Connecting Student Learning and School Business Through an Equity Lens: One Instructional Leader's Journey to Becoming a Chief School Business Official

Each person’s equity journey is unique, including the one taken by Marguerite Williams, Ed.D. After serving as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent for academic services, she became increasingly interested in the business side of schools and completed the CASBO CBO Certification program. That helped lead to her recent appointment as assistant superintendent/CBO for a charter management organization in Vallejo that operates four schools and serves approximately 1,400 students.

In this episode, Marguerite shares valuable insights about resource allocation and equity from her unique perspective as an instructional leader and a new CBO. She describes key challenges, what motivated her on her journey, and how her own understanding of school business has evolved -- plus, practical strategies she’s used to keep equity at the forefront throughout her career.

Quotable:

“On the business side, I can do great things for students. I can support the instructional program with resource allocation. I can make sure our students have the best facilities to learn. I can make sure there's a clean and safe environment.”

More about our guest

Marguerite Williams, Ed.D., serves as assistant superintendent/CBO for Griffin Technology Academies in Vallejo. Previously, she served as assistant superintendent of academic services for Adelanto Elementary School District, and as senior director of equity and diversity for the Association of California School Administrators. Dr. Williams began her career in education as a teacher, and has also served as an assistant principal and principal in the San Bernardino City School District, and as a district-wide instructional director in Los Angeles USD. She obtained her doctorate in educational leadership with an emphasis in higher education by examining the levels of site and district leadership support which teachers and team members received in implementing the Response to Tiered Intervention Model in San Bernardino. She holds a Master’s Degree in Multicultural Education.

Download the episode 5 companion brief here.

About our series

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO), the premier resource for professional development and best practices for more than 24,000 California school business leaders, in partnership with WestEd, a national nonprofit research development and service agency that works to promote excellence and equity in education. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for providing additional support. 

Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music, mixing and sound by Tommy Dunbar. John Diaz at WestEd serves as an advisor and develops the written materials that go along with each episode.

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Follow us on Twitter at @Budget4EdEquity to keep up to date on the series; find additional resource recommendations; and share your thoughts, ideas, questions and feedback. 

Transcript

On The Road To Equity and Becoming A Chief Business Official for Schools – with Dr. Marguerite Williams

Jason Willis:

Welcome back to Budgeting for Educational Equity, a series presented by CASBO and WestEd. I’m Jason Willis, your host. 

 Intro music starts.

Jason:

Each person’s equity journey is unique. Each of us brings our own history, our own experiences, our own learning, to the work. Previously in this series, we spoke with a long-time chief school business official about her journey. We also wanted to share the insights and perspective of someone who is much newer to the CBO role – although not new at all to educational leadership and equity. 

Marguerite Williams:

So, I grew up in the state of Mississippi, where there were a lot of inequities. I was raised in a single family home with my mother and my two brothers. My father was actively involved in our lives, but he wasn't in the home. And that experience growing up in a low social economic family -- neither of my parents graduated from high school -- all of that shapes who I am today. 

Having that experience really gave me a new perspective that if I can do it, if I can grow up in a low socioeconomic home and I can make it to some degree of success, so can every child in our school system. They can be successful if we provide them with the right support. So I've just made it my mission that any position I sit in of power or influence, where I can make a difference to serve the students and parents of the community, that is something that guides me, that's my North star in doing the work that I have to do. 

Jason:

During the years, Marguerite has served students and families, guided by that North Star in a number of important roles and for a number of organizations. And, well, she tells the story best… 

Margeurite:

At the age of 18, I got on a Greyhound bus from Mississippi and I landed in Los Angeles, California by myself. My college experience has all been here in California and none of my family was in education. So it was a road I traveled in many aspects alone. My parents couldn't really relate to that experience because they didn't have it. 

I got into the schools as an instructional tutor, and that experience really launched me into being a teacher. And then I graduated with my master's degree and I go, what am I going to do with this degree? And I'm asking everybody in the line during graduation, what are you going to do with your degree? Sothat started me on another path. I became an administrator, a teacher on assignment over categorical programs. I had the opportunity to look at how we were spending our budget, and educating our teachers and leaders on how to use that budget to meet the needs of the students that those dollars were designed for. I did that for two years as a program specialist over categorical programs. And then the recession hit and my job was gone. I had to find another job. I was fortunate to land as a high school assistant principal. And then I became a middle school principal, six through eight, for five and a half years. And that was one of the best experiences in my career. After that, I became a director of new teacher support. And then I had the opportunity to go into Los Angeles Unified School District as an instructional director, where I supervised principals and oversaw schools...

