Alliance for Excellence in School Budgeting Tackles Equity in Student Outcomes and Resources.

An overarching theme of the Alliance for Excellence in School Budgeting group has been equity in both outcomes and resources for students. Equity has become even more important for districts that have a renewed focus on addressing systemic racism. But what does equity mean, and why does it matter, particularly in terms of the budget and related decisions?

This was one of the significant challenges addressed when GFOA hosted its sixth annual Alliance for Excellence in School Budgeting meeting in November 2020. At this year's meeting (held online), panelists from a number of organizations and school districts shared valuable information on a range of topics.

At one of those presentations--"Re-envisioning Instruction through Equitable Systems"--a nonprofit education consulting firm called Pivot Learning highlighted the importance of ensuring equitable student outcomes. When asked about the issues that were most on their minds, attendees shared the following:

* Access to food for food-insecure students.

* Access to technology and Internet for students.

* Support for priority student populations (those with disabilities, English language learners, housing-insecure students, etc.).

* Professional learning to help teachers with best practices for virtual or blended instruction.

Pivot also discussed "unfinished instruction" from last school year--in terms of grade-level standards where students did not demonstrate proficiency and grade-level standards that may not have been taught or assessed. To address unfinished instruction, Pivot recommended avoiding common detours such as providing direction without support and focusing only on access to instruction, with no regard for quality or effectiveness. As part of this process, districts need to establish a shared definition of equitable instruction, which will guide direction and focus.

Pivot has developed an Equity Reset Toolkit that can help guide districts' improved focus on equity (available at pivotlearning.org/resources/equity-reset-toolkit).

Another session, "Budgeting for Equity in the Time of COVID-19 and...