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Foundation Budget Frequently Asked Questions Some say money doesn't matter. Are they right? Whether better funding makes a difference depends on the state's overall education program. More money doesn't matter in New Jersey; it does in Kentucky. Additional funding hasn't made a difference in Kansas City; it has in Texas. There is a lot of evidence that money alone will not significantly improve the quality of children's education. Billions of dollars have been invested in Kansas City, Missouri, and in New Jersey without gains in student learning, for example. But adequate resources coupled with changes in how the system works has the potential to result in enormous improvements. We've seen the difference adequate funding coupled with accountability can make in Texas and Kentucky. These states have been working for years on a comprehensive strategy to improve their schools, and it's paid off - both have made significant gains on NAEP ("the nation's report card"). What is the Foundation Budget? The Foundation Budget is a way of answering the question, "What is the minimum cost to provide a child with a quality education?" This method sets a foundation - or minimum - for the educational services and programs that schools must have to help students achieve high standards. The Foundation Budget is based on research, professional judgment and best practices from successful schools. Several states have used Foundation Budgets as the basis for changes in law, including Massachusetts and Maryland. How is the Foundation Budget calculated? The simplest way to think about a Foundation Budget is like zero-based budgeting in business: it starts with a blank slate and adds up the individual line items that it takes to run a high-quality school. To calculate the Foundation Budget, we begin with the number of schools and students in a school district and use that information to draw conclusions about the level of resources the district needs. For example, a Foundation Budget uses student-to-teacher ratios to come up with the required number of teachers and administrators for a given school; similarly, the level of textbooks, computers and maintenance all come from the number of students in a district. What if a district's actual spending is higher than the Foundation Budget amount? The Foundation Budget is intended as the floor - not the ceiling - for school funding. For too long, we have been unable to say with confidence what minimum level of resources our schools need and why they need them. A Foundation Budget enables us to do precisely that, and it is imperative that we bring all school districts up to that foundation level. At the same time, the state should accomplish this without penalizing school systems that are already there or are spending even more. What educational priorities are built into the foundation budget? The foundation budget is designed to provide the resources and programs that are most closely related to increasing student achievement. Professional judgment from some of the state's leading superintendents, principals and teachers - combined with evidence from respected national studies - led to a foundation budget that is based on: How can a Foundation Budget address poverty? All available research demonstrates that low-income students need extra resources in order to succeed in school. Policy-makers can use the Foundation Budget to invest in evidence-based strategies for helping low-income children achieve at high levels. These can include pre-school, full-day kindergarten, extra teachers for schools with low-income populations (in addition to smaller class size in the early grades for all schools) and supplemental instructional time so students who are behind can receive help after school, on weekends or during the summer. How can a Foundation Budget fund special education? The Foundation Budget should address the needs of special education students the same way that it calculates other spending levels: based on assumptions about the proportion of students who need the service. Pennsylvania currently funds special education by assuming that 15 percent of the students in every district have special needs. This is better than basing funding on an actual count of students assigned to special-needs classes because it removes any incentive districts may have to label more children as special education in order to receive extra funds. How does a Foundation Budget impact small schools and districts? A Foundation Budget is based on ratios that start with the number of students. As a result, some schools and districts would have too small a population to receive enough funds for core expenses like administrators and maintenance. For example, if the Foundation Budget calls for one principal for every 300 elementary school students, a school with only 200 children would not be able to afford its own administrator. How did Operation Public Education decide on its recommendations? Operation Public Education began by gathering information from regional focus groups of teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members and other educators. At four meetings across the state, these educators gathered to identify the educational practices most likely to lead to increased student achievement. Then, a core group with members from the key education constituencies as well as from several leading business organizations prioritized the accumulated ideas and used their expertise and available evidence to narrow the choices to the critical elements. Our lead consultant for the project was Edward Moscovitch, the former budget director for the State of Massachusetts who was the architect of that state's Foundation Budget. Final decisions on Foundation Budget programs and priorities were solely the responsibility of Operation Public Education How can the Foundation Budget become a reality? Operation Public Education recommends that a state convene a blue-ribbon commission to create its own Foundation Budget. The commission members should be named by the governor and the majority and minority parties of both houses of the state legislature. By carrying out the Foundation Budget process, the commission would be able to establish a minimum guaranteed funding level based on educational priorities. Once the commission finishes its work, its recommendations should be enacted by the legislature as part of a comprehensive school reform package that is indexed to inflation and also includes an equitable funding formula and a meaningful system of accountability. | ||||||||
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