Jason:

From there, Marguerite had the opportunity to serve in a new statewide role with the Association of California School Administrators, ACSA for short, as Senior Director of Equity and Diversity, where she supported a wide range of leaders.

Marguerite:

And who knew that I would ever do that? But I have a master's degree in multicultural education and never thought how I would use that…So when that job came along, I think it was a really good fit to begin to do the work at the state level, where I was able to go all over the state of California to talk with educators and leaders about equity. 

Jason:

Two years later, Margaret returned to a school district role – this time as the assistant superintendent for educational services in the Adelanto Elementary School District in the high desert of Southern California. And in March of 2020, right as schools were closing to in-person learning, that’s where I first connected with her -- a year into the pandemic, in late spring 2021. One of the first things she shared with us at that time was how the impact of Covid was hitting the students and families in that community particularly hard.

[5:00]

Marguerite:

I can tell you two areas that come to mind when we went into full distance learning were a lack of internet and wifi, with the lack of computer devices in the home. The digital divide was very evident during COVID and during the pivoting to full distance learning. And at that time, the district had not rolled out a one-to-one initiative. So when we closed our doors on that Monday, which I think was probably around the 14th [March 2020] our kids had to go paper-pencil. We had to start copying papers and getting packets to go home to our families because most them didn't have the devices at home.

The second thing is the food insecurities, you know, sometimes if our kids don't come to school, they don't eat. It was so important that we needed to provide that support to our families. Our nutrition services, under the leadership of the business department, they worked nonstop to make sure that our families had what they needed. We set up food checkpoints across the district so that parents could come and get lunch as well as breakfast. And sometimes they would get it for more than one day to ensure that they had what they need to continue living. So, those were just two areas that we faced. Another area is instructional supplies. I remember sending home a packet and we were asking students to measure something. Well, it was brought to my attention, okay, well, many of our students don't have the supplies that you're asking for them to do that assignment, whether it's a ruler or extra paper at home. So that was a blind spot for us. We had to make sure, okay, well, let's get those resources out to our kids. Let's get [a] backpack full of supplies so that we can send those things home, so our students have what they need so that they can be successful.  

Music.

Jason:

After many years serving on the instructional side of education -- as a teacher, principal and instructional administrator -- Marguerite says she became increasingly interested in, and challenged by, understanding the business side of schools. So, she enrolled in the ACSA School Business Academy.

Margeurite:

I went through their 11-month program and some of the things [in that] I was just lost, it was like, this is totally going over my head -- especially when it came to accounting and the budgeting and the multi-year projection reports -- I was lost. And, at the end of the 11 months, I said, it's not enough. This is not enough. I need more. So I go, I want to do that CASBO CBO training. 

I got into the CASBO program, going in there with the mindset that I wanted to learn and really understand the budget. I wanted to be able to look at was the district solvent. And I didn't know how to do that. I wasn't understanding the reports well enough to do that. So, I spent 15 months in that program. What really resonated with me about the program is all the hands-on and real world application that came into with the lessons that we were learning. Lots of group work, lots of time to talk together and think things through. It was interrupted due to COVID, but it still continued online in various breakout groups. What I really loved about the program and what really helped me to gain the additional technical information that I was missing is that we were able to put it into real world application. So, if we were talking about a budget, they actually brought a budget from a school district, and then we walked through that budget together. So those are the things that really, really resonated with me; there were also other CBOs in the program that helped to broaden my perspective, also, and we went into those groups and were able to talk to each other and learn from what we were doing in our various school districts. And I think that's what helped me to be more successful in the CASBO program. 

Jason:

As mentioned, my original conversation with Marguerite took place in the late spring. But in early September, as the new school year was getting underway, I reconnected with her because I’d heard there was an exciting new chapter in her journey…

So welcome, Marguerite. Last time we connected you were serving as an assistant superintendent for instruction and you had recently completed the CBO certification. So, tell us, what's new since then?

[10:00]

Marguerite:

Well, Jason, a lot has changed since we last chatted. I have a new job. I am the assistant superintendent and CBO for Griffin Technology Academies in the beautiful city of Vallejo, California. So I'm really excited about that. In my role as assistant superintendent, I oversee human resources, nutrition services, fiscal services, information technology, facilities, and we are extremely busy in all of those different departments of the division, especially with in-person learning starting back here in August.

