Burbio School Tracker 12/9: Sector Specific

1. January will be a critical selling period for the 2026-27 school year, and Burbio is introducing a District Research and Territory Planning Agent that instantly provides updated, sector-specific summaries of a school district's priorities and initiatives. The agent analyzes school board meeting minutes, strategic and facilities plans, curriculum adoption schedules, vendor payment history, budgets, bonds, levies and more, with links to source documentation. This leverages Burbio's expertise in amassing and analyzing unstructured K-12 data.

          A three-minute demonstration of the service from Burbio co-founder Julie Roche                 can be found here.

Each district summary is broken into four sections: Overall District Issues and Priorities, Budget and Funding Highlights, New Programs or Initiatives, and Providers & Vendors. Below is an example of a STEM and CTE-focused-summary of just one section, New Programs and Initiatives, for Renton School District, WA:

• Board approved 2025-26 CTE Lab Refresh for HHS, RHS, and RMS on August 27, 2025, representing a strategic investment in modernizing career technical education facilities across multiple school sites to support hands-on learning and industry-aligned skill development.

• Renton High School Science Classroom Upgrades contract completed in February 2025, enhancing STEM instructional spaces as part of the district's commitment to excellence in learning and teaching aligned with the 2025-26 Strategic Framework.

• Board directors actively participate in CTE Career and College Readiness Advisory Committee meetings, with multiple directors attending in November 2024 and May 2025, demonstrating governance-level commitment to career pathway development and industry partnership alignment.

• District's 2025-26 Strategic Framework emphasizes 3-8 Mathematics with a focus on deepening active intellectual engagement in conceptual understanding and real-world application, supporting STEM skill development through data-driven instructional cycles and professional learning communities.

• Hazen Robotics program received public recognition at the January 2025 board meeting, with three students displaying robots and thanking the board for continued support, indicating strong student engagement and program success in STEM competition activities.

At the end of this email are the other components of the District Research summary using Renton as an example. 

For a demo of this capability click here to schedule a meeting.

2. Burbio's State-Level Funding Tracker features continuously updated, state-specific grants for PreK-12 schools, with over 2,000 grants covering over $40 billion in spending. As grants are announced, clients are alerted and can reach out to eligible districts to inform them about the grant and offer to partner before the application process.  

Facilities grants, a top category of state awards, are integrated into Burbio's clients' go-to-market strategy along with construction-related School Board signals, school bond data, and the RFP Tracker. Many facility grants are offered by departments outside the state's board of education. Below is an overview of the landscape:

• Colorado's long-running BEST program is a competitive program that provides funding for the construction of new schools as well as general construction and renovation of existing school facilities.

• In Massachusetts, the Green School Works program funds projects that improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, or mitigate impacts of climate change and is representative of many eco-friendly funding initiatives.

• We see plenty of HVAC and air quality-related grants. The state of Washington offers an Indoor Air Quality Assessment Grant.  In Connecticut, the HVAC Indoor Air Quality Grant program, which started during Covid 19 with ESSER funds, is now an ongoing program.

• Many construction grants support school security, such as Virginia's School Security Equipment Grants.

• Facilities grants are often targeted to rural communities, such as Idaho's Rural K-12 Energy Enhancement Program

• We see grants that are highly specific construction grants such as Iowa's Therapeutic Classroom Grant. Across other states we see grants supporting the building of charging stations, hydration stations, food service equipment restrooms, bike paths, phone-free school equipment, and more.

3. Burbio detects thousands of AI-powered signals based on district activity. This week we take a look at signals from our Strategic Plan database. The following five trends in literacy are taken from district plans issued in 2025, and the pin map indicates districts in the survey:

• A shift to the Science of Reading (SoR) and Explicit Foundational Skills Instruction. Areas include:

  • Instructional Focus: Districts are explicitly detailing instruction in core literacy components such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

  • Curriculum Alignment: New curricula and materials are being purchased and implemented to align with the Science of Reading.

• Professional Development and Capacity Building for Educators, with emphasis on:

  • Targeted Training: Professional development on effective reading interventions, culturally relevant literacy instruction, and explicit phonics instruction.

  • Literacy Specialists: Hiring literacy coaches and specialists to provide job-embedded coaching and support to teachers.

• Focus on Early Literacy (PreK-5) and Third-Grade Proficiency as a benchmark to establish a strong foundational reading base.

  • Proficiency Goals: A frequent, explicit goal is to ensure students are reading at or above grade level by the end of 3rd grade.

  • Early Intervention: Includes enhancing early literacy skills in grades K-2 and expanding access to high-quality PreK programs.

• Commitment to a structured, data-driven approach, frequently involving an MTSS, to address learning gaps.

  • Identification and Screening: Plans include the implementation of universal screeners and diagnostic tools (like DIBELS Next or STAR Reading) to identify K-3 students with dyslexia characteristics or foundational literacy gaps.

  • Targeted Interventions; Once identified, students received individualized reading plans and focused literary interventions.

• Development of Comprehensive, Aligned K-12 Literacy Plans

  • Scope and Alignment: These plans aim to ensure equitable access to research-based instruction and promote literacy development.

  • Cross-Curricular Literacy: Aligning literacy instruction vertically and horizontally and embedding literacy instruction across all content areas.

4. To continue with the example District Research Agent Listed above, below is a one-paragraph STEM/CTE-focused summary of the other three sections. This same level of summary will be available for other K-12 verticals. It is critical to note that there are an additional 5-7 supporting points and documents for each section below (available by clicking the video link) that provide more details:

Overall District Issues and Priorities:

• Renton School District faces severe structural budget challenges driven by the inadequacy of the state's Prototypical School Model, which has resulted in $104 million in underfunding since 2020 across special education, transportation, materials/supplies, and substitute teachers. The district is implementing $15 million in budget reductions for FY 2025-26, including the elimination of assistant principal positions at all elementary and middle schools, while confronting a declining enrollment of approximately 1,200 students (representing $13.7 million in lost revenue) and an unrestricted fund balance that dropped to 4.08%—well below the board's 7% target. (click link for more)

Budget and Funding Highlights:

• Renton School District maintains consistent investment in Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Middle School CTE programs across fiscal years 2023-2026, with total vocational education funding ranging from $14.8M to $18.2M annually. The district allocates approximately $2.0M specifically for Middle School CTE (Program 34) with 13-14 FTE certificated staff dedicated to middle school career exploration. Despite overall district budget pressures and $15M in required reductions for FY 2025-26, CTE programming has been protected as a strategic priority, demonstrating the district's commitment to career readiness pathways. (click link for more)

Current/Or Major Providers and Vendors.

• Renton School District partners with specialized technology and educational service providers to support STEM and CTE programming. Key vendors include KCDA (King County Directors' Association) for technology services, Micro Computer Systems Inc for technology infrastructure, and CODEHS Inc for computer science curriculum. The district also utilizes Project Lead The Way for engineering pathways, CareerSafe LLC for safety certifications, and various science supply vendors including Carolina Biological Supply. Technology infrastructure vendors like Tyler Technologies, Frontline Education, and Pathful Inc support career planning and student information systems. (click link for more)