Strategic School Funding for Results
Announcements
SSFR Site Archived
The SSFR website has been archived and is no longer regularly updated. We are keeping the site available in hope that you will find the resources useful in your work. Please contact us should you have any questions about the SSFR project.
SSFR Releases New Publications—March, 2012
The SSFR research team has released reports about the perspectives of central office staff, principals, teachers, and school site councils on resource allocation and the implementation of SSFR in TRUSD and LAUSD.
SSFR Presents to the Council on Great City Schools—October 21, 2011
Steve Jubb from PLP and and William Bass from LAUSD presented on the implementation of SSFR in LAUSD.
Download the slide presentation
Funding
We are especially grateful for funding from:
- The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
- The Ford Foundation
- The Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Dept. of Education
Introduction
Strategic School Funding for Results (SSFR) was first implemented in 2009 as a partnership between social science research firm AIR and the San Francisco-based Pivot Learning Partners. The goal of the project is to improve local school finance, governance, and human resources management by building human capital among district and school level decision makers. SSFR hopes to achieve this goal by providing districts with a set of tools and supports that streamline the process of developing school budgets, allocating district resources, and evaluating student outcomes on a per-pupil (as opposed to a per-school) basis. Districts currently involved with the project are Los Angeles (LAUSD), Pasadena (PUSD)*, and Twin Rivers (TRUSD).
This website represents our progress and reports. A notable strength of this project is the expertise of our Advisory Board. A more detailed description of the project can be found on this page.
*SSFR activities in PUSD are currently on hold
(For more information, please read this press
release).
Features
Ed Trust - West Report
Highlights Need for District Budget Transparency
October 2012
Ed Trust-West has released a report (Tipping the Scales Towards Equity) calling for changes to Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed school finance reform package. While voicing support for the reform’s employment of a Weighted Student formula, the report questions whether the Governor’s proposal contains sufficient provisions to ensure that funds designated for high need students are subsequently passed on to these students by district offices. As a potential solution, the report calls for reform that (a) places a burden on districts to justify their flexible use of categorical funds and (b) imposes mechanisms that would make district accounting practices more transparent to the public.
More
than the Math: Realities of a Weighted Student Formula in Twin
Rivers
March
2012
SSFR team member Cristin Quealy
recently shared her perspective on the development and implementation of a
school-level weighted student funding formula in the Silicon Valley Community
Foundation blog, Thoughts on Public Education (Op-Ed). Drawing on
her first-hand experiences and insight from working with Twin Rivers to
implement SSFR, Cristin describes how the district is moving toward greater
equity, transparency, autonomy, and accountability.
KQED’s
Forum Highlights SSFR in Twin Rivers USD
January 2012
Mahala Archer (SSFR project
manager in Twin Rivers USD) was interviewed on KQED’s Forum along with
Michael Kirst, President of the State Board of Education and Eric Heins, Vice
President of the California Teachers Association. The segment focused on
Governor Brown’s proposal to shift much of the control over education funds
from the state to districts. Rather than allocating money to districts through
categorical programs, Brown is proposing a weighted pupil funding system
through which the state would allocate money based on districts’ populations of
low-income and English Learner students.
Archer discussed how the SSFR
initiative in Twin Rivers USD is applying a similar weighted pupil funding
system at the district level. The district aims to increase efficiency,
transparency, and equity in the use of funds by giving principals greater
discretion over how to allocate resources in the manner best for their schools.
According to Archer, nearly eighty percent of resources are now managed on site
in SSFR pilot schools, compared to thirty five percent of resources they
managed before the initiative was implemented. In accordance with this increase
in autonomy, Archer emphasized that SSFR will strengthen school accountability
for student outcomes.
The additional flexibility offered
under the Governor’s proposal will make it easier for districts to implement
and extend such needs-based funding approaches down to the school level,
providing schools with more autonomy in how they meet the needs of the students
they serve.
Listen to the
program
The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A100630 to the American Institutes of Research, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The Ford Foundation. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Education, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, or The Ford Foundation.