Smarter Budgets, Smarter Schools: How To Survive and Thrive in Tight Times

Nathan Levenson brings his business background of being a planning management consultant paired with his most previous experiences of being the superintendent of Arlington (Massachusetts) Public Schools together to share practical ideas for creating Smarter Budgets, Smarter Schools (2012). The book is set up as a guide and resource for school district leaders to use when making tough budget cut decisions. It was written in 2012 when effects from the Great Recession were still felt rippling through public education environments everywhere. It was not a question of if there would be cuts, but instead what will be cut in order to make ends meet with the school district funds.Four guiding principles are recommended by Levenson when deciding on which cuts to make in a new way. Those include embracing crazy ideas, making better-informed decisions, spending only on what works, and aligning the interests of stakeholders. These ideas are then applied to various areas of school budgets including, but not limited to, flexible staffing options, academic return on investments, special education funding, technology spending, and capital purchases. Each section offers solutions that Levenson himself has tried out successfully as well as his own “crazy idea” inserts for districts looking for more options. There are also budgeting worksheets and resources included through some of the sections to help make the decision-making process even easier.Overall, many of the strategies and suggestions given make sense when looking at pure numbers of a budget. However, Levenson is quick to bring up how context can play a huge role in the success, or detrimental crash, of a budget cut proposition. Understanding the politics of a school district and community values become crucial to being able to cut four librarian jobs and replace them with library aides at a fraction of the cost. As Levenson (2012) states, “The gains help many a little bit, but hurt a few a whole lot. Picking battles is a key component to surviving and thriving in tight times” (p. 214). One way to counteract negative reactions is to put a strong emphasis on the gains of the budget decisions. Always making sure stakeholders know why the decisions were made a certain way and what the students and staff will gain from the outcomes make them more easily accepted.In my opinion, Levenson writes a very practical guide for school districts grappling with tough budget cut decisions. He brings in logical ideas and applications that are easy to agree with. There were some ideas he spoke of that I didn’t necessarily believe would be right for the school district I currently work in, but he was quick to emphasize that as long as school districts have their own values aligned and ideas of what is most important to “protect” through the tough times, that can be used as the compass through the decisions. Levenson’s model successfully brings business-like practices to a traditionally opposite environment and at the end of the day is still able to provide an even stronger education for students.

I used Levenson's book in a university graduate level course on budget management and I was very impressed at how the content contributed to rich in-class discussions, even arguments. Students found the book very readable -chapters five and seven were a particular hit with students who were mostly practicing school and district level administrators.