Performance-Driven Budgeting: The Example of New York City's Schools. ERIC Digest.

This digest examines a completed pilot program in performance-driven budgeting (PDB) in the New York City public-school system. PDB links school-level budgeting and school planning; that is, decisions about resources must be aligned with school-developed instructional-improvement plans. The digest highlights how PDB came about; its primary goal; how it was operationalized; what major changes it brought at the central office and in pilot schools; and what has been learned from the New York experience. PDB was launched in 1997 in 61 pilot schools in 4 of New York's districts as a result of a study of a similar system successfully implemented in Edmonton, Alberta. The goal of the New York program was to provide local educators with more control and flexibility in using resources to improve student performance. The program was implemented with the help of the Galaxy 2000 computerized budgeting and financial management tool. Over time the central office greatly reduced its control over resources, and the pilot schools were free to match their allocations to the needs of their students. The Digest concludes that the pilot program confirmed that student achievement does improve when schools have increased control over resources and instructional planning. (Contains 11 references.) (WFA)