CMSD is moving into its second year of “student-based budgeting,” with distribution of money to individual schools according to the number of children enrolled and their specific needs.

Under this strategy, money follows each student in weighted amounts that take into account factors such as special education and reading proficiency.

Principals control the majority of their budgets and decide how to spend the money with help from teams that include staff and community members. This approach places control in the hands of people who best know their children and is in keeping with The Cleveland Plan, a blueprint for education reform in the city.

Nearly half of the District’s 100 schools will actually see increases in their budgets as enrollment shifts with parent choice. The freedom to choose from an expanding number of quality school choices is at the heart of CMSD’s “Portfolio Strategy” under The Cleveland Plan.