A City Changing: An Annual Convening
Sparking conversations. Building coalitions. Inspiring new approaches.
Metro Atlanta is a diverse, dynamic, and growing region, and our schools are evolving along with it. As student needs become more complex and workforce demands continue to shift, how resources are aligned plays an important role in expanding access to high-quality learning environments and future-ready opportunities for students.
At RedefinED Atlanta, we believe progress happens when diverse perspectives come together around a shared understanding.
A City Changing is part of our broader commitment to:
- Convene leaders across sectors to engage in meaningful dialogue
- Elevate both data and lived experience in shaping conversations
- Create space for ideas to be explored, challenged, and advanced
- Strengthen the systems and conditions that shape student outcomes across Metro Atlanta
A City Changing 2026: Funding Student Opportunity
Across Metro Atlanta, public education is evolving, but the systems that fund it have not kept pace. As our region grows and student needs become more complex, how resources are aligned plays a critical role in what school districts can deliver.
A City Changing: Funding Student Opportunity brings together education leaders, policymakers, funders, and community voices for a focused conversation on how Georgia’s approach to funding public education, particularly through the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula, connects to the realities students face today and the workforce needs of tomorrow.
Grounded in historical context, insights from peers like Alabama and Mississippi, and practitioner perspectives, this convening creates space to build a shared understanding of how resources flow and where there may be opportunities to better align them with the realities students face today and the workforce demands shaping Georgia’s future.
Join RedefinED Atlanta’s 2026 Speaker Series event, an exploration of how funding, policy, and practice come together to shape outcomes for students across metro Atlanta and Georgia.
Event Details
Date: September 11, 2026
Time: 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Reception: 11:00 AM – 11:45 – lunch will be provided
Program: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Location: National Center for Civil & Human Rights
Optional Immersive Experience | 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
We are excited to partner with the National Center for Civil & Human Rights to offer guests a specially curated experience exploring education as both a civil and human right.
Why Aligning the Student Formula to Student Needs Matters
For nearly four decades, Georgia has funded public education through the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula, creating a more consistent foundation for supporting schools across the state.
Since then, Georgia has experienced significant growth and change. Student needs have evolved, communities have shifted, and expectations for public education have expanded—while the structure guiding how resources are allocated has remained largely the same.
Today, how resources are aligned plays an important role in shaping student outcomes, expanding access to high-quality learning environments, and preparing students for the workforce demands driving Georgia’s future economy.
A City Changing is Grounded in Three Core Ideas
Build Shared Understanding
Education funding impacts every student, yet the system can be difficult to navigate. This conversation is designed to help leaders across sectors better understand how resources flow, how decisions are made, and how funding connects to student opportunity.
Align Around Student Opportunity
Students across Georgia have varying strengths, needs, and learning experiences. Strengthening how resources are aligned can help schools better support students and expand access to high-quality opportunities across communities.
Move from Conversation to Coordinated Action
Meaningful progress requires educators, policymakers, funders, business leaders, and community voices working together. This convening is an opportunity to connect, exchange ideas, and explore how different sectors can engage, advocate, invest, and support stronger outcomes for students.
Register for A City Changing: Funding Student Opportunity
If you’re an education leader, policymaker, funder, advocate, business leader, or civic leader who cares about how public education connects to student opportunity and Georgia’s future, this conversation is for you.
Access Our Livestream Conversations
Missed the live event but want to be part of the conversation? Watch our archive of our most recent A City Changing convenings and hear directly from the educators, leaders, and advocates reimagining what’s possible for Atlanta’s schools.