With all the best intentions, education funding systems have become complex. At best, they are impossible to understand. At worst, they can be inequitable and drive the wrong behaviors. And amidst navigating that complexity, we lose sight of who we are trying to serve: children, students, families, and communities. As national experts in funding policy across ECE and K12, we guide communities in designing and implementing funding policies that bring your values to life by putting people at the center. Because you shouldn’t need an advanced degree to understand how funding works (but we have those too).

How much, to whom, in what ways, to what end? Our team brings research, data, and people together to answer these questions and design funding and resourcing policies that are understandable, equitable, and sustainable. In our work, we seek to deeply understand where funding flows today – and why – to identify root causes of inadequacies and inequities. We make time to engage directly with families, educators, and local communities to understand gaps and tension points. We build a coalition that can support values-driven solutions by aligning on goals, guiding principles, and requirements. We bring people together, have difficult conversations, and create actionable solutions that balance competing priorities. We understand the impact of the policies we are creating before we propose them, and we engage communities in conversations on impact. We are your partners in thoughtful, inclusive funding policy design.

We work side-by-side with your teams to implement funding policy change. Funding policy is not just a Finance and Budget initiative, it’s a strategic initiative that requires system-wide change for system-wide results. We will help your team plan for and carry out holistic change across technical systems requirements, capacity-building and coaching, change management and communications strategies, and beyond. Afton sees implementation through to effectively drive resources where they’re needed most, ensuring funding recipients are positioned to use resources well.