Afton is proud to partner with Boston Public Schools (BPS) alongside UPD Consulting to reimagine Boston’s school funding policy. The BPS ReImagine School Funding Project (RSF) is a 18-month process that brings together student, family, community, and school leader voices.
BPS, a major urban district serving roughly 45,000 students, has seen significant student demographic and enrollment shifts in recent years. While enrollment has dropped by roughly 16 percent, the proportion of BPS students requiring specialized support has continued to rise.
While BPS has made incremental funding changes to help offset this changing population, the goal of our work is to support BPS in designing a funding policy that more equitably supports each child to achieve and thrive, with a focus on the BPS students and families who have been historically marginalized.
Afton and UPD have designed this project to center the broader BPS Community as part of both the process and the ultimate funding decision. Working groups will design funding model options and impact assessments, conduct community engagement, and utilize principal expertise to guide the implementation.
This process will leverage the BPS Racial Equity Planning Tool which lays out a six-step process to ensure each decision we make is aimed at closing opportunity gaps and advancing racial equity. At the completion of this project, the Community Member Steering Committee will make a final recommendation for a school funding policy to the Superintendent.
Our Insights
A successful reimagined funding policy will:
- Provide more equitable support for each child to achieve and thrive with a focus on BPS students and families that have been historically marginalized;
- Be clearly articulated and well-understood across our constituents;
- Make explicit connections to other aspects of resource equity beyond the funding allocation that merit further review – things like instructional time and attention, learning ready facilities, teacher and school leader diversity and quality