EQUITY BUDGETING 101

Getting Started with Equity Budgeting

Implementing an equitable budget is an opportunity to support students with greater needs with the resources to succeed. However, for districts with more traditional budgeting models, restructuring budgets to prioritize equity over equality can be demanding. Read on to learn more about how using equity-based budgeting can help advance your district's equity goals.

 

Presented in partnership by Allovue and Equity Journey Partners

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WHAT IS EQUITY BUDGETING?

Equity budgeting has two components: ensuring that districts direct resources and supports to students who need them and strategically aligning dollars to school and district goals. 

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1. Creating an Equity Vision and Planning for Equity-Based Budgeting

By Nell Williams, Allovue

Deciding to become an equitable district is an encompassing endeavor. This decision to commit to meeting student needs often requires a reexamination, if not overhaul, of everything from a district’s mission and vision to its school designs to its operating functions. The budgeting process is one of the most leveraged functions at a district’s disposal to meet students’ needs.

Read more >

2. Moving toward Equity-Based Budgeting: Building Transparency into the Budgeting Process

By Regis Shields, Equity Journey Partners

Articulating the rules, concepts, and ideas behind resource allocation in your district is a key component of equity-based budgeting. In doing so, everyone can understand the assumptions that underly resource decisions and administrators can better make adjustments, as needed. By describing all of the thinking that determines how staffing and dollars flow to school sites, your district will be better positioned to budget equitably.

Read more >
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3. Are You Ready for Equity-Based Budgeting?

By Funmi Haastrup, Equity Journey Partners

The budgeting process is one of the most effective functions at a district’s disposal to meet students’ needs. Implementing an equitable budget is an opportunity to provide students with greater needs with the resources necessary to achieve at the same level as students without those needs. However, for districts that have traditionally based their budgeting practices on principles of equality rather than equity, making this change could be difficult. Doing so requires a system-readiness assessment that will guide how best to implement an equitable budget in your district. Before your system begins, take the time to assess how ready it is for change.

Read more + download a readiness checklist >

WHERE SHOULD MY DISTRICT BEGIN?

Watch this webinar replay for an essential primer on equity-based budgeting. We'll walk you through an introduction to:

  1. Creating an equity vision
  2. Building transparency into the process
  3. Assessing readiness for change

The session ends with a Q&A with district administrators who are on the journey to equity budgeting and have lessons to share. 

This resource page is proudly presented through a partnership
with Allovue and Equity Journey Partners

 

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Allovue is a technology company that builds solutions for K-12 finance designed to help districts allocate, budget, and manage resources—efficiently and equitably.  Allovue empowers education leaders with solutions to equitably and effectively administer resources. Allovue's tools help districts create easy-to-update resource allocation formulas, plan district and school budgets in a collaborative environment, and easily monitor actual spending in real-time. 

 

Learn more about Allovue

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The mission of Equity Journey Partners is to partner with schools and their communities on their journey to become culturally proficient and equitable ecosystems that ensure students of all cultures and social identities can achieve a future inspired by boundless dreams. Equity Journey Partners works with schools and communities by conducting comprehensive equity audits, facilitating the design and implementation of new practices, developing strategic equity plans, and more.

 

Learn more about Equity Journey Partners