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…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the degree to which the Selective Abandonment budget process objectives were achieved by analyzing stakeholder perceptions. Use of this evaluation may enable the district to become more effective, efficient, and more fiscally responsible when developing future program budgeting plans. Program evaluation was…

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…

This report documents the first-year of implementing Cycle-based Budgeting at Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY). To address the limitations of incremental budgeting and zero-based budgeting, a Cycle-based Budgeting model was developed and implemented in JCPS. Specifically, each new program needs to submit an on-line budget request…

Access and affordability are the main themes of Goal 1 of The Virginia Plan for Higher Education. Progress toward these goals can be measured by a variety of means, but access and affordability serve as foundational guiding principles as the Commonwealth of Virginia crafts its annual and biennial higher-education budgets. Student-loan debt is but…

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…

This study estimates the costs of providing a high-quality PreK-3rd education approach in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. Relying on an Evidence-Based approach to school finance adequacy, it identifies the staffing resources needed to offer high-quality integrated PreK-3rd programs and then estimates the costs of those resources. By…

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…

Developed during World War II, the systems approach evolved rapidly after the war into several new phases, one of which is program budgeting. There is no clear set of rules constructed along do-it-yourself lines associated with the systems approach. There are, however, general procedures which are to be followed. The first step, defining the…

Cost effectiveness analysis is used in situations where benefits and costs are not readily converted into a money base. Five elements can be identified in such an analytic process: (1) The objective must be defined in terms of what it is and how it is attained; (2) alternatives to the objective must be clearly definable; (3) the costs must be…

The purposes of this article are to assess the present status of planning-programming-budgeting systems in education and to offer operational illustrations to those who wish to install certain aspects of PPBS in their school districts. (Author)

Although the program-planning-budgeting system (PPBS) has been used in higher education to improve planning, budgeting, and decision making, examination had not been conducted to determine if the technique was consistent with planning, budgeting, and decision-making "theory." This paper reports the findings of such a theoretical…

Selected budget formulas currently in use for university operations are described as a background for examining a budgetary model that would provide for the integration of separate formulas. Data on the formulas were collected from states with system-wide coordinating boards that are responsible for budgetary reviews. The most common formula…

Future funding alternatives for the University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign are presented. Four variations of budget projection models were analyzed in relation to two basic sets of assumptions. Both assumptions assumed an annual rate of increase for salaries and wages and expense and equipment. The two versions vary the treatment of equipment…