At the core, budgeting is about distributing and redistributing limited financial resources for continuous improvement. Incremental budgeting is limited in achieving the goal due to lack of connection between outcomes and budget decisions. Zero-based budgeting fills the gap, but is cumbersome to implement, especially for large urban school…

This report documents the second year of implementing Cycle-based Budgeting at Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY). In addition to aligning another $24.3 million new spending with the district's strategic plan, $20.3 million of existing spending was rolled into the process. Next, the challenges faced by the district to review 105…

In this article, the author talks about program evaluation, a strategy commonly used by instructional leaders that can help school business officials improve their budget process. As districts struggle to develop budgets in these challenging economic times, school business officials might consider turning to program evaluation for help. Program…

A major difficulty facing IT departments is ensuring that the projects and activities to which information and communications technologies (ICT) resources are committed represent an effective, economic, and efficient use of those resources. This complex problem has no single answer. To determine effective use requires, at the least, a…

In this article, the author calls for librarians to find ways to implement technology projects with very limited budgets and to consider all the cost components of a technology project amidst the economic pressures. The author offers some perspective on what is involved in trying to accomplish important work with limited resources while…

Rapidly developing online information technologies provide dramatically new capabilities and opportunities, and place new responsibilities on all involved to recreate networks for scholarly communication. Collaborations between all segments of the information network are made possible and necessary as we attempt to find a balanced and mutually…

This article explains the Selection System Model for evaluating alternative educational delivery methods and relates research findings applicable to the various components of the model. Those components include Instructional Strategies, Student Access, Complexity of the Method for the Student, Complexity of the Method for the Provider, and…

Representing the work of a Task Force on Community College Finance established by the California State Legislature, this report recommends criteria and standards for the implementation of a new program-based funding mechanism for the state's community colleges. After reviewing the legislative mandate for the implementation of program-based…

Cost-effectiveness/benefit analysis is an analytical technique for assessing outputs of educational programs in relation to the program objectives and the associated program costs. It combines the two concepts of cost-effectiveness analysis and cost-benefit analysis into a comprehensive model. The cost-effectiveness/benefit analysis model has been…

Program structure is the means employed to organize information concerning the work performed in government, the resources consumed to carry out that work, the effect upon individuals and the environment, and the relationship of this information to goals and objectives. The structure described in this document is intended as an aid for medium size…

The Academic Foundations Department at Rutgers Camden College sponsored an Educational Consortium in Instruction during the 1974-75 academic year. The purpose of the consortium was: (1) to promote a closer unity between the academic disciplines, educators in the urban community, students, and the academic support department; (2) to focus on the…

Collected are eleven presentations made at a workshop designed to expose college and university administrators participating in the Technical Assistance Consortium to Improve College Services (TACTICS) to new management techniques. Presentations addressed the following subjects: the role of planning and management systems in post-secondary…

The object of this practicum was to help the small North Smithfield (Rhode Island) School System convert its budgetary procedures from a traditional Function/Object Budget to a Planning, Programing, Budgeting System (PPBS) format. The practicum effort incorporated an inservice training component for key staff members, plus a cooperative effort…

A program-based funding model is presented for the California community colleges, using five major categories of programs and services (i.e., instruction, instructional services and libraries, student services, maintenance and operations, and institutional support). Following an executive summary, section I of the report deals with the need for…

Program budgeting, a method founded in the systems approach, allows control, management, and planning in the library system, and avoids the more comprehensive analysis required by zero-based budgeting. By evaluation of the impacts of the work accomplished by the library staff, the budgeted amounts can be justified or adjusted in subsequent years.…