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Recent K-12 Education Systems Projects:

DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education

2023 School Funding Study

Afton leads DC’s 2023 School Funding Study, connecting research, data, and community voice to define funding adequacy for the post-COVID era

Adequate and equitable funding for schools is an essential element to supporting student achievement. As a necessary element, school funding is unique in its connection to the impact and effectiveness of all other resource components such as a dedicated and well-prepared workforce, rigorous curriculum, and safe and welcoming school building operations that – together – help create the conditions for student success. Within the District of Columbia (District), the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF) guides the allocation of operating dollars for public Pre-K to 12 school funding for nearly 100,000 students based on identified needs across 70 Local Education Agencies (DCPS + charter LEAs) serving 251 schools.

In 2023, the District was charged with conducting a study to re-examining funding adequacy under the UPSFF. Afton was the lead partner, working with Augenblick, Palaich, and Associates (APA) and Metropolitan Strategies & Solutions (MSS). The study sought to address three essential questions: 

  • How do schools use their dollars today? What’s working and where are there gaps? 
  • How should the District allocate UPSFF dollars moving forward to accelerate learning and better support the unique needs of schools and students? 
  • How should the District allocate non-UPSFF dollars to build and maintain strong instruction and an ecosystem of student supports? 

Importantly, this study comes after the tumultuous years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the academic, physical, mental, and social wellbeing challenges that students have experienced nationwide. This study builds upon pivotal reports conducted by the District, supported by Afton, over the past ten years, including the 2013 Adequacy Study, the 2020 UPSFF Study, and several reports completed by the UPSFF Working Group. These reports laid the foundation for the District’s current funding policy, and most specifically in determining how much funding goes to each student in each school.

While acknowledging the essential foundation provided by the 2013 and 2020 studies, current context required that the District rethink traditional funding adequacy study methods to deeply understand what resources are needed to meet students where they are and support them fully. Ultimately, this holistic approach triangulated national research, rich data, and deep and diverse stakeholder input (see image below) – gathered through a variety of methods – to review the current UPSFF and take into consideration non-UPSFF District investments that contribute to school supports.  

The goal of the 2023 study was to “develop a funding policy that provides equitable and adequate resources to serve each student well, and to make the clear case for policy change” and embrace the following tenets: 

  • Lean into the opportunity to dramatically rethink collective community resourcing and use of resources at the system and school level; 
  • Design a student-focused funding policy solution that differentiates amongst schools/LEAs based on the unique context of the students they serve; 
  • Connect funding policy with other levers to encourage best practice and drive quality for effective use of funds; and 
  • Recognize that funding policy alone cannot address contributing factors of the opportunity gap, but will work to ensure the best use of local dollars to support the full lives of our students.

The triangulation approach (depicted below) linked national expertise, economic modeling, and quasi-experimental research findings; deep data analysis on student demographics, needs, and outcomes and LEA- and school-level spending; and broad local stakeholder engagement from school leaders and staff, parents and families, students and community agencies to make the outcomes more actionable and aligned to the lived experience of those most impacted by the work.  

Venn diagram showing how national research, diverse stakeholder input, and rich local data overlap in the middle to lead to actionable, evidence-based recommendations aligned to lived experience

This triangulation approach offers several significant improvements to individual traditional methods alone. While traditional methods including the national Evidence-Base (EB) and Professional Judgement (PJ) panels rightly form the foundation of this work, the additional methodologies – specifically, deep student and school data analysis alongside abundant stakeholder engagement elevating and amplifying diverse local voices – provide a richer understanding of needs and opportunities. It was through these multiple methods that the 2023 study approached the following: 

  • Understanding Student Needs: Identifying new or refined ways of thinking about/codifying student needs. 
  • Understanding Resource Needs: Utilizing a variety of data, research, and input to understand what resources are needed for what students. 
  • Determining Investment Levels: Identifying the level of local investments needed to achieve the goal of proficiency for all students. 
  • Developing Funding Policy: Resulting in a funding policy proposal that addresses both adequacy and equity, grounded in research, evidence, and lived experience. 
  • Considering Contextual Recommendations: Identifying levers that can be used to support LEAs and schools and ensure effective use of funds toward student needs. 

The methodology and triangulation approach to the analysis provided a rich and diverse evidence base that informed a set of options and opportunities for change that encompass both immediately actionable shifts to funding levels within the UPSFF itself, as well as related policy considerations to support change within and beyond the District. In addition to the published report of the full study, the work informed an interactive website that is customized to various users to support broad engagement with study approaches, findings and recommendations in a human-centered way.  The interactive website will be available in the coming days at dme.dc.gov.  

Our Insights

As evidenced throughout the study and documented in the report, there is an ongoing discussion both nationally and locally regarding the evolving role of schools, amplified by related conversations about continued effects of the pandemic and the imminent end of ESSER resources. Throughout this study, the team grappled with the question of: What is the role of the school and what is the role of DC in identifying and addressing the root causes of overall achievement gaps?

The agreements and tensions in the methodologies used to explore this question helped us understand why base funding was no longer sufficient to cover the needs of schools. 

  • Our review of national research suggested that DC’s base funding weight (i.e. the minimum amount set for all students based on grade level) was sufficient. Had we looked at national research alone, we might have concluded that DC did not need to change its base funding weight. 
  • Stakeholder voice through school leader interviews and parent surveys helped us understand that schools were being asked to do more than they ever have, in many cases without the formal charge or necessary resources to meet increased demands.  
  • Moreover, we could back this up with rich local data. We could see that, on average, less than 50% of resources going to schools were spent on instruction, and resources for mental health supports were high.  
  • In their interviews and survey responses, school leaders said they would use extra dollars for additional mental health supports and staffing, suggesting that their base resources were not sufficient.

The insights gained through the various methodologies and the triangulation of the learnings from each informed options and considerations for addressing the challenge that included traditional formula changes, as well as outside-of-formula, policy, and city agency partnership opportunities.  

Triangulating three methods brings out agreements and tensions in the data sets that otherwise may not be surfaced. While the work in this study built on the work from 2013 and 2020 and was grounded in traditional adequacy study methods, including extensive national research, the evidence base presented in the deep local data analysis and the voices elevated through the stakeholder engagement were vital in shaping the direction of the 2023 work.  

Stats & Impact

70

Local Education Agencies (DCPS + 69 charters)

251

Schools

100,000

Students