This paper discusses resource allocation at the school level, concentrating particularly on school-based budgeting. School-based budgeting is a process calling for preparation and administration of a budget for the allocation of the individual school's resources by the school principal, usually in consultation with staff and parents. The paper…

The major problem facing educational administrators in the next decade will be the need to control costs within the context of reduced resources. This paper, by centering its discussion around the problem of declining enrollments, discusses the role of administrators in educational finance. Restrictions to cost control in Canadian schools are…

This paper introduces and explores new counterpressures in educational governance, the central theme of this symposium. Drawing on research in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, but giving particular attention to Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Canada, and the United States, this paper provides an…

Zero-base budgeting (ZBB), a systematically structured approach to budgeting, has the potential to improve policy attainment, resource reallocation, program review, and information systems. Some 300 businesses, a dozen states, one municipality, and one school district in the United States have operationalized the concept. Many private and public…

This paper explores some definitions of school-based budgeting and other forms of decentralization, attempts to determine the extent of their adoption, develops some indications of decentralization results, and provides suggestions for further research directions. The paper addresses (1) how often decentralization involving a change in resource…

This paper provides an update of the financial reforms that took effect in the province of Ontario for the 1998-99 year. During the 1998-99 school year, a student-focused funding model for the distribution of money to elementary and secondary education was introduced. The model was based on students' needs rather than the local community's wealth…

Financial problems that are being experienced by colleges and universities in Manitoba, Canada, likely results of these problems, and actions that might be taken are discussed by the president of University of Winnipeg. Provincial aid to universities in Manitoba has been inadequate. One major consequence resulting from financial problems is…

The steps involved in tailoring a periodical and monograph price index to a university library are examined, as are the difficulties involved in applying a simple methodology such as a price index when the data base has not been organized to play an active role in the decision-making process. The following topics are addressed: the shifting of…

Factors for discrepancies between budgeting ideals and actual implementation are discussed. The basic problem lies in the different orientations of budget establishers and implementors, or between product and process, which results in a separation of productivity and resource allocation issues. A recommendation is that the budgeting process must…

This study gathered information on general family practices concerning allowances given to children, parental reasons for the provision of allowances, the bases for their administration, and the frequency of conflicts generated around them. The subjects were 81 parents of elementary school children in a midwest Canadian city. Subjects completed…

Decentralized or school-based budgeting is a growing practice in Saskatchewan (Canada) school systems. A survey of 179 elementary and secondary principals in 60 of the province's larger rural school districts sought to find the extent of budget decentralization and the principals' attitudes toward the arrangement. The results indicated that (1)…

To enhance the relevance and usefulness of social-science research, large-scale research grant-allocation policies are emphasizing, if not requiring, the formation of research partnerships between researchers and members of the community of practice. The emergence of a revisionist conception of traditional dissemination and utilization of…

The purpose of this seminar was to give members of the Canadian Teachers' Federation a better understanding of the educational budgetary process. The proceedings of the seminar included welcoming remarks by Russell D. Mosher followed by two addresses--"The Political Context of Budgeting" by Dr. Peter Atherton and "Resource…

The ways in which governments in different countries determine the amounts of money to be provided to individual institutions of higher education institutions vary considerably. This paper explains how government funds are allocated in Canada, focusing on grants in support of core operations to universities located in Nova Scotia. It examines how…

This paper uses examples of systemic sex discrimination at one Canadian university to illustrate the need to continue to redress the causes of such discrimination. An opening section explores some legal definitions of systemic discrimination from court decisions and government regulation. Using these, this section develops a working definition of…