Introduction
School Participatory Budgeting (SPB), supported by Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA), is an innovative civic learning process designed to build student agency, collaboration, and critical thinking skills while creating equitable opportunities for students to contribute to their school communities and civic life authentically. At CFA, we define civic learning as the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices students develop to become informed, equipped, and empowered participants in our democracy at all levels. SPB empowers students to “learn democracy by doing” by making real decisions on allocating real dollars toward campus improvement projects.
This resource hub aims to provide individuals implementing the SPB process at a school or district with a one-stop shop for accessing free and open-source implementation materials, student activities and lesson plans, and evaluation resources. These resources are intended to complement the coaching and mentorship provided by CFA. In addition, CFA offers professional development for educators to build capacity for SPB process implementation. While these materials are designed for an educational setting, this process and tools available here can be adapted to different contexts, including youth-based organizations and municipal processes.
Each section of the resource hub provides:
- A Brief Overview of Each SPB Phase
- A Set of Action Steps
- Supporting Materials & Resources
After background information on the SPB process, the resource hub is divided into two sections based on different roles:
- SPB Coordinators who serve as the liaison between SPB Advisors, district leaders, SPB sponsors, and steering committees. This person may be a district administrator, program coordinator or manager, teacher, school administrator, or staff.
- SPB Sponsors who mentor and guide the student steering committee through each phase of the SPB process.
If you are implementing the SPB process in your classroom, at one school, or in an organization, you might find helpful information in both sections of the resource hub.
In the next few pages, you will explore the history and growth of SPB and learn the basics of the process, including commonly used terms and roles and responsibilities for key stakeholders. To navigate between sections in the resource hub, use the “hamburger” button on the top left of the page or the buttons on the bottom of the page.