Putting more money into Denver’s under-performing schools may be one way to boost student achievement, but fiddling with budgets will only do so much.
Metro Organizations for People, a community-based organization, unveiled an ambitious plan this week that suggests how Denver Public Schools should budget its money.
By using what’s known as a weighted-student funding formula, DPS would spend more money to educate low-income students and English-language learners. The formula ties dollars to students, so individual schools receive more money if they have more “at-risk” students than “typical” students.
It’s an intriguing proposal, and one that deserves further study.
But the study also found that Denver’s most experienced teachers are working in the more affluent, high-performing schools. The average teacher salary at schools ranked “unsatisfactory” by the state is $37,720. In schools ranked “excellent,” the average salary is $44,737. Teachers are assigned to schools under complicated rules that don’t necessarily lend themselves to simple budget formulas.
When disparities in teacher salaries are factored out, DPS funds schools fairly equally across the district.
So, DPS need to find additional incentives to get the best teachers into the most challenging classrooms. ProComp, an innovative teacher-pay plan approved by voters last year, is an important start because it rewards teachers for working in hard-to-staff schools.
But most experts agree it’s not the full answer.
When considering any overhaul of the budget process, the DPS board and administration also should look for ways to give principals more flexibility over how they spend their money.
The current system is based on confusing rules that aren’t tied to student achievement, and have even baffled Superintendent Michael Bennet.
The budget needs to be not only more transparent and logical but also more aligned with the goal of improving student achievement.
