How Bogotá Modernized the Distribution of Educational Resources to Its Schools: A Case of Smart Spending

This report analyzes the experience of Bogota (Colombia) in modernizing the allocation of educational resources through the implementation of the Educational Resource Information System (SIDRE). Persistent gaps in school infrastructure and equipment in Latin America and the Caribbean are often linked to weak information systems, fragmented administrative processes, and non-transparent decision-making. SIDRE was developed by the District Education Secretariat of Bogota, with support from the Inter-American Development Bank, to address these challenges by centralizing requests, standardizing catalogs of goods, and introducing objective prioritization criteria aligned with available budgets. The system assigns points to each school based on adequacy, equity, efficiency, and transparency principles, forcing prioritization and improving traceability. Since becoming mandatory in 2023 for more than 400 district schools, SIDRE has enhanced operational efficiency, strengthened school governance, and improved equity in resource distribution. The report documents direct and indirect benefits, discusses institutional and political enablers, and explores the systems scalability to other territorial education entities in Colombia and the region as a tool for smart spending in education.