Focus on City Schools: Fair Student Funding and Budget Updates

In 2008, City Schools adopted a model for school budgeting called “fair student funding” to put as many dollars as possible directly in schools, whose communities know best what their students need. According to City Schools, a number of changes have occurred since then. These include:

• The district has identified focus areas to advance student success;
• Student population has changed — for example, a growing number of English learners;
• Enrollment at charter schools has increased; and
• Costs have increased in the face of flat funding from the state, resulting in significant cost cutting.

City Schools convened stakeholders who discussed how the model is working today, challenges, and potential updates to the funding model. On January 23, the Board of School Commissioners approved an updated model for 2018-19 that includes allocation of resources to schools with large numbers of students from low-income households; weights for student achievement were eliminated.

According to City Schools, the approved model will result in increased funding for many schools; no schools will see a decrease in their funding allocation as a result of the changes to the model. This school-by-school comparison, based on budget allocations for the current year, illustrates how this change is likely to affect individual schools.

Join a discussion with Alison Perkins-Cohen, Chief of Staff of Schools and John Walker, Interim Chief Financial Operator from Baltimore City Schools for an update on Fair Student Funding and the 2019/2020 City Schools budget.  

This program is for Maryland Philanthropy Network members only.  Lunch will be served.