School districts can improve their chances of avoiding financial difficulty by developing unreserved fund balance resources specifically for contingencies. Offers guidelines for establishing such a fund. (MLF)

Discusses future trends affecting school business management, including greater state funding and involvement in policy issues, increased competition from alternative schools, controversy over vouchers, new educational technologies, fewer specialized administrator training programs, expanded educational services, integrated social services, and…

Education remains a top priority in governors' 1998 state-of-the-state addresses. Most governors favor increased school funding, dedication of some budget surpluses to new school construction and long-postponed maintenance and repair, and funding for technology. Many advocate early schooling, reading programs, smaller class size, school choice,…

Tracking has contributed considerably to the basic inequality of funding among American schools. To move to a heterogenous environment, districts must understand the concept of resource and program equity, commit to a planning process that allocates time and resources, provide ongoing inservice, downplay standardized test results, and phase-in…

A Texas school district initiated a budget development process using peer review committees representing each of the seven major units of the district. The process aims to rank budget requests based on district goals and to improve communication among district units. (MLF)

The CFO (chief financial officer) performs the budgeting, accounting, and financial functions for a local education agency (LEA). The CFO of 1998 works in a very different environment from 25 years ago, due to changes in school funding sources (from local to state systems), information technology, and school district organization and…

Constructing school facilities requires a multitude of considerations. Outlines a suggested sequence of processes and events that will be helpful in the three- to four-year planning phase. (MLF)

Discusses the potential of state accountability systems and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to reduce the achievement gap and funding disparities, thus providing greater educational equality for poor and minority students. (Contains 21 references.)

The nation's schools are facing multiple problems regarding facilities and capital outlay needs for new buildings, additions, and renovations to support technology and instructional infrastructures. Options include use of current revenues, sinking funds, full-state funding, equalization grants, and state aid or loan programs. Financing of facility…

The critical issue for education is how to induce the most productive use of school resources through governance, finance, and management structures that enhance student achievement. Despite inadequate research and waning public confidence, Americans want all kids to learn and achieve to high standards. (MLH)

Discusses state efforts to link education reform with educational adequacy. Describes four approaches for investigating this linkage: statistical modeling, empirical observation, professional judgment, and whole-school design. Investigates educational adequacy in Michigan's school-finance reform efforts by examining urban school districts. Finds…

Accurate transactional financial data are necessary for governmental compliance; transformational information is crucial for measuring and improving school performance. Some districts are shifting from a systems to a service, focus, from partial to full-cost accounting, from centralized to decentralized reporting procedures and facilities, and…

Analyzes six issues collectively addressed in school-finance-equity rulings by the supreme courts of New Jersey, Vermont, Ohio, and New Hampshire: responsibility for public education, court jurisdiction, constitutional definitions of an efficient/thorough education, district funding levels, state education-finance systems, and property-tax/funding…

Student fees are a growing source of private funding for public education in revenue-limitation states like Wisconsin. Escalating public-school fees jeopardizes two principles: access to a free education and responsibility for publicly funding an enterprise to which all children are guaranteed access. (Contains 40 references.) (MLH)

Outlines trends in school finance litigation. Examines definitions of fiscal equity, reviews 20 years of litigation, and analyzes recent legal activity. Recent litigation has challenged some states' school finance systems. Court decisions have split evenly regarding permissible disparities in per-pupil operating expenditures, a measure of…