ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with a general framework to increasingly specific elements. If school budgets and instruction are to be wed, the starting point is defining instructional planning and the role of districts and individual schools in the process. In sum, while the budget is the fiscal expression of the educational philosophy of a school district, it is ineffective until the instructional plan brings together revenue sources in support of expenditures in order to articulate and enact the district’s mission and goals. Instructional budgeting is greatly dependent on district organizational design. The instructional budget is the portion of a school district’s budget remaining after excluding all noninstructional costs. Since everyone working at a school site or in the central office either has a direct instructional role or an instructional support role, nearly all current expenditures can be viewed as instructional dollars.