Jason:

Well, congratulations, first of all -- that sounds really exciting. And what convinced you, motivated you, to move on to the business and finance side of school systems? 

Marguerite:

After I finished the CASBO program and passed the certification, this opportunity came along and that's what really motivated me to say, on the business side I can still do great things for students. I can still support the instructional program with resource allocation. I can make sure our students have the best facilities to learn. I can make sure there's a clean and safe environment. So, I found this side of the work to be just as rewarding as the instructional side of the house.

Jason:

Yeah. So I love that, Marguerite. In fact, I want to pick up on that strand. Do you remember last interview we did with you? We asked you about your initial thoughts about CBOs. Do you remember that?

Marguerite:

I remember the question. Yes.

Jason:

So, I'm going to read back some of that to you, just to refresh your memory. Are you okay with that? 

Marguerite:

Yes, absolutely. 

Jason:

All right. So you said, well, when I first thought of a CBO, I thought that about this person with the door closed counting money -- but the role of the CBO has changed over the last five to seven years, and mainly due to how the state is allocating resources down to school districts through the LCFF. And you went on to say… 

Marguerite:

…The person coming in as a CBO now has to have an equity mindset for all of the students in the district. But especially the students in the district that are not doing well. The CBO must also be able to look through the instructional lens and support the superintendent and cabinet as it relates to instructional mandates, as it relates to implementation of new programs, purchasing of textbooks -- all of those things can't just be done in a vacuum. It has to be a very collaborative process. 

Jason:

So I'm just curious, you've been in this [CBO] seat for a little bit. What are your impressions so far? Do you feel like that wisdom, that insight that you had back when we first interviewed, do you feel like that still applies? How are you seeing that play out?

Marguerite:

I clearly continue to stand on that because it is so key that the CBO has the instructional lens as we are working collaboratively to create an LCAP plan for our schools, as we are planning to allocate those dollars for the various actions and services that we're doing for our students -- and it is key that business services in collaboration with academic services and other departments work hand in hand to ensure that our students are getting what they need across the board on the instructional side, as well as on the business side. And then when we look at human resources -- how we're hiring our teachers, training our teachers, teacher retention and teacher growth in their practice -- all are very important things. So I clearly stand confidently on the wording that we need to work together collaboratively across our divisions to ensure that we're providing the best structures and processes for our students to be successful.

Jason:

Yep. That's, that's a lot of confidence behind those statements and it sounds to me, Marguerite, like you are headed in that direction with the rest of the leadership team in your school system. And so, speaking of that system, tell us a bit more about the students and communities you’re now serving in your new role in Vallejo. How would you describe it?

Marguerite:

Vallejo City is a very highly diverse population. We have students of all ethnicities and backgrounds that come to our schools. We have approximately 1,400 students in the organization; we have middle school and high school on one campus, and then we have a middle school and a high school on another campus. And we have, what's called directors and assistant directors, who are leading those schools. As I shared, we are a charter management organization, and we have four LEAs that we manage. So, think about one school district. We have four school districts. So we have four budgets, four year-end closings, four interim reports, that I'm responsible for. 

Jason:

Sounds like four times the fun for a CBO! 

[16:00]

So I wanted to ask, you know, having been a former CBO, I remember my first days on the job, and I want to go to that place for you, just to have you think about that first day or that first week on the job. Was there anything impressionable or memorable to you that made you kind of reflect and step back and say, you know, I've arrived. I'm now the chief business officer in this system?

Marguerite:

Yes, something very memorable. Even before getting on the job, I was seeing on Facebook that they were moving one school to a new site location. So, it became even more real when I came to the job that we were moving one of our schools from one facility to another facility – and, I was responsible for making it happen. I had to make sure that all teacher belongings, equipment and things of that sort were moved to our new location. So that is a huge project. Another part of that is making sure that internet is up and running, that we have telephones, that our kitchen is up and running, that we're making sure our fire alarms are all working. So that's when it really hit me, like, you're responsible for making sure that facility is up and running for the first day of school. And that was around two weeks of time that I had -- and we're still working through it, but that was definitely the moment when I realized, Hey, you are the CBO (laughs).

Jason:

Nothing like a facilities move from one site to another to bring you back down to reality in terms of your new job. But I presume everything went well with that move?

