School funding reforms spark push to get parent input is a new article at Ed Source describing what districts are doing to hear from parents about funding priorities (it’s a requirement of California’s new funding formula).

It sounds like most districts are doing a fair amount of work. However, I’ve got to wonder how many of them — if any — are doing it with a long-term parent engagement strategy in mind. If they’re just doing what they’re doing to get as many bodies at meetings as they can for one-shot input, then it will be a missed opportunity (at least, it will be a missed opportunity for those who really care about parent engagement).

Using these meetings as an excuse to begin a conversation, listen to parents concerns beyond how to spend school monies, and identify potential parent leaders — that’s an effective parent engagement strategy.