1 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Using Educational Resources More Effectively School Finance: A Policy Perspective, 4e Chapter 7

2 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Using Educational Resources More Effectively 1.Introduction 2.More efficient use of resources for core instruction 3.Reallocating categorical and specialist subject resources 4.More effective ways to structure the “overhead” functions of schools 5.Reallocating resources to the evidence-based adequacy model

3 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Why Reallocate Resources? As we saw in Chapter 6, the influx of dollars into schools over the past few decades has led to many extra professional positions outside the regular classroom Even with these extra positions, schools are not achieving at desired levels and thus need to rethink their use of resources

4 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Category 1: Core Resources Principal Classroom teachers –Grade-level or multiage for elementary schools –Math, Science, History, Language Arts (and in some cases World Language) Professional Development

5 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources Madison, WI: Low reading scores, particularly for minority students, was the impetus for the following changes: Implementation of a research-based reading curriculum in all elementary schools Class Sizes of 15 in grades K-3 Intensive, ongoing professional development for teachers related to the new reading program Teacher tutors for struggling students

6 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources Mid-sized urban district, WI: Low test scores, particularly for minority students, was the impetus for these changes also: – Class sizes of 15 in K-3 –Changing from half-day to full-day kindergarten

7 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources How did the district finance these changes? –Using their knowledge of marginal vs. average costs, administrators figured out that by switching from half- to full-day kindergarten, they would get twice the resources (since their student count goes up), but it wouldn’t cost twice as much, and the surplus could be used to reduce class sizes in K-3 –Enrollment growth also brought in more funds

8 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources Using multiage classrooms in small schools can save teacher resources –For example, if K-5 school has 60 students, 10 in each grade, they would need 6 teachers if organized by grade level, but could combine classrooms and have three teachers with class sizes of 20: K-1, 2-3 and 4-5 –Other configurations also possible – research shows that students in multiage classes do well

9 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources At the high school level, resources can also be saved by offering classes less frequently: –In a high school with 100 students, class sizes would be approximately 8 in the sciences if they offered all of them – physics, chemistry, biology, general science, advanced science – every year –Could also choose to offer these courses every other year and combine ages of students

10 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources At the district level, one of the most important reallocations to make is resources for professional development –Studies show that districts spend more than think on professional development but in incoherent, fragmented ways –Reallocating these resources to more in-depth professional development around the core curriculum can help boost student achievement

11 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources In the early 1990s, Karen Miles and Linda Darling-Hammond studied 3 elementary and 2 high schools –These schools adopted or created a new school vision and reallocated their resources to the needs of their new vision –All schools were in urban districts serving large numbers of low-income and disabled students –3 of the schools were “new starts” –2 schools restructured themselves from their previous to their new design

12 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources To varying degrees, the schools made these 5 changes to their use of resources: –1) increased the number of regular-classroom teachers, thereby devoting more of their budget to the core education service: teaching a classroom of students –2) provided varied class sizes for different subjects –3) grouped students differently from the age-grade strategy of most schools –4) expanded common planning time for teacher teams –5) increased teacher professional development

13 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Core Resources –Each of these strategies: involved using resources differently were designed to help strengthen the schools’ core instructional program And each school produced higher levels of student performance, including special education students, as a result –None of the schools studied were given extra resources above those provided through normal district budgeting

14 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Category 2: Resources for Specialists and Student Support Art, music, physical education, drama, technology and other special subject teachers ELL teachers Special Education teachers Reading and Math specialists or tutors Pupil Support (Guidance, Psychologists etc.) Instructional Aides

15 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Specialist and Student Support Resources Odden and Archibald (2000, 2001) studied schools who reallocated resources to fund comprehensive school designs and class size reduction A major source of funding for these changes was reallocation of category two resources

16 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Specialist and Student Support Resources Specifically, the schools in Odden & Archibald (2000, 2001): –Kept nearly all regular-education specialists as well as the bulk of special-education and pupil support staff –Reallocated their categorical program specialists, including ELL, Title I, and Special Ed for mild disabilities, for regular classroom teachers

17 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Category 3: Overhead Central Administration –Superintendent –Support for School Board Business, Fiscal and Personnel Services Operations (Heating, Cooling, Electricity, Janitors) Maintenance (Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters) Food Transportation Short-term debt

18 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Overhead Transporting Pupils: The Foshay Bus –Using knowledge of fixed and variable costs, a principal decided to hire a bus driver to stay at the school every day to be available for field trips, rather than pay for the back and forth and have the driver available less often –Financed this through a combination of reallocating student activities resources, fundraising and grant money

19 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Overhead Linking the Community through Food Services: Combining school lunch with neighborhood meal programs –Because food service is cheaper per meal the more meals are served, combining these programs saves money –This can mean combining with meals on wheels (sending food out) or inviting community members to come to the school

20 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Examples of Reallocating Overhead Improving Energy Management: In Warwick, RI, they did this by: –Purchasing heating oil futures to mitigate increases in the cost of heating oil over the year –Entering into cooperative agreements to purchase natural gas and electricity –Retrofitting school buildings with energy-efficient lighting –Implementing solar energy –Shifting to biodiesel fuel for space heating

21 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Allocating Resources Using the Evidence-Based Adequacy Model The chapter also identifies a school redesign simulation available online at that can be used to determine whether it can afford to implement the Evidence-Based Adequacy Model Use data from your school or another student’s school to try this process yourself

22 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Allocating Resources Using the Evidence-Based Adequacy Model The next slide provides the current resources for a 600-student middle school with 50% poverty and 25% ELL Can use this school’s data to input into the school finance redesign report, as shown on slide 24, titled “Evidence-Based Model Resources”

23 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Current Resources

24 (c) 2008 The McGraw ‑ Hill Companies Evidence-Based Model Resources