Four smart moves to make during a School Budget Freeze

If you’re still waiting for budget clarity this year, you’re far from alone. Across the country, school leaders are in limbo—caught between the urgency to drive student outcomes and the reality of uncertain or delayed funding.

But indecision doesn’t have to mean inaction.

Whether you’ll receive all, some, or none of the funds you requested, here are four smart, low-stakes steps you can take right now to protect learning and move forward with confidence:

  1. Leverage Capacity You Already Have

When budgets freeze, your people become your most valuable asset.

Take a close look at staff already in your building—paraprofessionals, aides, part-time instructors, even administrative personnel. With a bit of training and structure, many of them can step into instructional support roles. From running small-group interventions to providing sub coverage or even building a future teacher pipeline, the potential payoff is high.

These small shifts can help support instruction and give students the consistent help they need, especially in foundational subjects like reading and math.

  1. Choose Partners That Offer Flexibility—Not Pressure

Budget limbo makes large purchases risky. But you don’t have to pause everything.

Look for partners offering “try before you buy” options—short-term pilots, freemium access, or pay-when-approved models. These low-risk engagements buy you time to evaluate both the tool and its real impact on your students.

Some organizations even tailor their support to match your current staffing model—offering ways to boost tutoring or intervention without significant investments. If a partner is willing to be flexible and share risk, it’s usually a sign they believe in their results.

  1. Tap Into the Wisdom of Other Leaders

In times of constraint, collaboration becomes a strategy.

Use back-to-school meetings, leadership networks, or even informal check-ins to ask your peers:
“What are you prioritizing right now?”
“How are you managing reduced or delayed funding?”
“What trade-offs are you making?”

Often, the most effective strategies aren’t found in a policy document, they’re shared over a conversation. You may discover a resource, a workaround, or a fresh way to think about instructional support that hasn’t crossed your mind.

  1. Revisit Your Spending Through a Student Outcomes Lens

Now is the time to pause and ask:
“Is this investment actually helping students learn more?”

Every line item should earn its place on your budget. One way to audit your current programs is to assess how directly they contribute to better learning outcomes.

Tutoring, for example, consistently shows up in research as one of the highest-impact interventions—when done well. But not all tutoring is created equal. As you weigh what stays and what goes, focus on solutions that are both evidence-based and sustainable.

Final Thought: Stay Strategic, Not Stalled

Budget uncertainty can feel paralyzing. But even small, intentional decisions now can preserve momentum—and prepare you to act quickly when funding comes through.

Some school leaders are already piloting creative instructional models, reallocating internal capacity, and exploring more adaptive support options that don’t require upfront investment.

And some partners are intentionally designing their services to align with this moment: flexible, outcomes-focused, and built for impact, not just implementation.

If you’re looking for a low-risk way to strengthen instructional support while you wait for budget clarity, it might be worth a conversation.

Explore options at www.Eurekii.com or reach out to sandy@eurekii.com to connect.

Recent Posts

Five Must-Haves for Impacting Student Outcomes in High-Enrollment, Low Pass Rate Math Courses: Lessons from Baltimore City Community College

How districts can turn the start-of-year challenges into lasting student success

Four smart moves to make during a School Budget Freeze

Register

Already have an account?

A medium-strength password is needed to register. Tip: Try at least 12 characters long containing letters, numbers, and special characters.


Raising Teacher Expectations, Training Paraeducators, and Providing Small-Group Enrichment: Eurekii 3D at New Song Academy
Challenge:

New Song Academy math scores were traditionally low, well below state and national averages.

Intervention:

Using Eurekii 3D, we changed the math culture of the school to embrace problem-solving, rigor, building number sense and reasoning skills. We introduced the importance of using data to inform and stay on pace. We also built an enrichment culture to stretch and challenge the youngest students (PreK-3) to raise expectations across all grades.

Results:

In 2023, New Song Academy was named one of the top 10 schools to have the highest math growth in Baltimore City.

