"School Budget Hold'em" is a game designed to help school districts rethink their budgeting process. It evolved out of Education Resource Strategies' (ERS) experience working with large urban districts around the country. "School Budget Hold'em" offers a completely new approach--one that can turn the budgeting process into a long-term visioning…

This chapter of "Principles of School Business Management" analyzes the types of budget preparation that are used in school districts across the United States. The chapter proposes as a basic premise that the budgetary process is inherently political, and states that some budgeting methods may provide more useful political information…

A revised edition of PS-14, "An Introduction to Benefit-Cost Analysis for Evaluating Public Programs," presents concepts and techniques of benefit-cost analysis as tools that can be used to assist in deciding between alternatives. The goals of the new edition include teaching students to think about the possible benefits and costs of each…

This student booklet with accompanying teacher's guide examines the issues and controversies surrounding the nation's debt and deficits. The first section defines key terms relating to the issues and traces how the United States got on the road to fiscal disorder. The second section examines what specific federal spending programs have triggered…

This guide, which is intended for new supervisors and managers to use in an independent study setting, deals with the key points of effective management. The following topics are discussed in the individual sections: understanding what a manager is and why managers are appointed; setting objectives and achieving results; planning and controlling…