Click here to purchase Stretching the School Dollar from Harvard Education Press

Simultaneous pressures to reduce costs and increase student achievement have never been greater than they are today. Not only is cost-cutting essential in this era of tightened resources, argue Frederick M. Hess and Eric Osberg, but eliminating inefficient spending is critical for freeing up resources to drive school reform. This provocative book brings together a dynamic group of authors--scholars, consultants, journalists, and entrepreneurs--who offer fresh insights into an issue no school or district can afford to ignore.

Praise for Stretching the School Dollar

"Stretching the School Dollar is the right book at the right time. It offers research-based thinking and real options to school leaders facing tough budgetary choices in today's economy. The book's detailed examples--how to analyze financial data, make the best use of teachers' skills, and harness the new technologies, for example--provide a road map to economic reform that enhances, rather than obstructs, student learning."

--Daniel A. Domenech, executive director, American Association of School Administrators

"Stretching the School Dollar arrives at a time when it is urgently needed. It is ideal for school district and state leaders who are interested in--even desperate to know--how our school systems can do more with less. It offers practical recommendations for cutting costs in ways that avoid damage to school programming as well as more dramatic and innovative ways to re-engineer how we 'do school.' If you are ready to meet your fiscal commitments while providing a world-class education to your students, this is the book for you."

--Deborah A. Gist, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education

Frederick M. Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI and executive editor of Education Next.

Eric Osberg is vice president and treasurer of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.