School Summer Boost Camps: Meade Cluster Schools
Challenge:

Meade Cluster schools wanted to minimize learning loss during the summer by providing virtual summer programs focused on presenting STEAM and academic content areas in a fun way.

Solution:

Eurekii ran several camps for Meade Cluster including MathMagic, a puzzles and games class, to sharpen math skills and several beginner coding classes to further challenge students and build analytical thinking skills.

Results:

Based on the success of the camps, Eurekii was asked to continue providing classes in subsequent school years.

Math and English Summer Intervention: University of Maryland School of Nursing Summer Program
Challenge:

University of Maryland School of Nursing ran summer programs for underserved middle school students. The program included two weeks of college and career mentorship as well as academic support. Many of the students were disengaged with traditional learning methods, so the University was looking for a partner to engage students with math and English in a much more creative way.

Solution:

Eurekii gave students a pre-test in both English and Math to know which areas to focus on. Students then spent two weeks working on a creative project practicing skills they needed based on the test. In English, they worked on defining and developing a character, and writing about the character’s traits, life, hobbies, and interests. Through their character development, they practiced writing and reading comprehension skills. For math, each student created their own animal within math parameters to reinforce key middle school math skills.

Results:

Over 91% of the students reported enjoying the camp and over 72% reported an increase in math and English skills. Pre- and post-test results showed an increase of over 59%.

Build Instructor Pipeline: Rosemont Elementary School
Challenge:

Rosemont Elementary Middle school needed time to find math teachers and support staff. The original task was to bring in many tutors, however, that solution was expensive, not scalable, and did not fix their instructor pipeline challenge.

Solution:

Working with the school, Eurekii recruited, qualified, and trained eight people from the school community to support students while positions were being filled. Tutors went through content and pedagogical training as well as best-practice tutoring techniques. Four candidates were recommended for hire based on math content pre- and post-test results, as well as their ability to effectively tutor. The other four were not recommended but are now supporting their community with their new math understanding.

Results:

By recruiting from the community, the school identified those who have connections with the school and students, making it easier for the tutors to stay with the school. The four recommended tutors became successful, full-time paraprofessionals.

Training Paraeducators to Teach Middle School Math: Lillie May Charter School
Challenge:

Lillie May Charter School was not able to find certified math teachers for their 7th and 8th grade classes. They brought in two long-term substitutes– one who had math understanding but not the math pedagogy. The other was an experienced teacher, but not in 7th grade math. Lillie May wanted to invest in the two substitutes to become certified teachers through the alternative certification program.

Solution:

Eurekii trainer met with each sub once a week going through specific content the teachers were to teach that week. The sessions included content review to confirm math understanding and proficiency with several pedagogical strategies to best convey the content. Sessions included discussion of common misconceptions and areas for differentiation, as well as opportunities for enrichment and challenge.
In conjunction with the substitute training, the Eurekii team provided small group, in-class online tutoring for students during intervention blocks to ensure content understanding.

Results:

Students in grades 7 and 8 performed 100% to 300% better with two paraeducators than they did in past years with a certified math teacher. A record number of students enrolled in Baltimore City’s top most competitive high schools than ever in the school’s history.

Provide Math Instruction: New Era Academy
Challenge:

New Era Academy High School was not able to find a qualified math teacher for Algebra 1 or Probability and Statistics. Their current long-term substitute did not have the content or pedagogy knowledge to effectively instruct students. Their current substitute was eager to learn math and the school saw this as an opportunity to strengthen her skills.

Solution:

Eurekii provided live, virtual instruction during each class period. Eurekii instructors were responsible for the lesson plan, homework assignments, quizzes and tests with answer keys for the substitute to grade. The substitute ensured students were logging on, confirmed attendance and participation, and facilitated the completion of classwork, quizzes, and homework. The substitute was also able to engage with students afterwards about the content learned.

Results:

Surveys showed most students reported learning the same or more math than prior years and enjoyed the classes. Pre- and post-test results confirmed student participation and growth.

