More than 5 years after the passage of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), California school districts continue to develop and refine strategies to act on the opportunities and expectations associated with the state's school finance system. A new project called the LCFF Test Kitchen has enabled three school districts to make progress by…

Online programs are often viewed as a cost-efficient strategy for increasing revenue for shrinking university budgets but this may not be an accurate assessment. Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) is a budgeting model that is purported to increase efficient delivery of academic programs. As RCM budgeting models have been embraced, many…

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) has introduced positive and much-needed change to California's approach to K-12 education funding by allocating resources according to student need and freeing districts to make decisions that address local priorities. For all of LCFF's advantages, however, the Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) in…

In February 2009, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 54, "Find Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions." This statement changes how a fund balance is classified on the face of the government fund financial statements and refines the definitions for government fund types. The statement's…

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was enacted by the California legislature in June 2013 and fundamentally changes the distribution of education dollars to districts. The legislation simplifies the formula for sending money to districts and now takes into account the higher costs of educating certain groups of students, specifically those…

The $3 million Live Green Revolving Loan Fund (LGRLF) at Iowa State University (ISU) was launched in 2008. The LGRLF is unique in its decentralized implementation structure which allows each department and building to reap the benefits of their own efficiency measures and gives individual departments the incentive to propose resource-saving…

This chapter offers a case study of how one institution has implemented budget reductions. Using a narrative approach, the vice president for student life reviews the issues faced and the processes used to implement the changes.

The Race to the Top fund (RTT) is intended to be a major federal investment in state and local education capacity and systemic education reforms aligned with federal policy priorities. In coming years, questions will be asked about the extent to which investments made through the RTT grant program improve educational productivity and…

Given the current economic constraints facing the country, school districts in the U.S. have been pushed to develop annual budgets through a new lens and to accept the reality that budget adoption is a complex, political process. Whether a school district is rich or poor, growing or declining in enrollment, serving a specialized population or…

Preparing future citizens for postsecondary education and careers that span a continuum of sophistication is not a new topic in education. However, the rapid changes in technology and increased competition from industrialized nations have changed the landscape and meaning of college and career readiness. As part of a strategy to better prepare…

Higher education institutions in the United States are entering a new era in budgeting. Therefore, institutions are actively engaging in dialogues about the budgeting tools that will most effectively assist them in achieving institutional goals and objectives within their strategic plans and being accountable for the use of scarce resources, as…

Describes strategies to build and support coalitions for services in an era of diminished public and private resources. It becomes necessary to redefine the client, the community, and the agency or organization to develop appropriate roles for each component in the current social and economic climate. (SLD)

Hartford school administrators converted from a program budget to a school-based budget in one year. (MLF)

A web-based formula-driven tool has been developed for the purpose of performing two distinct academic department budgeting functions: allocation funding to the department, and budget management by the department. The tool's major features are discussed and its uses demonstrated. The tool's advantages are presented. (Contains 10 figures.)

The Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Public Schools (MPS) recently implemented a new, state-designed accounting system, called the Wisconsin Elementary and Secondary School Accounting System (WESSAS), based on guidelines proposed in the U.S. Office of Education's Handbook II. This report describes and discusses that implementation and provides numerous…