Moving toward Equity-Based Budgeting: Building Transparency into the Budgeting Process
Equity requires transparency. An equitable school district is transparent about its strategic priorities, the performance of its students by subgroups, and its district budget and budget development process, among other important functions. On the most basic level, transparency is important because school districts are public entities funded with taxpayer dollars; transparency provides taxpayers a means to hold public officials accountable. Equitable school systems elevate the notion of transparency.
Equity is a principle of fairness based on recognizing that all students are different and come to their education with different needs. Equitable school systems commit to doing their best to give every student what they need to participate fully in all available student opportunities. Transparency in an equitable school district means: (1) reporting how student needs are met, (2) presenting information in ways that allow all school community members to understand how those needs are met, and (3) including members of the school community in the decision-making process, especially those members who traditionally are not heard.
How is this notion of transparency applied to district and school budgets?
(1) Reporting. Let’s start with what transparency in budget reporting is not. Transparency is not a detailed, line-by-line budget for each department and school with an account code index to interpret meaning. Transparency often means less information, not more. In an equitable school district, transparency in budget reporting means providing the school community with the information they need to understand how the district strives to meet the different needs of students and schools.
District budgets are limited, and meeting all needs of all students is an impossible goal. In striving to meet the needs of students and schools, district leaders make difficult decisions. Families, caregivers, school leaders, educators, and taxpayers need to understand how budget resources are used to meet student needs by type (e.g., special education, English language learner, economically disadvantaged, struggling performers) and by school or program.
(2) Presenting. Some of us are data nerds and we love a good number-filled spreadsheet or a multi-colored bar chart. The “data nerd” profile does not fit many members of the school community. Dense tables and complicated charts can overwhelm a public audience by convincing them that district and school budgets are meant only for district leaders and school committee members. Equitable school districts present budget information in ways that all school community members can understand. This may require different communication vehicles for different audiences, such as a comprehensive budget book for the school committee and an executive summary for families/caregivers that highlights select budget information with more narrative and simplified tables and charts.
(3) Including. A transparent budget process centers the voices of the school community, including traditionally marginalized populations. Few school districts meaningfully integrate community voices into the budgeting process. If included at all, community participation generally occurs at the tail end of the budgeting process, after most decisions have already been made.
Equitable school districts seek community input from the start of the process, understanding that staff, family/caregiver, student, and community member perspectives are essential. Including individuals with different lived experiences and an intimate knowledge of their students means that budget priorities will be more tightly aligned to student needs. The end result is a more effective and efficient use of scarce budget resources. Meaningful community input in the budget process will require a significant mind shift for some districts, as well as new processes. But many districts can leverage structures they already have in place, such as school leadership or governance councils, to support an inclusive budgeting process.
Transparency in the budgeting process raises the potential for challenging conversations. In our work with districts, we have stressed the importance of including specifics in the budget about how the district is meeting the different needs of students and schools. This includes a dollar-per-pupil comparison of funding by student and school need. In response we have heard: “But, if we provide that information, people will ask questions.” Yes, they will—and they should. An equitable school district is prepared to answer these questions because equitable resource allocation supports a clearly articulated equity vision that has been developed and shared with the community.