From $60M Deficit to $90M Win: A District Leader's Master Scheduling Playbook

When Hartford Public Schools faced a $60 million structural deficit, its district leaders turned to scheduling data, building a school-by-school staffing model that reduced staffing by 20 FTEs across its 11 high schools and identified $2 million in savings without requiring a single layoff.

In addition to realizing these budget savings, this scheduling data became the foundation for a legislative case that won the district $90 million in incremental state and city aid over two years.

Caitlin Richard of Metro Nashville Public Schools (Tenn.) shares how turning the master schedule into a budgeting tool changed the conversation, both inside her district and at the state level, and why she'd encourage superintendents to bring their district finance leaders into scheduling decisions early.