Burbio School Tracker 4/22: Paralyzing Effect

1. The Federal Department of Education is requiring states and school districts to sign a certification letter - due this month - in order to receive federal funds. The letter warns that "any violation of Title VI—including the use of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (“DEI”) programs to advantage one’s race over another—is impermissible . .  ."  
 
In our February 4th Tracker we documented that the terms DEI, equity, diversity, and inclusion appear widely across PreK-12 in job titles, district mission statements, academic courses, district committees, and more, and are a particular feature of the strategic planning and equity audit process for many districts. 
 
With ongoing legal action related to enforcement of the letter, we wanted to focus on the funding at risk. Below is a list of states that have recently reported that they will not sign the letter, along with the estimated amount of Title I, Part A awarded to the SEAs and LEAs in 2024:

Any uncertainty over the status of Federal funding will have a paralyzing effect on the budget process for certain districts in states involved in litigation over this issue. Districts for which Title funding is a larger percentage of their budgets are also facing the biggest post-ESSER transition heading into FY26, as ESSER funds were distributed using the same formula. This is the middle of the budget planning and approval process for 2025-26 for districts nationwide.
 
We will be expanding into district-level analysis in future Trackers as this situation develops.  
 
2. In a previous Tracker we introduced an AI-powered discovery tool that, when applied to Burbio's foundational school district intelligence dataset, delivers relevant, contextual and immediately actionable answers to any question at scale. This week we queried our database for school districts at different stages of evaluating or purchasing security systems:

• In March, Mahtomedi Public Schools, MN discussed a bond being considered for next Fall that includes extensive security upgrades.
• Duncanville ISD, TX approved the purchase of $1.2 million of security upgrades, part of an ongoing $5 million security spending plan.
• In March, Citrus County School District, FL  announced they would be looking at transportation at their next board meeting, specifically bus arms, sound and directional security systems, and weapons detection systems, with two vendors for each type of system.
• Pembroke Central School District, NY provided an update on companies chosen for an upgraded phone/bell/lockdown system, while providing different proposal options.
• North Shore School District, 112, approved a bid for a bi-directional antenna system for the district.  

This tool can be used for any question about district activity at any stage of decision making, such as curriculum reviews, technology evaluations, capital spending plans, and program expansions. For a demo of this capability click here to schedule a meeting.

3. Burbio maintains a database of district checkbook registers covering over 20 million PreK-12 students. Information is searchable down to the district level, and clients use the information for competitive intelligence, identifying districts that work with companion services, and market share analysis. Below is a list of some large industry suppliers, and the percentage of districts with a payment to the supplier at least once during calendar 2024:

4. Burbio gathers a wide array of datasets, across board documents, strategic plans, checkbooks, budget documents, state grants, enrollment trends, and more. A unique way we present the data is through a "district profile," where all information for a specific district can be viewed in one place, used for meeting preparation and district investigation. Just a quick snapshot of what this uncovers for Houston ISD, TX. 
 
Overall issues facing the district: 

• District is facing an enrollment decline of 8,000 students projected, causing a $67 million drop in funding
• The budget shortfall for FY26 is estimated at $33 million between revenue and expenditures
• District is planning expenditure cuts totaling $208.9 million in areas like overtime, department budgets, and retention bonuses

Against that backdrop, a survey of district documents (school board meeting minutes, budgets, and more) does reveal new priorities:

• Math and Reading: Targeted Increases by 2028 for Grade 3 reading and math scores
• Pre-K Expansion: 800 seats for FY26
• District Communications: $2 million increase in budget
• CTE Progam: Material increase in programs, and budget size
• HVAC/Health and Safety: $40 million budget for upgrades
• Curriculum expansion: Includes ESL (referred to as ESOL), CTE courses, and AI electives
• Tutoring and Learning Recovery: Investment in courses from multiple vendors, including Zearn, APEX, Summit K-12, Newsela  
• Assessment, Test Prep and Course Scheduling Partners: Multiple vendors noted, including Khan Academy for test preparation, and SchoolLinks for course scheduling

Burbio is rapidly iterating on new AI tools to deliver faster insights to clients and we will be updating more in the coming weeks.