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William & Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation

Proposals for a State-Level Approach to Longer-Term Funding


Executive Summary

The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation’s Digital Learning Plan for North Carolina—presented to the North Carolina General Assembly in Fall 2015—charts a course for the state’s conversion to statewide digital learning.[1]

A fundamental goal for the first full year of state efforts to convert to statewide digital learning (2016) is identification of sustainable funding sources for state- and district-level work. Nearly every district-level digital learning initiative in the state to date has been funded by non-recurring (typically grant-supported) sources; the estimated annual gap between current recurring funding from all sources and funding for a fully-implemented, statewide plan is approximately $287 million.[2] In order to complete and sustain key elements of the transition plan, the state will need to identify reliable longer-term sources of financial support.

To that end, in Spring 2016, the Friday Institute convened a group of state- and district-level stakeholders—the Digital Learning Funding Working Group—to develop recommendations for sustaining funding for full implementation of the Digital Learning Plan. This memorandum is the main product of that group’s work. It is divided into four Sections:

  1. The Digital Learning Funding Working Group
  2. Sustainable Funding Proposals with Statewide Impact
  3. Sustainable Funding Proposals with Localized Impact
  4. Strategies for Moving Toward Long-Term Funding Sustainability
Summary of Funding Proposals
Proposals with Statewide Impact Proposals with Localized Impact
Expand Current State Funding
Restore the Digital Learning Fund or Establish Equivalent New Fund Establish an “Innovation Fund” and/or Issue Competitive Planning Grants
Provide Support for a State-Level Process for Optimizing Federal Funding Opportunities
Develop Public/Private Partnerships
Leverage Short-Term Support from the Private and Philanthropic Communities
Broaden Flexibility at the Local Level
Create a State Revolving Loan Fund Expand Current Fund Transfer Options and Current Allowable Fund Uses
Establish District-Level Digital Initiatives Accounts Funded by Transfers from Unspent Reverting Funds
Create a Limited-Life Fund to Offset Funding Gaps for Low-Wealth and Small Districts
Extend Collaborative Procurement, Shared Services, and Managed Services Efforts

 

  1. The plan and supplemental documentation can be found at http://ncdlplan.fi.ncsu.edu/
  2. Some of this gap will be closed as funding for programs made redundant by the conversion to digital learning becomes available.

 

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Projects

North Carolina Digital-Age Learning Initiative

The NC Digital-Age Learning Initiative builds upon the existing foundation of digital learning initiatives to develop a coherent long-term strategy that sets directions and priorities, supports innovation, and provides resources to enable the State’s educators and students to benefit fully from digital-age teaching and learning.

Published

June 1, 2016

Resource Type

Memo

Published By

Friday Institute for Educational Innovation