A New York high school let students decide how to spend $25,000 through a real election. The deeper lesson is about what happens when a business office shows its work.
Ask most teenagers how a school district decides to spend its money and you will get a shrug. Ask most adults and you may get a similar one. That gap is the quiet backdrop to a story K-12 Dive reported October 19 from the Association of School Business Officials International’s annual conference in Pittsburgh. Joseph Greco, director of personnel development for the Saratoga Springs City School District in New York, described a program in which students at Saratoga Springs High School, about 1,900 strong, chose how to spend $25,000.
The mechanics are interesting, but the larger point is about transparency. Greco said the district started the effort because students and local adults struggled to understand how capital project funding worked, especially during a lean budget season. In other words, the problem was not that the district lacked a budget. It was that almost nobody could see how the budget worked.
The fastest way to teach students how a district works is to let them make a real decision with the district’s real money.
Finance as Civic Education
Greco framed the program as a way to connect school finance to authentic civic learning. The students gathered ideas, narrowed them, checked feasibility with district leaders, and campaigned for five finalists. In March, all students in grades 9 through 12 voted on official voting machines using ranked voting, with volunteer poll workers running the election in the school auditorium.
Each step mirrors something adults do as citizens. Students researched a question, persuaded peers, weighed tradeoffs, respected a process, and accepted a result. They also learned something that few civics units cover: how a purchase actually happens, from an idea to a line in a budget to an item on a campus.
What Business Offices Can Share
The finance side of the district has a lot to offer in this kind of project. Business officials know which expenses are one-time and which recur, which projects qualify for capital funds, and what a realistic price looks like. Sharing that knowledge with students does not require a long presentation. A one-page overview of where the district’s money comes from and where it goes, written in plain language, is enough to start.
The conversation can also help adults. Families and taxpayers who see students working through a budget decision often come away with a better understanding of how the district manages its own. A small, visible example can make a large, abstract budget feel less mysterious.
The Cafeteria Grill Lesson
The five finalists were bocce courts, a cafeteria grill, upgraded feminine hygiene products in bathrooms, bathroom privacy upgrades, and outdoor water bottle dispensers. The grill won. Students held a ribbon-cutting with free grilled chicken samples and invited administrators, local politicians, and chamber of commerce members. As Greco put it, “It’s a grill, but they still wanted to have a ribbon cutting because they were super excited, because it was their idea.”
What happened next matters more than the winner. The district used leftover funds after buying the grill to pay for the second-place bathroom privacy upgrades. The bocce courts did not receive extra money, but the facilities team changed its budget to install them after talking with students. Students saw that the process had consequences beyond the top finisher, which is the difference between participation and a suggestion box.
A voting process earns trust only if the result is honored, including the parts adults did not expect.
Honest About the Evidence
It is worth being clear about what the story shows. This is one school, one year, described by the person who ran it. Greco said students became more engaged in voting and came to see that their voice “had meaning,” but the article does not report turnout figures, changes in vandalism, or survey results. Districts interested in the idea should plan to collect their own simple measures, such as the share of students who vote and a short post-vote survey.
Practical Advice From the Presenter
Greco offered clear guidance for districts that want to try. Secure funds before involving students, and use the general fund where possible, since grants and private donations can be less stable. Frame the budget line for the school board as boosting student voice and choice, and as a strong return on investment for civic readiness.
Staffing matters too. He recommends two teacher advisors to keep students on schedule, plus a stipend for club advisors. And authenticity matters most: create a real ballot, and budget for printing, voting machines, and poll workers from local government. He also warned that if the funding is too small, the process “may lead to disappointment in the process and low participation.”
A Chance for Partners
Companies and community organizations that serve schools can help. Local governments can lend voting machines and poll workers, as in Saratoga Springs. Civics publishers can build lesson sequences around a budget project. Finance software providers can help districts present spending in forms students can read. The best offers are simple, flexible, and designed to fit a school calendar.
For a fuller look at the timeline, the results, and a starter plan for a pilot, read K12 Data’s analysis of the Saratoga Springs student budget vote. If you serve school business officials, principals, or district leaders and want to reach them, you can build a targeted K-12 contact list here.
About the Author: Charlie Isham is the Founder and CEO of K12 Data, Inc., which operates K12 Data, College Leads, and K12 Talent. He has spent more than 15 years building education data infrastructure and has watched how schools, colleges, and the companies that serve them buy for over a decade. He is based in Encinitas, California.
