Yearly Archives: 2020


An Idea for Shared Commitment & Ownership

THE CURRENT STATE During the annual budget process, one of the most important questions district leaders wrestle with is what new investments should be made to accomplish the district’s improvement priorities. With a few exceptions, the options generally originate from each individual department. First, department heads propose investments to address issues that are thought to be under their respective responsibilities. Then, the proposals are reviewed and decision are made by the superintendent and chief financial officer, with or without the involvement of the other senior leaders on the superintendent’s cabinet depending on the local context and nature of the proposals. […]


Strategies to Turn “Defense” into “Offense” in Budget Discussions

Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO) published a new School Business Minute. The minute is based on the presentation Strategies to turn from defense to offense I gave at the 2019 ASBO Annual Conference & Expo. If you are an ASBO member, you can search MM03 in the AC&E Session Recordings Library on the Global School Business Network to access the full recording.


Re-engineer Choice Architecture to Improve Budget Decisions

Each year, district leaders make many decisions about school and district finances. Hidden behind those myriad decisions is a choice architecture, which, explicitly or implicitly, defines and shapes leaders’ decision-making. Learning from behavioral economics, this article offers a new perspective to look at the functions and tasks school business officials (SBOs) perform in relation to the choice architecture and calls for rethinking the role SBOs can and should play in facilitating those decisions. Specifically, three essential components of choice architecture are highlighted: default, anchor, and framing. For each component, prevalent design features and their impact on budgetary decisions are discussed. […]