Our Work

Bellwether’s school finance and resource allocation work focuses on how public funding is generated, distributed, and used in education — so that school funding systems can enable better results for students and communities.

We work directly with public agencies, advocacy groups, and school systems to design better school funding policies, create purpose-built financial models, and build capacity to translate resource allocation into stronger student outcomes. We also produce research analyses that shape the conversation on education finance.

Policy Advising and Financial Modeling: We work with public agencies, advocacy groups, and school systems across the country to navigate a dynamic fiscal landscape and improve school funding systems. We build customized fiscal models and provide research-driven technical assistance and expert advising that enable our partners to identify solutions and make informed choices. Our work particularly focuses on state-level education finance.

Capacity-Building and Facilitation: We provide training for advocates, education leaders, and other stakeholders seeking to better understand school finance and gain skills to shape change. We also facilitate task forces, working groups, and commissions that uncover school finance challenges, engage diverse stakeholders, and design and recommend solutions.

Research and Publications: Our team conducts research, convenes experts, and releases field-facing publications, tools, and datasets to help advocates and policymakers understand and improve school finance policies and practices. See below for our publications, including reports and newsletters.

Our Impact

A+ Education Partnership (A+): Bellwether partnered with A+, an Alabama-focused education advocacy group, to improve school funding in the state. After A+ staff participated in our school finance training, the Bellwether team provided additional financial modeling and research support as the advocacy group developed a policy proposal. From there, we supported A+ as they facilitated a joint legislative study commission on school funding. The final commission report informed the creation of the Renewing Alabama’s Investment in Student Excellence (RAISE) Act in 2025, a new state law that provides additional funds to districts based on student needs. Learn more about our partnership with A+ in this webinar.

Splitting the Bill: This extensive series on education finance equity gives advocates, state policymakers, and other stakeholders a crash course in the fundamentals of education finance policy. First published in 2021 and informed by our training and capacity-building work in states, the publication includes more than 20 finance topics covered in short, accessible briefs. New topics are added to the series on an ongoing basis.

School Finance Equity Training Sessions: From 2021 to 2024, we provided training for more than 30 advocates from 20 states to analyze their states’ school finance systems and advance fairer, smarter funding policies using R (an open-source tool), public data, and the Bellwether team’s policy expertise. To make this process even easier for researchers and advocates in the future, Bellwether recently released edfinr, our freely available tool that provides access to clean, longitudinal school finance data.

Leveling the Landscape: Bellwether developed a comprehensive analysis of the scale and sources of local education funding inequity with over 100 large metro areas in 38 states, along with an overview of the policy tools state leaders can use to address funding disparities. This resource, and the accompanying feature in USA Today, provide policymakers, education leaders, and advocates both data and tools to inform their work on K-12 education finance across the country.

Our Team

Bonnie O’Keefe
Partner

Paul Beach
Associate Partner

Akeshia Craven-Howell
Partner and Head of Early Childhood to Career Learning

Carrie Hahnel
Senior Associate Partner

Jennifer O’Neal Schiess
Senior Partner and Head of Portfolios

Titilayo Tinubu Ali
Partner