About the Show
Turn ideas and evidence into actionable strategies
In each Budgeting for Educational Equity episode, host Jason Willis, Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, welcomes education leaders and practitioners to discuss funding, education improvements, and strategies to advance resource equity across all levels of California’s public education system.
Each episode presents guest speakers who share their expertise, discuss the tools they’re using, what’s working, and what they’ve learned. Join us to tap into the experiences of guest experts and colleagues who are doing the work every day of ensuring fair allocation of resources. This series will also present helpful briefs and worksheets to encourage usage and implementation of the ideas discussed.
Subscribe to the Show
Connect With Us
Follow the series on Twitter at @Budget4EdEquity to keep up to date on the series; find additional resource recommendations; and share your thoughts, ideas, questions, and feedback.
S2E9: Meeting the Needs of All Students: How Can Educators, Leaders and Education Systems Better Attend to the Intersection of Language and Disability for Multilingual Learners
This episode brings attention to the need for schools and school systems to better attend to the intersection of language and disability for young multilingual learners.
S2E8: What You Need To Know About California’s New Equity Multiplier–and Related School Accountability System Changes
Learn about the Equity Multiplier, a new component to California’s Local Control Funding Formula.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S2E7: School Closures and Consolidations in California: Deepening Our Understanding
Host Jason Willis talks with school finance and policy veteran Carrie Hahnel about school closures and consolidations, delving into current factors that could lead to more closures and data about the disproportionate impact on different student populations.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S2E6: Advancing Equity Through Locally Driven Funding Formulas: LAUSD’s Groundbreaking Student Equity Need Index (the “SENI”)
Host Jason Willis talks with Pedro Salcido (Los Angeles Unified School District) and Jessenia Reyes (Catalyst California) about the Student Equity Need Index (SENI), a research-based index that uses comprehensive indicators to rank school needs for more equitable funding distribution.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S2E5: A New Era of School Business in California: Innovative Thinking About Where We’re Headed—with CASBO CEO Tatia Davenport
Tatia Davenport, CEO of the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO), discusses the future of school business in California and shares insights from the first comprehensive survey of California school business executives in nearly 25 years.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S2E4: Seizing the Moment to Expand Access to Student Services by Maximizing Interagency Collaboration and Funding Sources
Dr. Chaun Powell, Senior Chief of Student Services for the Alameda COE, shares approaches for maximizing funding sources to help schools increase equity by expanding whole child services, including behavioral and mental health supports.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S2E3, Part 2: Big Lifts and Launches: Resource Equity and Other Key Considerations for Implementing Major New Initiatives Like UPK and UTK—A Local District Perspective
Maria Ceballos, Executive Director of the Early Learning Department at Fresno Unified School District, offers hands-on, practical advice from a local school district perspective about expanding early learning access to all children and families.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S2E3, Part 1: Big Lifts and Launches: Resource Equity and Other Key Considerations for Implementing Major New Initiatives Like UPK and UTK—A Statewide Perspective
Host Jason Willis chats with Sarah Neville-Morgan, Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education, about the statewide implementation of Universal Transitional Kindergarten, the goal to implement Universal Prekindergarten, and the challenges and strategies of implementing major new initiatives.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S2E2: Building Systems Alignment and Coherence to Meet Students’ Needs: Personalized Learning in Lindsay USD
Host Jason Willis chats with Grant Schimelpfening & Cheri Doria of Lindsey USD about building equity through systems, culture, & personalized learning plans.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S2E1: Scoping Out the Current Educational Equity Landscape with Nina Boyd
Host Jason Willis sits with school business official, administrator, and statewide leader, Nina Boyd, who draws on her nearly 40 years in public education to discuss the state of educational equity today.
Coming Soon: All new episodes of Budgeting for Educational Equity
The Budgeting for Educational Equity podcast is returning soon! In the meantime, you can listen to a replay of the debut episode, featuring several guests who establish the context for the podcast and help you get your bearings on the topic of resource equity.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast S1E9: Key Ingredients for Making Good Decisions – Especially When You’re in the Pressure Cooker
In this episode, host Jason Willis welcomes WestEd Senior Research Associate Alex Jacobson to discuss how good decisions that lead to successful outcomes for students are, in part, contingent on the ways in which people make those decisions.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series S1E8: Don’t Just Accelerate, Navigate: One School District’s Approach to System Improvement and Equity During the Pandemic
In this episode, Superintendent Rosanna Mucetti, Ed.D., and Assistant Superintendent/CBO Rabinder “Rob” Mangewala describe how Napa Valley Unified School District leveraged pandemic challenges to accelerate their focus on resource equity and school improvement.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series S1E7: The Locus of Local Control – Revisiting the LCFF, Part Two
In part two of our focus on California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), host Jason Willis and special guests examine the concept of local control more closely, especially as it relates to educational equity.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series S1E6: Revisiting the LCFF, California’s Landmark School Funding Reform, Part One
Adopted in 2013, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) ushered in a new era of school finance in California. In this episode, host Jason Willis and special guests explore key elements of the resource equity reform.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series S1E5: Connecting Student Learning and School Business Through an Equity Lens – One Instructional Leader’s Journey to Becoming a Chief School Business Official
In this episode, Marguerite Williams, Ed.D. shares valuable insights about resource allocation and equity from her unique perspective as an instructional leader and a new Chief Business Officer.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series S1E4: The Time and Space to Innovate Towards Equitable School Systems
Experts Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn share powerful ideas and insights about how school communities can make the most of the moment to create equitable outcomes for all students.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series S1E3: Collaborating and Planning for Change – More Resource Equity Learnings From a School District Leader Advancing the Work
In this episode, Sanger Unified School District Superintendent Adela Madrigal Jones shares her district’s approach to advancing equity.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series S1E2: It Starts With Data and Listening to the System – Practical Ways to Approach Equitable Resource Allocation From the CBO’s Seat
This episode veteran school district Chief Business Officer Jayne Christakos and offers practical insights into education equity and resource allocation and suggests how educators can get started.
Budgeting for Educational Equity Podcast Series S1E1: Getting Our Resource Equity Bearings
In this first episode, Jason Wllis welcomes several guests to help you get your resource equity bearings as the series commences.