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Issaquah board receives update on organizational effectiveness, lean improvements and equity‑based budgeting
Summary
District leaders outlined progress on organizational effectiveness including a lean continuous‑improvement rollout, digital process automation and an equity‑based budget framework that uses an equity index to guide allocations beyond core staffing.
District leaders updated the Issaquah School District Board on progress in the strategic plan priority area "Organizational Effectiveness," including continuous improvement training, process automation and a new equity‑based budget framework.
Marcel Hauser (senior advisor for strategy) said the district is in the second year of implementing its strategic plan, which includes five priority areas. Martin Tierney and Laura Carmichael described the district—s move to embed lean continuous‑improvement practices across departments and buildings. Carmichael has completed training and the district will identify and train lean leads in each department to identify processes that can be streamlined, measure improvements and sustain the new practices.
The district has partnered with an outside vendor (inform k12) to convert paper forms and automate processes, beginning with payroll and planning to expand to other departments to gain efficiencies and better use staff time. Staff said early automation work has yielded process improvements and that the district will centralize efforts and publish a roadmap for further work.
Mariah Banasic, strategy lead for the equity‑based budget, described a framework launched in fall 2023 that uses a comprehensive equity index to guide allocations in addition to core staffing based on enrollment. The index considers nutrition access, specialized instruction, academic supports, housing stability and multilingual proficiency. Staff said the framework is funded by the Educational Programs & Operations (EP&O) levy and is intended to sustain and direct resources where student need is highest. Education Resource Strategies has provided consulting support on framework design.
Board members asked about metrics, scaling and how many people will be trained. Staff said the next steps include training lean leaders in each building, monitoring metrics tied to process improvements (time, quality, cost) and continuing internal work‑group engagement on the equity framework with annual review for sustainability.