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

We are in the process of curating some really fun stuff for you, stay tuned!

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

Strengthen Reading Levels: Cherry Hill Elementary and Middle School
Challenge:

Cherry Hill Elementary and Middle School had multiple reading levels in each grade and wanted more support during in-school reading time. Teachers were not able to differentiate and support all learners in the classroom.

Solution:

In tight coordination with the grade level teacher, the Eurekii team of tutors worked with a designated set of students for nine-week periods, ensuring growth and personalized attention within that time frame. Weekly lessons and detailed notes were shared and aligned with classroom expectations.

Results:

Due to the positive results in the first nine weeks, the school expanded reading support from two to four grades for the remainder of the school year. The following year, the school kept all four reading grades and expanded the work to include an additional four math grades.

Enrich Grades PreK-3 Learners: New Song Academy
Challenge:

Enrich Grades PreK-3 Learners: New Song Academy

Solution:

Eurekii created the school’s first enrichment program to push students at or above grade level in math starting in the earliest grades (Pre-K-3). Students were challenged with Eurekii tutors while classroom teachers worked with a smaller group of students who needed additional support. Enrichment students had opportunities for additional practice after school to further accelerate their progress.

Results:

Both teachers and parents reported strong results with students working on problems one or two grade levels above what was expected. Based on the success, the school expanded the program to include more grades.

Maximize Free Time in High School: Baltimore Design School
Challenge:

Baltimore Design School’s (BDS) first period  was reserved for advisory, homework, and intervention time. However, students were not always productive. School leadership wanted better use of that time by providing 9th graders with additional math and English support.

Solution:

Eurekii provided live, hybrid instruction during the period to review and solidify skills learned in math and English class. The groups were divided so that there were both enrichment and intervention groups. Each group met virtually once a week with five to eight students per group. Eurekii communicated with the teachers to design the small group instruction so that the coordination of in-class and small groups were aligned, yielding maximum potential growth.

Results:

Both students and teachers reported the sessions positively impacted learning and school performance. BDS plans to expand this intervention for the next school year.

Almost there—just one quick step to unlock your resource.

Baltimore City provides Eurekii’s leadership team with beginning-of-year (BOY) and end-of-year (EOY) iReady data, comparing students using Eurekii tutors to students not receiving tutoring. In reviewing the state test results (known as the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, or MCAP) students receiving Eurekii tutoring performed significantly better than both the school district and the state.

Out of the 74 participants, students receiving Eurekii tutoring services for five or more months, 70% improved at least one grade level, of which 15% improved at least two grade levels, compared with their peers who did not receive tutoring.

Eurekii students scored significantly higher on the standardized state test, outperforming the overall Baltimore City Public Schools average by 17% points and exceeding the state average by several percentage points.

Our work in middle school showed Eurekii students scored higher on the standardized state test, outperforming the Baltimore City Public Schools average by nearly 8% and performing several percentage points better than the state average.

Our ‘training and management of tutors’ work has been featured in monthly district tutoring meetings and shared with other tutoring teams.

The AACPS tutoring program is a county-wide opportunity offered to those students who would benefit from additional tutoring. Students received targeted instruction in Math aligned to their performance on the beginning-of-year (BOY) diagnostic and ongoing progress monitoring using the Standards Mastery Assessments in i-Ready. The primary goal of the tutoring program is to move students toward grade-level performance in math based on individual student academic needs as measured by i-Ready diagnostic, grades, and MCAP scores. The pupil-to-tutor ratio is 4:1, and students meet with their tutor twice a week for a total of 1,025 sessions. Each session is 30-45 minutes in length.

The disaggregated outcomes demonstrate a decrease in the number of students who performed three or more grade levels below on their i-Ready Diagnostic Assessments and increased the number of students who performed at or above.
90% of students increased their iReady scores by at least 1-2 grade levels after our tutoring sessions.

Meade Heights Elementary School: 100% of students met or exceeded their stretch goals to move from below grade level to at or above grade level.

CLICK HERE to access the final data for this program.