Marguerite:

It did go well. And we're still working through that process and making sure everything is done, and that our students have the facilities and teachers have the facilities that they need to be successful in that new learning environment.

Jason:

Yeah, yeah. You know, as chief business officers, and I think as you experienced going through the CBO mentor program, we all have mentors. We all have other seasoned vets that are in the space that we kind of go to. And I'm just curious if one of your mentors gave you any sage words of advice before your first day on the job that you want to share?

Marguerite:

Well, you know, I was reaching out to different people about the business services side because I was really really worried about, you know, being that person behind the door counting numbers, recording numbers --and I go, can I really do that all day long? So, I did start reaching out to some veterans CBOs and having conversations with them. And I'll never forget talking to John McNeil, who said, Marguerite, you can do this job.  And he talked to me about the position and just really encouraged me that what I bring to the table from the instructional side was going to be a great asset to any organization, working in the role of the CBO with an equity mindset, with an instructional lens. And [he said] yes, you can do this job. And that really encouraged me because whenever we are making a shift, we always think we have to be perfect in doing the job, that we have to know it 100%. And I don't think that's true. I think we have to give ourselves a little bit more credit and say, I can do this job. I can build a team that's going to support me in doing this job, and as a team, we're going to be doing this job well together. 

Jason:

Yeah. I love that Marguerite and in particular, what it does is, it really shares the responsibility and expectation, right? So it doesn't burden any single individual, you know, in the finance and operations team to get that work done. That's great. Thanks for sharing that. 

Marguerite:

You're welcome. 

Jason:

As you know, one of the aspects of a CBO’s role is around fiscal health and kind of the fiscal obligations, ensuring the district is compliant with state and federal rules. And I'm wondering how you're experiencing that so far? Like, have you felt that gravitational pull between the kind of compliance elements of the job that keep the district in check at a very basic level versus, you know, the innovation and kind of leaning into supporting your colleagues on the instructional side, around student learning?

Marguerite:

Yes, definitely it's important as the CBO that I do look through the lens of our financial status of the district, but it's also important to say, how can I come alongside of my other cabinet leaders and support them in the work that they're doing? So I think, yes, we have to ensure that we're fiscally solvent, but I also think that we need to have alignment across all of our programs. So one example is independent study, which we all grappled with at the very beginning of this year. What is that going to look like? How's that going to affect ADA, and various things of that? So, me sitting at the table gives me the opportunity to share insight to my colleagues about the fiscal aspects of that particular program. So, I don't see myself as just being fixated on one thing. I'm really about looking across our programs. I'm really about looking at how each of my departments under the division can help to better our students’ learning experiences when they walk on the campus, the buildings, the seating, all of that. So I don't think it's just about being fixated on one thing. I think I'm really looking at how can we integrate, intermingle with all of the different departments in the district to get to the ultimate goal of ensuring our students have successful and positive outcomes? 

Jason:

So I'm curious, Marguerite, you know, we talked last time about this vast well of resources that are coming both from the federal government and also from the State of California and how local systems are contending with the allocation and the use of those resources. And I'm just curious to get your insight stepping into a new school system. How are you and your colleagues wrestling with the use of those resources and how are you contemplating their use over this year and upcoming years?

Marguerite:

Well, you know, at this time in history, we're getting more money than we've had in a very long time and it's very different one-time money, you know, various grants that are coming out to our schools. So we have the dollars that we need. It's really about how are we allocating them. And when I think about resource equity, that's the allocation and the use of people, time and money -- and using those things to create equitable learning experiences that will allow our students to reach their highest potential, regardless of their zip code, regardless of their parent educational background, so that we are doing amazing things for our students based on the dollars that are coming into the LEA. And I think that is extremely important, and it also plays out and it works very well with the LCAP, when we're identifying what we're doing for our English learners and what we're doing for our foster youth and how we're making sure that there's connectivity in devices. How are we making sure that our students are getting meals and with the federal waiver allowing all meals to be free to our students this year, those are all things that are ensuring and leveling the playing field for all of our students to be successful.

Jason:

And do you feel like the mechanics of the allocation of those resources, the kind of totality of all the federal dollars -- the state dollars that are beginning to flow to local school districts -- do you feel like you and the leadership team have had the time and space to really think about their effective allocation to schools or to different programs, or has it been a different experience?

