Joseph Costello
Strategic budgeting is a crucial practice for school districts looking to optimize resource allocation and enhance student outcomes. As part of our strategic budgeting process, we help districts run an Initiatives Inventory analysis and conduct Academic-ROI analyses of key initiatives, which puts the district on the path to meaningful, measurable improvement.
After completing the Initiatives Inventory and assessing programming through Academic-ROI evaluations, many district teams are keen to expand their efforts. Naturally, improving the systems and processes to collect relevant data and streamline decision-making requires time. DMGroup has developed easy-to-implement tools so you can quickly begin to have an impact:
The New Initiative Application Form
A New Initiative Application Form captures critical design data for new initiatives, including their purpose, target student population, personnel and non-personnel costs, intended outcome, and how and when that will be measured. By collecting this information upfront, districts can track progress more efficiently and ensure consistent program implementation. It also puts the onus on the team requesting a new initiative to see the return on that investment. This form is an essential part of our toolkit for districts looking to adopt a forward-thinking approach to budgeting.
Tracking Investments in Existing Initiatives
For initiatives already in place, we recommend creating a list of targeted questions that gather crucial information about the highest-cost initiatives.
Some of the questions to ask:
How will you define success for this initiative?
What data will you need in order to measure this success?
How will you collect and review initiative data?
What strategic priority in the district is this initiative designed to support?
Who is this initiative meant to support?
Answering these types of questions reduces the burden on initiative leaders and central office staff while ensuring the district's big investments will be tracked in the future.
Longer-term Shifts for Comprehensive Strategic Budgeting
The transition to a strategic budgeting approach district-wide takes time and effort, but it can be accomplished. Consider the following tools:
Strengthening Data-tracking Systems
By identifying the data already being tracked and the systems in place, districts can enhance their strategic budgeting practices effectively. Districts can conduct a self-assessment of their current capacity to collect and analyze data, and can target their efforts towards improving the areas most in need of overhaul.
Increasing Capacity with Professional Development
Professional development is critical to building district teams' capacity for strategic budgeting. DMGroup offers a hands-on training program to support district teams in conducting Academic-ROI analyses and developing strategic budgeting skills.
Shifting Mindsets and Making Change
Changing budgeting processes also requires a change in mindset among district stakeholders. While changing mindsets is difficult, starting with Academic-ROI evaluations and the Initiative Inventory can build momentum and buy-in from stakeholders throughout the district.
A Time for Transformation
Strategic budgeting helps to ensure that every dollar of the budget contributes to the district's educational objectives. As districts are faced with the end of ESSER funds, using resources effectively is crucial to achieving long-term success. DMGroup is committed to supporting districts through this transformation, offering tools and strategies that align with our understanding of the challenges and opportunities in public education today.
We invite districts to engage with DMGroup to explore how strategic budgeting can help them improve resource allocation and positively impact student outcomes. Our paper on strategic budgeting provides more detailed insights into our approach and more information about implementing these practices.