students (known as supplemental and concentration grants). Districts must also engage stakeholders before adopting a Local Control and Accountability Plan. While the new law has shifted more discretion for budgetary decisions to local school districts, it has also brought to the surface inherent tensions between local and state decision making authority. 


More resources


About our series

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music, mixing and sound by Tommy Dunbar. John Diaz at WestEd  develops the written briefs that go along with each episode.

Follow us on Twitter at @Budget4EdEquity to keep up to date on the series and share your thoughts, ideas, questions and feedback. 

bookmark
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FAQ

How many episodes does Budgeting for Educational Equity have?

Budgeting for Educational Equity currently has 25 episodes available.

What topics does Budgeting for Educational Equity cover?

The podcast is about Equity, Courses, Podcasts and Education.

What is the most popular episode on Budgeting for Educational Equity?

The episode title 'The Time and Space to Innovate Toward Equitable School Systems' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Budgeting for Educational Equity?

The average episode length on Budgeting for Educational Equity is 43 minutes.

How often are episodes of Budgeting for Educational Equity released?

Episodes of Budgeting for Educational Equity are typically released every 14 days, 3 hours.

When was the first episode of Budgeting for Educational Equity?

The first episode of Budgeting for Educational Equity was released on Aug 3, 2021.

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