[25:00]

Marguerite:

That's an excellent question, Jason. For the last three weeks, we first introduced [these] to our principals and we have two directors that are new. So we're really trying to build their capacity around understanding the budget. So we've just first started out off by saying, here are your budgets. These are the different allocations you have and the different programs, to really try to educate them around that. We're looking at what's being written in the LCAP and making sure that that aligns to their allocations. What's the requirement around Title One and Title Three? And how are we ensuring that they're allocating dollars there for professional development for additional support for our students during the school day, and after the school day? How are we making sure that the MTSS system is being implemented where we're making sure, of course all of our students are getting tier one, but what are those extra supports and services that we're doing for tier two and tier three? We are really trying to empower our principals, really making sure they understand what are the federal and state dollars that are being given to their schools and how they need to ensure that we have clear alignment in how we're allocating the resources within their budgets.

Music interlude.

Jason:

I want to return back to Dr. Marguerite Williams’s “pre-CBO” days – to the initial conversation she and I had while she was serving on the instructional side when we first explored some of her approaches and learnings around advancing resource equity. 

I think you offer a really unique perspective in that you've been sitting in those spaces as a school leader or an academic lead within a school district commenting on issues of resources. So is there like an experience or experiences that you've had as a principal or in a school district, or a central office as an academic leader that really kind of speaks to resource inequities that you've seen in those systems. And could you tell us a little bit about those?

Margeurite: 

Sure. Happy to. I think the most recent experience I'll talk about is the development of the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan and supporting our schools in creating the School Plan for Student Achievement because those two documents right there -- that is the guidebook to what we're doing in our various school systems for students -- all students, but more specifically for certain student groups that are being underserved and are marginalized in their communities. So I'll talk about in Adelanto, you know, we [had] the LCAP plan -- and LCAP has the goals -- and then we [had] our school sites create school plans for student achievement. Because equity is also coherence -- that we're making sure that we're saying the same message all the way across. We're not saying one thing in our strategic plan, another thing in our LCAP and another thing in our School Plan for Student Achievement. We need to have that coherence across all of our plans. 

So, this past year, as we worked to get our schools ready to complete their school plan, it was very important that they understood that the school plan was just not for all students. They had to be very intentional on how they were going to create actions and services for specific students: our foster youth, our homeless students, our English learners. What were they doing for their African-American students? And looking at data to make those decisions. So, it was very important that we provided training and technical support for our school sites to understand that. We felt that it was very important that our school leaders knew that. That it wasn't just about creating an action or service and we're going to just say, it's all students. But based on your data for your African-American subgroup and based on their math scores or their English scores, something different must happen for this group of students in order for us to see positive academic outcomes. So that was really crucial.

Our process probably was about 60 days as we worked to provide training and technical support to get our schools to really getting a complete and finalized School Plan for Student Achievement. But it didn't just stop there. We didn't say, okay, well, just turn in your plans and you're good for another year. We actually brought all of our school leaders through a process of review. They submitted their plans to us [and] we set up two days where administrators came through, and they met with a group of leaders in kind of like stations. So there were four stations that we had set up and we broke the plan down into those four big buckets. And each station was trained on what to look for and how to make sure what was written in the plan was substantial enough to meet the needs of the students that they serve. This process included all of our cabinet leaders. It included the business department and included the human resources department. It included academic services. Each of the departments had a very critical lens on what we were looking for. So the business department was looking for, are they really using all of the funds that have been allocated to them and are the actions and services that they are outlining in alignment with the intended purposes of those funds? So that was really an eye opener because in times past, folks would just create the SPSA and turn it in, and it'd be put in a binder and it'd be put on a shelf. But this experience really gave us good feedback. Even from our leaders, they talked about what an amazing experience it was to go through this process and to get feedback to help them to be successful in implementing their plan and that their plan would be a living document.

And then those plans went to our school board. And they went to school board in a simpler format, so that they could have a big picture of what each school was doing -- what did the data look like for those schools? What were they hoping to accomplish? What were going to be key indicators that they were going to continue to monitor over time? And then for the following year, those are things that they're going to have to report on again.

So, I really believe that this document plays a huge role in how we allocate resources -- time, people -- all of those things make a huge difference in how we're meeting the needs of the students. 

[33:00]

Jason:

That's, that's great. And one of the things that I'm hearing in there is that you're really leveraging the plan as essentially the anchor, if you will, to what actions you're tracking with school principals over the course of the year. You're prompting them to say, you know, you need to be thinking not just about all students, but about certain student groups in different dimensions and what their progress needs to be.  

