School districts need a strategic, comprehensive, electronic data processing resources plan that would include the following major elements: (1) systems; (2) hardware; (3) software; (4) staffing; (5) control; and (6) projected budgets. (MLF)

School systems in urbanized or built-up areas have difficulties locating suitable sites for new buildings. Examples of the use of space in alternative locations include the Parkway Program in Philadelphia; the Work Place School in Alberta, Canada; the Metropolitan Learning Alliance in Minnesota; and the Schoolhouse Boat in Vienna, Austria. (MLF)

Education will get a higher ranking in national priorities only through showing that schools are accountable, productive, and necessary to society and the economy. (Author/MLF)

Presents data on school district expenditures for budget years 1996-97, 1991-92, and 1986-87, gathered by the Educational Research Service (ERS). Provides information on budgets; intragroup variations; trends in allocation patterns; personnel costs; school district revenues; and trends in revenue available from local, state, and federal sources.…

For any school-based-management model to succeed, the important functions of a school district's business office must be redesigned to shift authority and support for most fiscal decisions to school site. Some of the complexities of shifting the fiscal management to schools include technology, transportation, maintenance and operation, risk…

Explores the influences state departments of education have on the cost and quality of pupil transportation. Evaluates the following state funding methodologies: (1) actual costs incurred; (2) a flat rate per unit; or (3) a multivariate calculation in providing service efficiently and equitably between districts. (MLF)

A study of a random sample of 40 of Wisconsin's 432 public school districts was conducted to see how 7 factors influenced a district's use of the standardized statewide accounting system, known as the Wisconsin Elementary and Secondary School Accounting System (WESSAS). (MLF)

Addresses the need of school districts in many states to decide on an appropriate mingling of centralization and decentralization in the operation of activity funds. Argues for analysis of activity fund operation through a breakdown into such major components as policy, the accounting system, and reporting and auditing. (JBM)

Increasing specialist staff over the years means that regular classroom teachers comprise a declining portion of professional staff. Fewer education dollars are spent teaching the regular instructional program. The Boston schools, five Darlington-Hammond study schools, the New American Schools, and the Edison Project have achieved higher student…

The relationship between school board members and school business officials has become increasingly important. They must collaborate to keep schools functioning efficiently and children constantly learning. If business managers are technocrats and number crunchers, boards must make a judgment about those numbers and decide how funds should be…

The Goals 2000 Act focuses on local decisions to improve education. The challenge for school business administrators will be to meet the changes in the way schools and districts operate in the areas of linking social services, budgeting, and purchasing. Lists the eight goals of the act, along with the objectives for measuring achievement of each…

Whereas equity generally focuses on relative levels or distributions of funds, adequacy stresses providing sufficient and absolute funding levels to produce desired student outcomes. Adequacy underlies many recent court decisions. Estimating costs of an adequate education is extremely difficult. School business officials must develop better…

In "Board of Education of Boone County v. Bushee," the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld school site councils' power and autonomy in a dispute involving a school improvement plan. Implications of "Bushee" are enormous. School-based decision making presents school business administrators with brave new challenges and increased…

In England, vast amounts of energy are being spent on changing organizational structures and school financing systems to produce a market accountability on the schools. Raises a series of questions that should be considered in restructuring efforts in the United States. (MLF)

The assistant secretary for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education presents a brief review of approaches to school finance issues. Cites the Clinton administration's goal to target the bulk of Title I (formerly Chapter 1) funds to the neediest schools in the neediest districts. (MLF)