Presents overview of areas to consider when planning for the total cost of technology, including a brief look at the planning needed, equipment that should be considered, infrastructure needs, software considerations, maintenance issues, training, upgrades, and planning for system failures. (Author/PKP)

Describes how the school district budget director and special-education administrator can work together to build and monitor a budget that meets the needs of special-education students, but does not adversely affect the regular-education funding. (PKP)

Describes benefits of partnership between Association of School Business Officials International's Meritorious Budget Award Program and the Houston Independent School District. Includes budget award criteria. (PKP)

Describes benefits of using zero-based budgeting to improve resource-allocation decisions linking costs to student performance. (PKP)

Advances the use of school-based budgeting to improve student achievement. Describes four steps to implementing school-based budgeting: Access the current situation, set priorities and make decisions, plan action steps and benchmarks, and analyze choices and build the budget. Includes case study of the implementation of school-based budgeting at…

Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia, runs a food service operation responsible for serving 100,000 student lunches at 179 school locations each day. In addition, meals are provided by contractual agreement to day care centers and private schools. The budget process is explained and illustrated with a chart. (MLF)

The background and purpose of a publication by the National Council on Governmental Accounting (NCGA) is important to school administrators because the accounting principles are being incorporated in a publication for school systems. (Author/MLF)

Research findings suggest at least ten guidelines for the practice of school system budgeting. (Author/MLF)

Describes characteristics of successful school district programs to explain difficult budget issues to the public, including strategies for budget cuts and layoffs. (PKP)

The five recipients of the 1995 Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) found achieving a standard of excellence in budget documentation and presentation that the board, community, and local press could understand enormously challenging. Designed for school systems, the American Association of School Business Officials' MBA program effectively communicates…

Proper cash flow planning allows a school business administrator to determine the availability of cash for operating expenses, the need for bank loans to cover these expenses, and the availability of idle cash for investment. (Author)

When expanding educational technology resources, schools are challenged to purchase equipment with a limited, multiyear lifespan while finding the annual operating funds to maintain and operate the equipment. The revolving fund offers one sensible alternative. Public budgeting's rigidities allow no easy way to budget for ongoing technology costs.…

Many school districts have planned only for upfront software and hardware costs (one-quarter of "real" costs). This article examines major cost components of client-server computing, discusses TCO (total cost of ownership) as a tool for managing investment in technology, and considers how to leverage cost-reduction strategies. (MLH)

Discusses five questions that must be answered before implementing site-based budgeting: Why are we doing this? What budgeting decisions will be devolved to the school site? How do dollars flow from the central office to the site? Who will be involved at the site? How will accountability be achieved? (Author/PKP)

Outlines a procedure that accomplishes the major goals of an accounting system in a manner a small school district can handle. (Author/MLF)