Burbio School Tracker 8/25: Home Grown

1. District Superintendents play a central role in shaping district policy, and Burbio's Superintendent Turnover Tracker monitors leadership changes nationwide, including resignations, interim appointments and new superintendent start dates. The chart below compares the hiring source of new Superintendents over the last three years. We note the growth of internal hires during the period:

The chart below shows the reason for turnover over the last 12 months, covering over 1,700 districts that had an opening: 

2. Burbio's Construction Tracker measures K-12 activity across all phases, from early discussions to final build-out. Different suppliers to K-12 focus on different parts of the decision-making process. Below is a map of all activity we are seeing in 2026:

One portion of our datasets focuses on the earliest stages, and here are some examples of note:

• Maywood-Melrose Park Broadview School District 89, IL, is considering consolidating its two middle schools into a single facility as part of a long-term planning project.
• Idaho Falls School District, ID, is evaluating options to address its 70+ year-old Idaho Falls High School as part of a new five-year facilities plan.
• Glens Falls City School District, NY, is considering redevelopment or reuse of the district-owned Sanford Street School after WSWHE BOCES vacates the building for its new Wilton campus in 2027.
• Belcourt School District #7, ND, is discussing a new physical education gymnasium, amid broader facility activity that includes a new alternative school, bus garage and improvements to grounds near the high school.
• Solon City School District, OH, is considering a new high school as part of its long-term facilities planning, with district leadership indicating the aging existing building’s needs cannot be addressed through renovation.

3. Burbio recently launched MCP server access, giving clients direct access to our K-12 data from tools like Claude and other AI assistants, including signals, vendor payments, and district contacts. One use case: pulling a meeting-prep profile from district activity. Here’s what that looked like for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, FL, ahead of a client meeting focused on STEM and CTE. The prompt was simple: “I have a meeting with Miami Dade shortly. Tell me what I need to know.”

• CTE activity includes career pathways and dual enrollment: recent district activity includes exploring an air traffic controller specialist pathway with the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, along with expanding CTE dual enrollment for high school students through M-DCPS Technical Colleges.
• STEM-related activity extends into advanced learning: district plans include expanded accelerated mathematics opportunities, multi-measure student identification and placement, and supports such as enrichment labs and summer bridge programs.
• Facilities planning spans multiple fronts: recent activity includes follow-up on School Construction Task Force recommendations, a KIPP Miami facility agreement involving a former elementary school, and review of a potential grades 6–12 configuration at North Dade Middle School.
• Contacts came back by name and title: Examples include Chief Facilities Officer, a Chief Officer of Facilities Design and Construction, and an Executive Director of Career Technical Education, each with direct email and phone.
• Recent vendor payments provide a view of the existing landscape: example vendors appearing in district check registers over the past six months include VEX Robotics, Amazon, Stemfinity, Project Lead The Way, Sphero, Pitsco Education, Savvas Learning, LEGO Education, Discovery Education, and Paxton Patterson.

4. Burbio's State Policy dashboard includes information such as state board meetings, budgets, Title I funds, state AI policies, curriculum lists, and more. Burbio summarizes state board of education meetings and highlights the issues covered. Here is some recent activity of note:

• Michigan enacted several K-12 measures, including a phased Science of Reading training requirement for K–5 educators, changes to at-risk and English Learner funding rules, and an extended alternative certification pathway for special education teachers.
• Kansas is looking ahead to FY2028, with the State Board requesting increased funding for special education, along with $7.5 million for Safe and Secure Schools grants.
• Montana is testing new approaches to statewide assessment, including modular science assessments throughout the school year for grades 6–8 and a new student growth measure combining ability growth with content mastery.
• Utah has set its 2027 education funding priorities, emphasizing special education, per-pupil funding increases, and continued support for early literacy and mathematics.