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Armed with real-world examples and out-of-the-box ideas, Nathan Levenson challenges conventional thinking about school budgeting and offers practical, actionable advice for school superintendents, central office leaders, building principals, and school board members. Virtually every school district in the nation is experiencing an extended period of financial constraints. Shrinking tax revenue, decreasing federal stimulus funds, rising health care and pension costs, and growing high-need student populations will continue to test superintendents and school boards as they seek to prepare students for a globally competitive environment.
Every day, school leaders across the country are having to make difficult decisions in this economically demanding environment. If you are a leader facing this challenge in your own school or district, this is the book you need! Experienced educators Johnston and Williamson offer practical advice to help you tackle a variety of tough issues, including staff reductions and program termination. You’ll learn how to... Wring every bit of performance out of every available dollar Plan innovations and evaluate their effectiveness Engage faculty and the community Streamline operations using digital technology and social media Use four strategies—reduce, refine, restructure, and regenerate—to make your school more efficient and effective Each chapter is filled with tips, tools, exercises, and mini-cases to help you apply these ideas to your own situation. You’ll gain the confidence and knowledge to manage your budget while ensuring your students get the full benefit of a quality education.
A Better Way to Budget provides practical, innovative advice on how to overcome the political and social pushback that often prevents district and school leaders from shifting scarce resources to the most student-centered uses. Nathan Levenson shows how school leaders can uncover the sources of potential conflicts and create a budgeting process that normalizes change, minimizes pushback, and builds public buy-in for needed reforms. A Better Way to Budget: focuses on a strategic and process-oriented approach that anticipates roadblocks and challenges; introduces eight effective strategies for shifting funds and winning support; provides real-life examples of mistakes and successes; and includes joint fact-finding, simulations, and other exercises to help stakeholders agree on goals and identify the budgetary changes needed to reach those objectives. Filled with advice gathered over decades of work in schools, A Better Way to Budget provides timely insights and tools for leaders who are exploring ways to make their districts more inclusive and student-centered.
A practical and entertaining volume, Cage-Busting Leadership will be of profound interest and value to school and district leaders—and to everyone with a stake in school improvement. Rick Hess aptly describes his aims at the start of this provocative book: "I believe that two things are true. It is true, as would-be reformers often argue, that statutes, policies, rules, regulations, contracts, and case law make it tougher than it should be for school and system leaders to drive improvement and, well, lead. However, it is also the case that leaders have far more freedom to transform, reimagine, and invigorate teaching, learning, and schooling than is widely believed.” In his travels across the country, Rick Hess has met school and system leaders who have shared stories about evading, blasting through, or reshaping unnecessary and counterproductive constraints. Drawing on these stories, and with his sharp eye, Hess shows current and aspiring leaders how they can cultivate and sustain powerful cultures of teaching and learning.
From Surviving to Thriving: Resources and Practical Strategies for New, Aspiring, and Veteran Superintendents provides key actions and behaviors superintendents can use to be successful in their role. This text takes a topical approach, with each chapter dedicated to one key aspect of the superintendency. Included in this book are simple, easy-to-implement strategies that serve as a guide to support the leadership and development of any aspiring, new, or veteran superintendent. Key elements of the superintendent role are included and expanded upon. Focused chapters include: superintendent and school board relations, instructional leadership, budget development, relationship building, personnel management, communication strategies, developing and accessing a network of support, and leading through crises. Each chapter articulates one critical area that should be mastered in order to flourish in the superintendency. This text is written and designed to be brief and easy to read for the busy superintendent. Each chapter offers specific advice, strategic approaches, dos and don'ts, and useful strategies to ensure the success of a school superintendent as we navigate the complexities of the role.
"The volume provides education leaders and policymakesrs with practical guidance on how to make each dollar go further-whether a given dollar is "old" or "new." This book identifies insights, lessons, and suggestions that can help schools spend their funds effectively. The volume is focused on solutions-ways school systems can prioritize and make tradeoffs that can help them spend their dollars more effectively- and more general lessons for how leaders can and should think about these issues. The book provides policy-specific recommendations. When it comes to school spending, getting more bang for the buck is never just a matter of spending on "what works." It's a complicated calculus of student needs, available resources, political realities, and local context. That's why school spending should never be a mechanical task, but an educational exercise-and an opportunity to discover more promising paths forward. This book guides readers through this journey of school spending"--
In the updated edition of Smarter Budgets, Smarter Schools, Nathan Levenson proposes fresh strategies for more efficient, equitable resource allocation within school districts. Budgets, according to Levenson, can be a surprisingly powerful lever for improved student achievement outcomes and equity. Readers of this revised edition will find practical advice for funding equity initiatives and social-emotional services, among other student needs. Levenson also discusses how to accommodate common, necessary school expenses and district improvement measures such as capital purchases, personnel costs, and campus renovations within tight funding models. The key is creativity: Levenson invites readers to shift their mindsets and embrace innovative ideas for using limited resources strategically. An indispensable guide, Smarter Budgets, Smarter Schools delivers proven, successful practices for school leaders--superintendents, central office leaders, building principals, and school board members--who hope to make smarter, better informed financial decisions and stretch declining district budgets. It outlines budget management tactics for working around financial constraints brought on by shrinking tax revenues, rising health care and pension costs, and increased special education needs. The book also addresses how to manage declining or increasing enrollment numbers. Throughout this useful and timely work, Levenson provides real-world examples, critical worksheets, and actionable suggestions to help decision-makers apply these concepts and realize a greater academic return on their investments.
Economics can be a lens for understanding the behavior of schools, districts, states, and nations in meeting education needs of their populaces, as well as for understanding the individual decisions made by administrators, teachers, and students. Insights from economics help decision makers at the state level understand how to raise and distribute funds for public schools in an equitable manner for both schools and taxpayers. Economics also can assist researchers in analyzing effects of school spending and teacher compensation on student outcomes. And economics can provide important insights into public debates on issues such as whether to offer vouchers for subsidizing student attendance at private schools. This two-volume encyclopedia contains over 300 entries by experts in the field that cover these issues and more. Features: This work of 2 volumes (in both print and electronic formats) contains 300-350 signed entries by significant figures in the field. Entries conclude with cross-references and suggestions for further readings to guide students to in-depth resources. Although organized in A-to-Z fashion, a thematic “Reader’s Guide” in the front matter groups related entries by topic. Also in the front matter, a chronology provides students with historical perspective on the development of education economics and finance as a field of study The entire work concludes with a Resources appendix and a comprehensive Index. In the electronic version, the index, Reader's Guide, and cross references combine to provide effective search-and-browse capabilities.
This book offers a sophisticated overview of President Obama’s education agenda, exploring how and why education policy became national and ultimately presidential over the past seven decades. The authors argue that the Obama education agenda, though more ambitious, is broadly in line with those of recent presidencies, reflecting elite views that since substantial increases in spending have failed to improve equity and achievement, public schools require reforms promoting transparency such as the Common Core national standards, as well as market based reforms such as charter schools. While sympathetic to President Obama’s goals, the authors argue that the processes used to implement those goals, particularly national standards, have been hurried and lacked public input. The Obama administration’s overreach on school reform has sparked a bipartisan backlash. Even so, Maranto, McShane, and Rhinesmith suspect that the next president will be an education reformer, reflecting an enduring elite consensus behind school reform.