Monthly Archives: June 2014

Maryland taps Picus Odden and Associates for adequacy study

Posted on June 24, 2014 by | Leave a comment

On June 18, the Maryland Department of Education approved a contract with APA Consulting to conduct a comprehensive school finance adequacy study.  Picus Odden and Associates partnered with APA on this project and is a major subcontractor.  Our firm will conduct an Evidence-Based adequacy analysis for the state, and use the results, in conjunction with the results of two other adequacy methods, to propose a new “base” foundation expenditure per pupil level, together with weights for students from poverty, ELL students and students with disabilities.  The project also will conduct studies of improving schools in multiple contexts.

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Posted in Equity and Adequacy in School Finance

North Dakota Final Report

Posted on June 15, 2014 by | Leave a comment

On June 2, 2014, Picus Odden and Associates’ Principal Partner Allan Odden met with the Interim Education Funding Committee of the North Dakota Legislature to present the final report on the recalibration of North Dakota’s funding formula.

Of many findings in the report, the recommendations include increasing the Foundation Per Student number (the base adequacy level) from $8,810 to $9,247 and increasing the at-risk student weight, to provide extra help to struggling students from poverty and ELL backgrounds, from 0.05 to 0.20 plus a summer school weight of 0.6.

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Posted in Effective Resource Use/Strategic Budgeting, Equity and Adequacy in School Finance