Elementary and Secondary Public Education a Declining Enterprise?

The 1976-77 operating budget of $78.9 million for the Omaha Public Schools represents an increase of $7.4 million from 1975-76. The current budget for the Westside Community Schools is $ 12.2 million, up $ 1.1 million from the past school year. This article attempts to provide a framework within which voters and public officials can examine the current operating budgets of Omaha Public and Westside Community Schools and more appropriately consider their implications. Many decisions, because of the complexity and. the urgency of the problems with which they deal, are subject to varying degrees of public misunderstanding. This is particularly true of decisions affecting education, where many of the end products are intangibles and where traditions are deeply ingrained