Preserving the Core:�Where to Reduce & Where to Invest in a Constraining Environment
March 2026
Better Outcomes.�Brighter Futures.
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Afton Partners is an impact-driven consultancy that reimagines and implements systems, policies, and practices that improve lives.
Afton’s work with charter schools builds strategic finance capacity. We support charter schools in understanding the future of your finances, illuminating the short & long-term financial implications of organizational decisions, like capital projects, expansion, instructional models, & compensation strategy.
We have partnered with close to 100 charter school networks of all sizes around the country.
Purpose of our session
Improve our ability to drive and communicate budgetary decisions that are intentionally connected to instructional priorities and financial guardrails
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What’s a recent budget decision that felt particularly tough?
What made it hard to navigate?
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Forces that are constraining your school’s resources
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ESSER
Economy
Enrollment
Employees
Exceptional Needs
Expectations
Environment
it’s gone now, and reserves built are drying up
rising costs outpacing revenue growth
declining K12 public school enrollment in many areas across the nation
talent difficult to find and competitively compensate
increasing student needs individually and in aggregate
increasing pressures and expectations for services
federal and state funding policy uncertainty
As finance leaders, your challenge is just as much cultural and strategic as it is financial
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“Home Office folx are unable to internalize that we have less money”
“Leadership is still trying to rely on legislative change rather than actually owning cost benefit analysis”
“We have never translated our budget or the process to get there in ways that our instructional priorities are fully vetted and seen”
And a further challenge is some of our investments are hidden in the budget
“Research shows that advanced degrees have little to no measurable effect on a teacher’s ability to help students learn.
And yet the latest estimate indicates that school districts currently spend some $14.8 billion on raises for teachers due to master’s degrees alone, a figure that is increasing much faster than the rate of inflation.”
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The Role of the Finance Leader in Constrained Times
Not this:
x Identify the right investments
x Decide academic strategy
But This:
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Today, we are exploring the process to get to effective budget decisions rather than identifying what investments to make
“Build budget decision processes grounded in engagement, evidence of what works, and clear financial and academic guardrails.”
“Strengthen two core budget processes that anchor in how to decide, rather than what to decide and tackle one legacy cost structure.”
“Counteract cognitive biases, "noise" (inconsistencies), and "budget games" (political maneuvering) to improve decision-making… by becoming a Decision Architect who shifts your role…. to proactive designers of the environment in which financial decisions are made.”
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Preserving the Core – Budget Process Framework
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Diagnose Gaps & Define Targets: Agree about what success means before developing options and that means diagnosing the gaps - academic and financial.
Make Value & Trade-offs Visible: “Here is our target, the options we evaluated, the criteria we used, and the tradeoffs we considered, what we gain and give up, who is affected.”
Define Rules & Roles: Determine how will trade-off and investment decisions be made. What criteria will be used, and what is fixed vs. flexible? Who decides?
Implementation Discipline: What indicators/measures/data tells us if the plan is actually working? What early warning signs trigger course correction?
Widen & Test the Options: Provide 3-5 structurally different options. Test the assumptions - what happens at -5% enrollment? What evidence supports the impact claim?
Diagnose Gaps & Define Targets: Agree about what success means before developing options
We are building a budget that achieves:
__________ academic outcomes��
__________ financial conditions within a 3-year sustainability window�
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Your strategic plan could be a great guide here
Diagnose Gaps & Define Targets: Agree about what success means - differentiating between what is required vs important
“Increase K–2 literacy proficiency from 48% to 65%.”
“Days of cash must be built to 60+ days”.
ACADEMICS
FINANCIAL
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Define the Rules & Roles: Determine how will investment decisions be made, by whom, and what is fixed vs. flexible
Be clear on decision authorities in this process
Before the options, define what 4-5 criteria we use in trade-off decisions (i.e. direct impact on priority students, sustainable if under-enrolled, effectiveness evidence)
Define constraints that are fixed vs. flexible (debt covenants, authorizer standards vs. class size bands, program configurations)
Agree to what time horizon we are optimizing for (hint: be explicit and likely multi-year is smart)
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Widen & Test the Options: Provide 3-5 structurally different options and test the assumptions
WIDEN & DIVERSIFY THE OPTIONS
TEST USING THE RULES SET
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Make Value & Trade-offs Visible: Own the decision quality; show the process to foster trust and effective engagement
Present:
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All of this is hidden in your budgeted financials unless you make it seen
Implementation Discipline: What tells us if the plan is working? What early warning signs trigger course correction?