So, what do you think would motivate and push the system to think more critically about the allocation of resources to ensure that those resources are reaching the students that they were intended to support?

Margeurite:

I think it has a lot to do with transparency.
 

Jason:

Mmm.
 

Marguerite:

I think as a principal, I didn't really sit on a budget committee. I didn't know across the district how funds were being allocated. I knew about my school site. But I didn't know how the district was allocating across the district. And I think it starts at the top with a superintendent who is equity minded, and I think it takes a CBO who also has the ability to look through an equity lens, and really understanding the importance of getting the resources to the intended students, intended school sites, and I think that transparency where we're bringing more voices to the table, and being a part of the discussion around how we're allocating resources -- what does resource allocation mean? Why is it important? I think those conversations, I think that education, I think that training, is critical coming from the superintendent and the CBO to the rest of the school district community. Because, you know, we talk about resource allocation, but does everyone understand what resource allocation is and why it's important?  And you wonder about the districts who get in trouble because they didn't allocate resources correctly. What was the barrier there? What was the thinking, what was the mindset that allowed that to happen? And I think that goes along with training and support that we need to continue to do across the state in our school communities, so that folks understand the importance of resource allocation and making sure that it's going to the intended students. So I think it starts at the top.

Jason:

You used a term there – the equity lens, which is a term that we hear periodically. So, if I’m a district leader and if I am seeing my system through an equity lens, how am I seeing things?

Marguerite:

Well, I would say you're not seeing things just on the surface -- that you need to be able to do a deeper dive into what you're looking at. And I think it starts with the data. …And the data tells the story about your school district. I remember doing a presentation, an equity presentation on data for a school district. And when you go to the Dashboard, you know, in the very beginning, you see, for example, ELA is in the green and math is in the green. So, you know, you're probably really excited, like, wow, patting yourself on the back. That's awesome. But when you click that button and you go deeper to say, okay, these are the student groups in the green, but you also need to look at those other subgroups that may be in the orange or the yellow. You can't just look on the surface. It says, okay, as a whole district, we're in the green and we're doing well. But you have to really break down the data to begin to look at the subgroups, to truly understand what's happening with this subgroup that's in the orange or the yellow, what are we going to do to put additional supports there, to make sure that those students are being successful. Once you've gained that knowledge and you understand, it's not just on the surface that you have to do a deeper dive and you have to analyze your data and you have to disaggregate your data – now, you take that learning to the school site principals and make sure that principals are, how are you [looking at] your data, looking at all of your subgroups, and then how do you work with your community, whether your parents, your teachers, to now provide equitable resources to be successful. What do you need -- asking teachers, what do you need? How can we help you to be successful in the classroom with serving your English learner population or your foster youth? Those are the types of conversations that roll from the top down to the school site, so that we're now all thinking through an equity lens of looking at our various student groups -- which groups are doing well, which groups are not? And how do we put additional resources, time, support in place to support those students with academic rigor, with our teachers getting high quality professional development, whether it's after-school tutoring or Saturday academies? Those are the things we have to look at and say, how are we going to allocate the necessary resources to make that happen? And then, how do we monitor that work and look at outcomes that we're getting and continuously do that, to "plan-do-study-act." So it's continuous improvement, it’s not just a one-stop shop, Oh, we did this and we’re done. But no, how do we study what we've accomplished and how do we continue to do that better?

Music.

Jason:

Marguerite, I really appreciate your taking the time to reflect on resource equity and the CBO role and to share your insights – and we, of course, wish you the best of luck in your new position. Also, I have a request – if we are back for a “season two” will you come back and talk to us again, so we can hear how things have been going and what else you’ve learned?

Marguerite:

There's definitely a lot to be learned and you are welcome to bring me back season two, to give you an update.

Jason:

Excellent.  Thanks so much, Marguerite. 

Marguerite:

You’re very welcome. It was my pleasure.

*

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented in partnership by the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) and WestEd. This series is also made possible by the generous support of the Sobrato Family Foundation. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and by me, Jason Willis. Tommy Dunbar handles all of our sound, mixing and original music. John Diaz serves as an advisor and prepares our companion written briefs, which you can find on a link to in the Show Notes and on the WestEd website.

Be sure to subscribe to the series wherever you download your podcasts – and follow us on Twitter at Budget4EdEQuity. Thanks again for listening!

We’ll see you out there.