A program budget is an alternative to the traditional line-item budget. Such a budget would interpret the expenditures of the school system in terms of the programs the school system provides rather than in terms of the resources it utilizes. This report outlines a structure for such a Program Budget System (PBS) in the Worcester, Massachusetts,…

Planning is the key to maximum usage of resources by public school systems. Long range and intermediate goals must be identified. Priorities must be assigned to programs, and program budgeting practices must be modernized. (BD)

This report, the first of four phases of an ESEA Title III study of five Pennsylvania counties, is devoted primarily to research, an examination of the educational systems at local and county levels, an analysis of system requirements, and the completion of a PPB system design to be used by intermediate units in Pennsylvania. Statistical data and…

This study considers the implementation of parent choice and parent information in the Alum Rock demonstration as a case study in organizational response to innovation. Analysis of the implementation process focuses on two dimensions: the division of the implementation process into three phases--initiation, implementation, and…

This report provides a detailed description of an education program cost model designed to accept descriptions of the size and composition of resources used in a particular program and translate them into an estimate of program cost, for convenient comparison of alternatives. The model also translates ("crosswalks") the program budget…

Author gives some indications that PPBS can be a useful tool in promoting efficiency and accountability. (Author)

Although the public is best served by governmental agencies which have integrated the major functions of planning, managing, and budgeting, it can be asserted that the planning function is paramount. A review of the evolution of public agency administration in the U.S. reveals that until recent years the planning function has been largely…

This document details a semiautomated PPB system developed in an ESEA Title III project, Intermediate Unit Planning Study, for use in Pennsylvania (see EA 002 750). Two semiautomated versions were developed, both dependent for calculation on the use of electronic data processing equipment. This is a documentation manual for the first of these…

Describes the Pittsburgh Public School System's Division of Computer Services established in 1968 to develop computer applications to provide reliable, timely, and accurate information for all phases of the school system. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to estimate the costs in both money and teachers' and administrators' time required to implement the School Planning Evaluation and Communication System (SPECS). The primary source of data was the SPECS field test site activities records maintained by the SPECS development team. Costs were calculated for each…

Summarized are activities of the Wausau District Public Schools (Wisconsin) toward developing a model for cost efficiency analysis in special education. The model links input-output analysis and task analysis features. Introductory information includes varying impressions of cost efficiency concerns and the current status of project development.…

Many educational administrators are skeptical of school district attempts to use the planning-programing-budgeting systems (PPBS) tool. This skepticism seems, in large part, to be the result of two factors: (1) A general lack of understanding of the concrete operational steps involved in the implementation of PPBS, and (2) a feeling that the…

Program budgeting is more than a neat method of budgeting by program; hence it requires more than just concentration on budgeting and accounting procedures. Program budgeting, basically a resource allocations system, stresses the setting of objectives, grouping activities into programs to meet the objectives, identifying the resources required by…