1. Communicating about Financial Transparency
July 16, 2018
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

2. New ways to participate: Raise hand Yes/No Slower/Faster
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

3. Agenda State updates re: communication efforts Communication findings
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

4. Communication matters…
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

5. With whom have you communicated so far? Use Yes/No button for each.
LEA finance staff
LEA superintendents
State Chief
Other SEA staff
State membership orgs (ASBO, School Bds Assoc, Principals assoc, etc.)
State Board
Legislature
Other?
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

6. How are you communicating? Use Yes/No button for each.
s/letters/memos
Public documents (data plan, FAQs)
Presentations in-person
Webinars/videos/live calls
In-person and/or virtual trainings
Other?
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

7. Message research on school level financial transparency
District leaders, school board members, school leaders, teachers, parents
Goal of research: understand what stakeholders know/think about financial transparency; how they think about resource allocation and use in schools; how they react to calls for equity, efficiency, productivity; and what they understand and perceive when shown sample PPE reports
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

8. What are we learning generally?
Lots of distrust regarding school financial info.
Parents/teachers are more likely to trust their principals on $ issues. (When possible, districts should tap principals to do communicating).
When asked about expenditures, principals think in terms of non-labor costs.
All financial communication should reference students (and what XX will do for students).
Parents, teachers and principals are comfortable spending more on high needs students (but nervous about calls to take money away from some schools).
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

9. What are we learning generally? Cont.
Many district/school leaders haven’t thought about inequitable spending due to uneven salaries.
Communities want to hear about financial info in a format that allows for them to weigh in.
Communication that sites evidence/research should acknowledge local context to be trusted. Avoid business lingo.
“Fair” is received better than “Equitable”
Citing dollar figures improves credibility.
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

10. How district leaders respond to FT requirement
Annoyance, Frustration, Anxiety
“This is stupid” “Insulting”
“Community won’t understand why we spend the way we do”
“More federal requirements to micromanage us”
It’s a good thing. It’s about time.
“We need more dialogue on how we spend our money”
“Maybe if more people were involved, we can start to make some changes to help students”
Commits to looking at school-by-school spending to see what the numbers say
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

11. How principals respond to FT requirement
TRUST DISTRICT: Don’t know much about how the district allocates funding, but trusts that district is treating my school fairly.
DOESN’T TRUST DISTRICT: Don’t know much about how the district allocates funding, and worries that district is not treating my school fairly.
WANTS TO ENGAGE/PARTICIPATE on FINANCE
Promise of school-level financial data sparks principal interest and desire to engage with district on decisions about how resources allocated and used.
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

12. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
Leveraging dollars to do more for students
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

13. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
Reallocation
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

14. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
Efficiency
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

15. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
Do more with less
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

16. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

17. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
Admit to the tradeoff: “We could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

18. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

19. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

20. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
Spending smarter
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

21. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
Communicate with $ amounts
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

22. “We were told we had to…”
Don’t say:
Reallocation
Efficiency
Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
“We were told we had to…”
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

23. Don’t say: Do say: Reallocation Efficiency Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

24. Don’t say: Do say: Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Reallocation
Efficiency
Do more with less
Acknowledge a cut as just that: a cut.
“We were told we had to…”
Do say:
Leveraging dollars to do more for students.
Link discussion to STUDENTS
Admit the tradeoff: “we could have done XX or YY and we chose YY because it helps us do ZZ for students.”
Spending smarter
Communicate with $ amounts
We have the flexibility to make tradeoffs that meet the needs of our students.
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

25. SEA explanation of the requirement: Bright spots? Areas of improvement?
The new federal requirement to track PPE at the school-level is designed to provide education stakeholders with better data to analyze and identify differences in school spending and help address a more equitable approach to school spending. …. The PED’s School Budget and Finance Analysis Bureau do not opine on the benefits of the additional reporting requirement and presents this non-regulatory guidance at the request of many entities in order to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the new federal law.
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

26. SEA explanation of data usage: Bright spots? Areas of improvement?
… Clearer financial data, coupled with a strong understanding of other data like school demographics, student outcomes, and staffing, will allow leaders to make more data- driven decisions for the benefit of children.
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

27. SEA explanation of PPE variation: Bright spots? Areas of improvement?
Student and school characteristics can have a dramatic impact on spending differences between schools (special education, at-risk populations, etc.). The per-pupil expenditure data does not, in all cases, provide a reliable basis for comparing schools due to the limited nature of school-level expenditure data as well as a lack of consideration for school-level demographics and state determined funding mechanisms. We further caution that per-pupil spending is not the only measure of resource equity.
What did the SEA do well?
What can be improved?
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

28. District responding to budget cuts: Bright spots? Areas of improvement?
On top of their regular budgets, choice programs, such as Montessori, International Baccalaureate, and career and technical education, receive millions of extra dollars each year. That spending is also on the chopping block as the district cuts costs. …. “When you do budget cuts, it may be that we want to cut equally and make everybody feel the pain equally,” Humphries said, “but you may not be able to do that.” But there are other areas where the district can more easily cut back, Humphries said, such as by reducing the number of foreign languages offered in middle school. +:
Tradeoffs -:
Negative framing
Dollar amounts
Fairness/equity
Community weigh-in/feedback?
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University

29. Going to STATS DC? New BSCP Center FT resource:
Join Katie and fellow FiTWiG members for drinks and appetizers at Blackfinn Ameripub on July 25th from 6-7pm. invite to follow.
Next virtual meeting: August 6, 2018
New BSCP Center FT resource:
A Checklist to Guide Data Visualization Decisions
FiTWiG Supporters
©2018 Edunomics Lab, Georgetown University