Chapter 13: Weighted Student Formula Yearbook 2009

The Weighted Student Formula Yearbook 2009 from the Reason Foundation, authored by Lisa Snell,¹ provides a simple framework for touting the successes of states and urban school districts that grant greater fiscal autonomy to schools. This framework is illustrated in Figure 13.1.

The report begins by laying out the key principles of Weighted Student Funding (WSF), with citations made primarily to the 2006 Fordham Institute Report, Fund the Child (FTC).²

Two main principles dominate the Reason Foundation rationale: (a) the importance of allocating budgets directly to schools within districts, based on the characteristics of children in those schools, with funding following the child and based on the needs of the child; and (b) the importance of allocating funding, as opposed to staff positions, to schools and then allowing school-level leaders (principals) latitude to use that funding as they see fit. Similar to a 2007 report published by Ohio’s Buckeye Institute, which I also reviewed,³ this report adds that the principles for allocating funding within districts should be replicated for all levels, including state and federal funding. The report also argues for simplicity and transparency.