Committee presses DFA, LFC on evaluation and implementation of GROW pilots

Dr. Sarah Dinsis, a program evaluator with the Legislative Finance Committee, and Simon Miller, a performance analyst with the Department of Finance and Administration, briefed members on the Government Results and Opportunity Fund (GROW). Dinsis said GROW provides multiyear pilot funding to let agencies test initiatives before adding them to base budgets and emphasized evaluation requirements.

"The government results and opportunity fund is a way to provide funding for 3 years to state agencies, in order for them to assess whether something is working or not," Dinsis said, describing the fund’s purpose to support pilots and evidence-based decision-making.

Miller explained the statutory evaluation requirements enacted in recent legislation and the GROW deliverables calendar: agencies must submit initial evaluation plans to DFA and LFC by July 1 of the first implementation year, and final evaluation results are due by Sept. 1 of the final year. Staff will review pilots annually and provide interim reporting, with more frequent check-ins for programs of concern.

Committee members raised implementation concerns. Representative Dixon pressed staff about a pilot supporting unhoused students (fifth row of the appendix), asking how DFA and LFC are tracking implementation and whether corrective steps can occur mid-pilot. Dinsis said staff have met with the Public Education Department and planned quarterly check-ins starting in June; she added that PED will appear before the committee in July to address program-level questions.

Several members urged that evaluations focus on outcomes, not just compliance or paperwork. Senator Woods said legislators need clear evidence that pilots produce measurable outcomes in schools and that funding reaches districts and classrooms rather than remaining at the agency level. Staff said LFC will conduct a targeted evaluation next month on school-time learning gains and that PED’s evaluation plans are expected to provide specific outcome data.

Members also cautioned about member-directed GROW appropriations ("member GROW") that can resemble discretionary capital spending; the chair and staff discussed capping and decision points to limit GROW’s footprint in the base budget and to preserve GROW as a test environment with clear sunset or continuation criteria.

Staff committed to follow-up: add quarterly agency check-ins for pilots of concern, convene PED and other recipient agencies for evaluation briefings, and provide interim evaluation updates to the committee.