Specifications include, but are not limited to: DESE seeks a vendor to produce a policy brief on school level instructional expenditures, including what drives differences in per pupil costs within districts and across the state, and how variations may or may not reflect equitable resource allocation based on student needs. The brief should begin with a summary of the national research literature on equitable allocation of resources to schools. This summary should include findings about the relative impact of various drivers listed above and any others identified in the research literature, the status of implementation of student-weighted school funding formulas around the country, and a brief comparison of Massachusetts school spending relative to other states. The brief should then address how the national research translates into Massachusetts school finance data. We propose a broad structure for analysis but are open to an alternate proposal that still addresses the fundamental question of understand equitable spending differences.