Burbio School Tracker 4/29: Exposure

1. Burbio's State-Level Funding Tracker features state-specific grants for PreK-12 schools, covering all state departments, as well as Federal grants where states can tailor the criteria. Burbio has a growing database of over 1,700 grants, and this week we provide an update on category totals. Clients are alerted when relevant grants are identified and reach out to districts to make them aware of the opportunity: 

• The majority of grants apply to multiple categories so it's important to look at each category size in isolation and not add figures together. 
• State grants are written clearly, but they can also be a bit broad and not mention specific service elements. We encourage partners to review categories under which they often work. Some examples: STEM companies should review afterschool and summer grants, security companies should review facilities grants, etc. 
• The State-Level Funding Tracker does not include Federal formula grants (e.g. Title 1). It does include Federal grants where criteria is tailored by the state. 
• The absolute, "unduplicated" total funding is in excess of $40 billion, even as the figures below total to more than that. 

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. Burbio scores the opportunities based on the stage of decision making, ranging from early stages to final approval.    
 
One of the largest triggers for district spending across multiple categories is construction of a new school building, and this week we asked our data, "Find districts referencing new school construction or remodeling." We found hundreds of discussions from just the last 60 days, and here are a few:

• Billings Public Schools, MT has identified a 400-acre site for a new bus barn, a new school, and potentially storage facilities and warehouses, and is preparing to submit a letter of interest for a 99-year lease.
• Southington Public Schools, CT has begun community discussion of potentially building two new elementary schools and closing one. 
• Jefferson Parish Schools, LA voted to move forward with the demolition of its Fisher Middle/High School, has chosen architects for the new build, and are soliciting project management bids. 
• Akron Public Schools, OH approved a construction management agreement for the New Pfeiffer Elementary and Miller South School for the Visual Performing Arts replacement project.
• Windham Raymond School District, ME reports that bids have been received for their middle school construction project and they will be working with the local planning board for a building permit.
• State College Area School District, PA, has started bi-weekly construction project meetings with architects, engineers and contractors for the Mount Nittany Elementary project, and site clearing has begun. 

This tool provides a high level of context and can be used for any question about district activity across every vertical of PreK-12 education. For a demonstration of this capability click here to schedule a meeting.

3.  On Friday a group of 19 states sued the Trump administration over its requirement to sign a certification letter regarding the use of DEI. Amidst a separate series of judicial rulings preventing the Federal government from withholding funds based on the letter, we review a breakout of districts from the 19 states in the lawsuit ranked in order of Title 1 dollars/student for FY 2024. The chart is broken into two sections of 25 districts each. Some notes:

• This includes only districts with more than 10,000 students.
• The column showing the Title 1 funding as a percent of expenditures uses expenditures as reported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2021-22 school year, the most recent available.
• The three-year enrollment trend covers years 2022-24.