Budget Season Data Review: Using Intervention ROI to Set Priorities

Budget Decisions with Data

20% 85%

+325%

Programs Cut Without Data

3/year 0

-100%

Board Confidence in Spending

Low High

Improved

Symptom

Budget season was driven by politics, not data. Programs were funded because they'd always been funded, or cut because someone needed to find savings. Nobody could answer the basic question: "Which interventions are actually working and which are we paying for out of habit?" The data to answer that question was in the system — factor trends, tier movement rates, group outcomes — but nobody had ever pulled it together for a budget conversation.

People

The assistant superintendent organized a data review session specifically for budget planning. Team: - Assistant superintendent — Budget process design - Building principals — Program-level data preparation - Data coach — Dashboard creation for budget review - Business manager — Cost data alignment

Data

The data team built a simple dashboard for each funded program: number of students served, average factor improvement, tier movement rate, and cost per student. The data wall showed programs side by side so leadership could compare outcomes per dollar spent. For the first time, the budget conversation started with "what's working?" instead of "what can we cut?"

Plan

A structured budget data review was added to the spring calendar: 1. Data preparation (March): Each principal pulled outcomes data for every funded intervention program — students served, factor improvement, tier movement, completion rates. 2. Cost alignment (March): Business manager added cost-per-student for each program. 3. Review meeting (April): Leadership reviewed all programs on a single data wall. Programs were categorized: high impact/low cost (expand), high impact/high cost (maintain), low impact (restructure or replace). 4. Budget draft (April): Recommendations went to the board with data attached. Instead of "we're cutting this program," the conversation was "this program served 40 students with no measurable improvement — here's what we'd fund instead." The board responded positively. Data-backed budget decisions are easier to defend publicly.

Resources

Program ROI Dashboard Template

Data wall configuration for budget review