Dramatic reductions in the dollars available for public education require a new and systemic approach to balancing school district budgets. This manual provides numerous examples of successful budget reduction strategies based on a six-step process that has demonstrated its effectiveness in small, medium, and large school districts. Supported by bargaining units and community leaders, the process described in this manual can enable the leadership of a district to plan its way through a financial crisis.

E. E. 'Gene' Davis has more than twenty years of experience leading school districts and fifteen years in higher education working with school districts to improve organizational effectiveness.
Jack A. Coffland has taught in public schools, led teacher training and leadership departments in higher education, and served as a director of an accountability systems department serving 56 school districts. He has authored several books, five workbooks, and eleven software programs in the field of mathematics education.