Understanding Student-Weighted Allocation as a Means to Greater School Resource Equity

Peabody Journal of Education, Vol. 81 (3), pp. 39-62 (October 2006)
October 2006
Karen Hawley Miles, Marguerite Roza

Link to External Website

As attention shifts to how districts allocate resources to schools, student weighted allocation has emerged as an alternative to traditional staff-based allocation policies. Student-weighted allocation uses student need, rather than staff placement, as the building block of school budgeting. This article examines how the shift to student-weighted allocation affected the pattern of resource distribution within 2 districts: the Houston Independent School District and Cincinnati Public Schools. This study provides evidence that student-weighted allocation can be a means toward greater resource equity among schools within districts. Resource equity is defined here in per-pupil needs-weighted fiscal terms.