School Budgeting for Hard Times

William K. Poston, Jr. - Iowa State University, USA

Foreword by Fenwick W. English

Other Titles in:
Decision Making Tools | Education Finance & Funding

January 2011 | 200 pages | Corwin

Are you challenged to improve your school's productivity with existing or even diminishing resources? It can be done, and School Budgeting for Hard Times will show you how. Author William F. Poston, Jr. has fought and won many budget battles. He and renowned educator Fenwick W. English, who provides the book's foreword, contend that the needs of curriculum and learning should drive the budgeting process-not the other way around. The solution is implementing performance-based budgeting. This text gives step-by-step instructions for:

- Using assessment data to determine budget priorities

- Applying quality enhancement principles to the process

- Incorporating measurable performance to attain funding

Discover how to do more with less. These proven strategies will help you attain the truly important goals while avoiding the dire cutbacks that threaten local educational systems' effectiveness.

Foreword by Fenwick W. English

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Author

1. Performance-Based Budgeting: Beginning the Journey: An Overview

2. Why Change: The Rationale for Performance-Based Budgeting

3. Budget Planning for Financial Effectiveness and Efficiency

4. Budgeting for Financial Prudence and Productivity

5. Organizing and Goal Setting for Performance-Based Budgeting

6. Constructing the Process for Performance-Based Budgeting

7. Developing Performance-Based Budget Increment Packages

8. Determining Budget Priorities and Component Funding Levels

9. Building the Budget Recommendation

10. Budget Issues and Evaluation

11. Ideas to Action: Commencing the Journey

Appendixes

References

Index

“The current fiscal crisis is clearly having a negative impact on our schools. This book offers practical strategies to overcome obstacles and constraints. This guide to doing more with less is essential for all school leaders.”

David Freitas, Professor

Indiana University South Bend

“This reader-friendly, practical and relatable book speaks directly to the practitioner, offering down-to-earth advice and realistic examples."

David L. Flynn, Director, Commission on Public Elementary and Middle Schools and Adjunct Professor of Educational Administration

New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Bedford, MA, Cambridge College, MA