For decades, performance-based budgeting has been applied to evaluate the degree to which government programs and agencies are meeting their stated goals in a cost-efficient manner. The same thinking is applied to public education. In today's times of tight budgets and higher expectations, public schools are being asked to justify their budgets and their performance like never before. While not necessarily calling for a profit calculation, citizens, parents, elected officials and some in the news media want reference points for judging the value of the spending in public schools. Several standards have been developed, including graduation rate, dropout rate, scores on standardized tests and admissions to higher educational institutions. However, these measures are difficult to translate into dollar terms. In this article, the author measures the economic impact of the Virginia Beach City Schools on the metropolitan Virginia Beach economy.