Education Budgeting, Funding & Management

This research reviews concepts and objectives of public educational budgeting, funding, and financial management. Where appropriate, the research cites budgeting, funding, and financial management experiences of the Miami Dade County Public Schools to illustrate points made in the review.

The funding of public [K-12] education in the United States has been under fire for the past three decades. During much of this period, the central issue underlying challenges to state funding of public [K-12] education was and continues to be equity in funding. The charge is that students in school districts with higher property value bases receive far more educational financial support than is true of students in school districts with lower property value bases. Successful challenges led to K-12 educational funding reform in many states; however, these same challenges and the ensuing funding reforms, in turn, stimulated a backlash from both anti-tax activists and citizens who decried the loss of local control over education. Thus, challenges with an anti-tax bias and challenges with an anti-centralization bias joined the equity in funding challenges in the 1990s. The addition to the pot of educational innovations such as outcome-based education has increased the boiling

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0 Transfer from Capital Funds 127.11 5.150 Non-Revenue Sources .03 .001 Prior Fund Balance 167.20 6.774 Total Revenue 2,468.30 100.000 Source: Miami Dade County Public Schools, 2001b The data presented in Table 1 illustrate the heavy dependence of the Miami Dade County Public Schools on state-level funding. Increasingly, this situation applies to public school distracts across the United States. The funds included in a public school district's budget cover a variety of activities. Table 2 (on the following page) summarizes the budgeted activities included in the 2001-2002 fiscal year budget for Miami Dade County Public Schools. Table 2 Allocations for Budgeted Activities: Miami Dade County Public Schools ù 2001-2002 Fiscal Year Activity Allocation [$ = millions] Proportion of Budget [%] Instructional Services 1,371.85 55.58 Instructional Support Services 197.89 8.02 Pupil Transportation 78.57 3.18 Operations and Maintenance [Physical Plant] 301.88 12.23 School Administration 142.46 5.77 General Administration 90.77 3.68 Other Expenditures 2
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Public Schools, Funding Environment, Ryan Heise, Moser Rubenstein, Drake Roe, Department Education, Funding Accountability, K-12 Funding, Alexander Salmon, Education Funding, public schools, county public schools, miami dade county, dade county public, miami dade, dade county, county public, financial management, public education, public school, school districts, equity funding, 2001-2002 fiscal, funding financial management, public school districts,
Approximate Word count = 1585
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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