Marginalized Youth and Student Voice: School Participatory Budgeting in Arizona

The scarcity of youth participation opportunities and low rates of youth civic engagement are two issues that affect youth development and the acquisition of the democratic and civic values required for becoming engaged citizens in multicultural societies. This is particularly for the case of marginalized groups. School participatory budgeting is a multidimensional innovative democratic process of deliberation and decision-making where students participate directly in determining how some funds are allocated in their school. It provides youth a unique opportunity to take an active role in their school community, to have their voice heard and to experience participatory democracy in real life. In this study, I collected and analyzed the views of students, teachers and administrators on the first year of implementation of school participatory budgeting in three low income schools of a city in Southwest US. I examined the inclusivity of the process and the quality of deliberation and decision making. I also assessed changes in democratic culture and relationships within the school community (between students, teachers and administrators), and I have also evaluated the impact of the process on student`s civic and democratic knowledge, skills, attitudes and practices.