The Budget Challenge Blog

At Budget Challenge we know that Covid-19 stressed already tight school budgets making it difficult for some schools to purchase our program. The good news is that help is on the way! The new $900 billion federal Covid-19 relief bill signed into law December 27 provided $54.3 billion in new federal funds for public K-12 schools and $2.75 billion for private schools. This is in addition to the previous CARES Act ESSER dollars. This received virtually no media coverage because so much attention was focused on the size of stimulus payments to individuals and whether the president would sign the bill into law.

This is the second post in the ‘Under the Hood’ series. Like the first post, this is also about credit card usage in the simulation. We’ll take a deeper look at the behavior of the credit card in the simulation, how it impacts the student experience and address some feedback we have received. This second post is written for our teachers who use Budget Challenge with their students and those who are thinking about starting.

This is the first post in a series called ‘Under the Hood’, where I explain the thinking behind some of the not-so-obvious design decisions that you experience in the simulation. In explaining these decisions, I also attempt to address some of the feedback we’ve received and propose alternate perspectives for users of the program to consider. This first post is for our students who play Budget Challenge. So, let’s go!

Hilary Ruttenberg is an economics teacher at Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Hilary took the time to share her recent experience implementing Budget Challenge in a blended classroom setting which includes online instruction and in person.

We love sharing creative ways that teachers secure funding for Budget Challenge. Teachers who have earned the appropriate number of points with DonorsChoose can request a Special Project. Carrie Rugenstein, a math teacher at Lincoln High School in Owosso, MI recently shared how she was able to secure funding for Budget Challenge with the help of DonorsChoose and a community sponsor.

Mariellen Rechtin who teaches in two Cincinnati homeschool high school co-ops, Divine Mercy Homeschool Coop and All Saints Studies Group, shared her expertise in implementing Budget Challenge in a unique setting.

Holly Toft, an Economics teacher at Mount Michael Benedictine School in Elkhorn, NE a seasoned user of Budget Challenge recently shared her experience with us.

At Budget Challenge, we are well aware of the many challenges our teachers are facing due to Covid-19. We know how busy our teachers are with the many additional demands placed on them. Because of that we are pre-releasing sections of our new companion financial literacy textbook which will be included with all Budget Challenge licenses. Our new e-textbook is one of the most up-to-date and comprehensive resources available. It includes significantly expanded content compared to our existing curriculum along with new assessment tools to promote student learning.

To better protect our students we recently updated our policies and no longer require students to register using Personal Identifying Information.

Getting ready to register your class? Here are a few tips to help ensure a smooth registration period.