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Early Warning Examples
District Management Group recommends creating an initiatives inventory and go back to it each budget cycle
Peer Example:�Larkstone Charter Schools
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Group Work for the Peer Example
Read the case.
Then:
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Role Reflection for Being Better on Monday
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DECISION ARCHITECT
Models long-range sustainability
Challenges assumptions
Runs scenarios with some tradeoffs explicit
Designs structurally varied options
Shapes how choices are considered
Connects financials to academic strategies
STRATEGIC FORECASTER
BUDGET MANAGER
Balance the budget
Control the spending
At what level do you currently sit?
What would it look like to move up one level – what practices or behaviors would need to change?
Reflection
What will you be doing to level up?
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Phase 1: Defined the Targets
☐ We named a specific Academic Target (who, what, by when).
☐ We defined 3-year Financial Guardrails (cash, margin, enrollment assumptions).
☐ We agreed on what outcomes are non-negotiable.
Phase 2: Defined the Rules & Roles
☐ We agreed on 4–5 decision criteria in advance and roles in decision making.
☐ We clarified which constraints are fixed vs. flexible.
☐ We were explicit about the time horizon (annual vs. multi-year).
Phase 3: Widened & Tested the Options
☐ We generated at least 5 structurally different options (not just variations of cuts).
☐ We tested each option against the agreed criteria.
☐ We stress-tested key assumptions (e.g., enrollment -5%).
☐ We surfaced and documented tradeoffs (what we gain, what we give up, who is affected)
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Phase 4: Made the Architecture Visible
☐ We communicated the academic target and financial guardrails clearly.
☐ We shared the options considered and why some were not chosen.
☐ We explained the tradeoffs transparently to leadership/board.
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Phase 5: Committed to Implementation Discipline
☐ We identified 3–5 leading indicators (academic + financial) to monitor.
☐ We agreed on what course correction would be triggered if thresholds are crossed.
☐ We defined what makes for a mid-year course correction vs. next year matter.
☐ We scheduled a formal progress review (not just year-end analysis).
In constrained environments, preserving the core is not about cutting less.��It’s about designing better choices that connect financial reality to academic ambition.
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Appendix
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Valuable resources on today’s topic
GFOA | Their framing of a government budget officer as a “choice architect” and decision architect
Afton-CSGF | Navigating Uncertainty & Preparing for the Fiscal Cliff (2022) - Offers a framework for financial planning with communication & engagement infused in three phases of (1) Accountability - Investing in What Works, (2) Sustainability - Plan Now, (3) Flexibility - Prepare for Uncertainty
Afton | School Finance Leaders Asking Better Questions - Provides guidance for finance directors to embrace discussions on academic priorities during the budget season
ERS | When the Future Is Unclear, Start With What Matters Most - they guide toward (1) laying a strong foundation of vision and fiscal reality, (2) strengthening two core budget processes that anchor in how to decide, rather than what to decide, (3) picking one legacy cost structure to tackle (e.g. compensation model, school scheduling, SPED delivery) knowing not all can be done in one budget cycle
Ed Week | Crafting a Better Budget: How District and School Leaders Try to Avoid Short-Term Thinking - Forty-six percent of the administrators surveyed said the top approach for making strategic, long-term decisions happen is ensuring that department leaders in districts or schools are discussing their top spending priorities early in the budgeting process.
ERS | Budget Hold’em - this is a way to jumpstart instructionally rich strategic conversation across your school system’s leadership team
District Management Group | Empowering Decision-Making Through an Initiatives Inventory
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We can acknowledge the thirst to know what investments are really paying off
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Notice: these are structural shifts aligned to strategy rather than random programs.
But whether they’re right depends on context.
Which is why the process matters more than the list.