GFOA is a leader in developing, communicating, and encouraging best practice implementation in budgeting and financial planning. GFOA’s most recent project is to enhance the existing Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for school districts and community colleges. Through this project and with the help of some of the best minds in the field, GFOA will develop best practices for resource alignment, as well as criteria by which districts and colleges can demonstrate budget process excellence.
Over two years, GFOA’s Research and Consulting Center will be working with practitioners, researchers, and other education finance experts to identify the best ways for PK-12 and community college institutions to leverage the budget process to align their resources to student outcomes. In addition, GFOA will also develop award criteria that allow districts and colleges to demonstrate process excellence and receive the recognition they deserve. GFOA will then observe the outputs in practice through a number of pilot projects in order to test the best practices and award criteria. Based on the lessons learned during the pilots, GFOA will finalize the criteria and incorporate them into the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award program criteria for the 2016-2017 budget year.