School Budget Simulation

How would you balance the budget for a school?

This simulation lets you step into the role of a school principal and make choices about how to use limited dollars. Every decision comes with tradeoffs, and the challenge is deciding what matters most for students.

You’ll start with background information about a fictional mid-sized elementary school in Jeffco, including enrollment, the percentage of At-Risk students, and grade levels served. For this exercise, funding is based only on those factors. In real Jeffco schools, other details—like size, Title I status, or grades served—also affect funding, but those are not included here.

In the Expense Details section, you can adjust:

• Personnel Expenses: Use the dropdowns to decide how many staff (FTEs) to include in each role. Minimum recommended levels are shown for some positions. Some staff—like custodians, bus drivers, and security—are funded by the district and not part of this school budget.
• Non-Personnel Expenses: Use the “+ Add equipment” button to select items a school might buy with available funds. The list isn’t complete but reflects common choices at elementary schools.

Your goal is to use the full budget without going over. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see if your plan is above (red) or below (green) the school’s total funding.

See how your choices shape the school budget!