This presentation was given to the Boston City Council on May 7 as part of a presentation on Boston Public Schools' weighted student funding status.

1. Weighted Student Funding Overview
Boston Public Schools Budget Hearing
Rethinking Resources
for Student Success May 8, 2012

2. Education Resource Strategies (ERS)
is a non-profit organization that has
worked closely with multiple large
districts across the country (including
Rochester, Baltimore, and Boston) that
have implemented or are in the process
of implementing WSF. This is part of
broader work with leaders of urban
public school systems to rethink the use
of district and school-level
resources, supporting strategies for
improved instruction and performance.
Visit us at www.erstrategies.org
RETHINKING RESOURCES
FOR STUDENT SUCCESS Weighted Student Funding (WSF)

3. Why do districts decide to implement WSF?
• EQUITY: Students are funded equitably
regardless of which school they attend.
• TRANSPARENCY: A WSF formula
makes it clear to all relevant stakeholders
how much money schools receive and
how the allocation process works.
• SCHOOL EMPOWERMENT: Schools have both the autonomy and the
responsibility to design their schools to best meet their student needs.
• INNOVATION: Principals have the freedom to organize their school in whatever
way they believe will best serve their students.
• ACCOUNTABILITY: Every school controls its own budget and school leaders
are responsible for resource decisions and related outcomes.
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4. Here are a few important terms that are often
used when discussing the WSF formula
WSF Formula: The formula that the district will use to allocate out the WSF Pool to
schools – the formula is calculated using the WSF Weights and Student Enrollment data.
BASE WEIGHT: Weight that every student receives
FOUNDATION: Fixed amount given to all schools (or just to small schools) to help
cover baseline “fixed” costs
NEED WEIGHTS: Additional $s provided to meet the needs of certain student
populations. Examples include:
GRADE-LEVEL
PERFORMANCE (HIGH and LOW)
SPECIAL EDUCATION
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
MOBILITY
SCHOOL TYPE
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5. Two of the most important decisions that districts make in
developing their WSF system are:
1 What resources are “unlocked” under WSF – a.k.a., Where
will budgetary control be given to schools?
2 What student characteristics will the WSF formula
weight? And how much should the weights be?
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6. 1. When should a resource be unlocked?
 Does school control of this resource fit within the district’s
VISION OF THE PRINCIPAL’S ROLE?
 Is this resource a key CENTRAL ROLE such that devolving it
impacts the district’s ability to fulfill a vital function?
 Is this resource a district-wide priority that the district wants
each school/student to have CONSISTENT access to it?
 Is this resource needed INFREQUENTLY OR
UNPREDICTABLY, making it hard for schools to budget for it?
 Does this resource have REQUIRED INPUT/OUTPUT such that
the district is accountable for it to external source?
 Does this resource have ECONOMIES OF SCALE such that the
savings for centralizing outweighs desire of school control?
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7. 2. Which weights should be used?
• What type of ADDITIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES do students with
these characteristics need (i.e., what do we expect schools to
do with the extra dollars)?
• Is this characteristic both SUFFICIENT AND UNIQUE within the
district’s overall population to merit weighting?
• Does the district have the ability to TRACK AND PROJECT
ENROLLMENTS for this characteristic?
• Does this student characteristic CORRELATE WITH ANY OTHER
CHARACTERISTIC such that we might be double-weighting?
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8. Districts choose to weight characteristics that make sense
given their academic strategy and context
ff Boston Baltimore Cincinnati* Denver Hartford Houston NYC Oakland SF Seattle*
Foundation
Amount
Grade
Perf-High
Perf-Low
Poverty
SPED
ELL
Other
* Note: WSF currently suspended due to declining revenue
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9. 1. Does the district believe that additional resources are
required to appropriately serve this student characteristic?
• What type of additional support services do
students with these characteristics need?
Extra instructional support?
Extra socio-emotional support?
Other types of support?
Low-income students may need both additional
For example: Poverty (FRL) students instructional and social-emotional support to
achieve at the same level as their peers
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10. 2. Is this student characteristic sufficient and unique within the
district’s overall population to merit weighting?
• Are there a sufficient number of students with this
characteristic in the district such that it makes sense to
weight them?
• Is this student characteristic so pervasive across the
district such that almost all students would be
weighted?
Some urban districts are 90%+ FRL - almost all
students would be eligible for this weight – it
For example: Poverty (FRL) students
may make more sense to build the additional
support into the base weight for all students
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11. 3. Does the district have the ability to track and project
enrollments for this student characteristic?
• Since WSF budgets are developed in the spring
preceding the school year, the district can only
weight characteristics for which it can reasonably
track and predict accurate enrollments
• Otherwise, doing mid-year adjustments will be a
painful process for schools
Most districts should be able to reasonably
For example: Poverty (FRL) students track and project FRL status based on historical
enrollment and demographic shifts
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12. 4. Does this student characteristic correlate with any other
characteristic such that we might be double-weighting?
• Weights are additive (i.e., students receive all the
weights that they are eligible for)
• So if a student is already receiving additional support
for being X, do they need more resources for being Y?
• Or do those characteristics have different needs that
require different resources?
Some research indicate that there may be
strong correlation between FRL status and low
For example: Poverty (FRL) students
academic performance, particularly at the
elementary school grade levels
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13. When thinking about how much to weight characteristics in
the WSF formula – the questions to ask are:
How much does the district currently spend to serve this characteristic?
How much would the district “ideally” want to spend?
Current Range of the Possible Weights Ideal Program
Spending Design
Is this weight based on RESEARCH-DRIVEN best practices?
Does this weight make sense from an EQUITY stand-point?
Final Weight
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14. Districts with WSF make very different decisions when it comes to
designing their WSF systems and developing their WSF formulas, but for
WSF to work well, all districts must address the following three issues:
AUTONOMY
District policies and practices are Strategic Use of
changed to permit school leaders to School-Level
use resources strategically Resources
CAPACITY
Central office provides training and
Capacity
support to help school leaders use
resources strategically
ACCOUNTABILITY
School leaders are held accountable
for student-outcomes and fiscal
responsibility in return for increased
control
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