Finance Study Meeting on Resource Allocation, Service Delivery, and

Policy American education is distinctive in the decentralization of its funding and control. Despite recent expansion, the role of the federal government is still restricted to funding and authority in special programs and situations, while both states and localities have authority to define educational purposes, programs, and policies. At all levels of the administrative organization, administrators must consider relationships with groups outside the educational hierarchy, such, parent, community, and legislative bodies. Centralization of authority and funding at the federal level would theoretically reduce \ the power of these outside groups and increase the importance of relationships within the vertical hierarchy, while simplifying and\ritualizing administrative functions. If. funding alone or authority alone were centralized, i