As school districts are faced with dwindling budgets and increasing needs - smart and strategic allocation of resources is imperative to maintaining and improving performance.
Focus Areas
Staffing Strategies
People comprise 80 to 85% of most district budgets and have the greatest impact on student achievement. Managing their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness can yield big gains for children and tax payers. Read More
Outcomes-Based Resource Allocation
An outcomes-based resource allocation review allows a district to analyze its present financial situation in an environment of shrinking budgets, rising costs and higher performance expectations. It affectively focuses the district on prioritize where funds should be distributed based on their Theory of Action. Read More
Budget Redesign and Support
Districts are facing declining budgets and cuts to student programs. Rather than doing less for students, districts have an opportunity to redesign their budget and provide services differently, at lower costs. Read More
Connecting Budget and Strategy
A district's budget should reinforce its strategic plan. In times of declining resources it is even more critical that budget development and strategic planning be tightly connected to ensure funding shortfalls don't hinder implementation of the district's strategy. Read More
Weighted Student Funding
Successfully implementing a weighted student funding model requires addressing both technical issues and complex change management challenges. Read More
Implementation Support
Grand, systemic strategies must ultimately yield to practical, day-to-day execution. An orientation toward action and results underpins all of DMC's services. But, even when a focus on execution helps to shape the initial design of a strategy, it can still be critical to dedicate a phase of work explicitly to implementation. An implementation phase reaches toward the ultimate purpose of any strategic plan: to improve outcomes for children. Read More
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Fairfax County Public Schools: Rethinking Budget Rationalization
