In Search of More Productive Schools: A Guide to Resource Allocation in Education.

Professor, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Fla.

Who gets the money and where has the money gone? Citizens often ask these questions about the public funds that flow to their schools.

This concern is addressed by Lawrence O. Picus in his new book, In Search of More Productive Schools: A Guide to Resource Allocation in Education. Picus is a professor and chair of the department of administration and policy in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, where he also directs the Center for Research in Education Finance.

Picus postulates that how money is used in public education has a major impact on how effective it is. He describes research that examines spending to reduce class size, raise teacher salaries, construct new school buildings or improve professional development.

In reviewing studies linking the socioeconomic status of students to academic performance, Picus suggests government programs be directed to situations outside of education that would reduce problems related to low socioeconomic status.

A significant problem in analyzing resource allocation is the lack of quality data at the school and district levels, he says. School-level fiscal data would allow decision makers to better understand the implications, for example, of nontraditional revenues on equity across schools in a district.

Picus demonstrates a firm grasp of the problems associated with the distribution of resources in public education. His presentation is concise and will be useful for administrators at all levels, but you still may find yourself asking the question: Where has the money gone?

(In Search of More Productive Schools: A Guide to Resource Allocation in Education, by Lawrence O. Picus, ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, 5207 University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore. 97403, 2001,122 pp., $12.75 softcover)