School principals, superintendents, and other administrative personnel must have a solid understanding of the general finance and appropriation structure of federal, state, and local government as well as the ability to formulate and manage school budgets. With the guidance of this new text, educational leadership candidates preparing for such roles will learn the realities of school finance policy, issues, and applications. By providing critical analysis and by including unique chapters on misconceptions about school finance, demographic issues, spending and student achievement, and future trends, authors William Owings and Leslie Kaplan exceed the coverage of these topics as found in other texts.