PUBLIC BUDGETING & FINANCE

Learning Contract Project: You must develop and implement a public budgeting- or financial management-related project for any organization that receives at least 50% of its funding from public sources. More information about the project is provided at the end of the syllabus. The project will be due in the end of the 6th week of class and will constitute 30% of your final grade. Presentations via webcam of same will be in the 6th week of class as well. You are strongly encouraged via a +3-point bonus to complete your learning contract project as part of a small group (4 or more) of your co-students. All work may be divided as the group sees fit, including the presentation. In the 7th week of class, you will view others' presentations and comment on them.

Additional Information about PBF Learning Contract Project

Each student will complete an applied project related to public budgeting and finance using a learning contract to define the scope of the project and the evaluation criteria. The idea behind a learning contract is that each student defines what s/he wants to learn or accomplish and how they intend to learn/accomplish it; it opens up the possibility of doing something for your major project other than a research paper. The contract is similar to a syllabus, except it is developed by the student and tailored to each student's interests. Ideas for projects include: analyzing an agency's budget process (using the four phases of the process as a guide), analyzing the financial condition of a city or other public organization (there is an International City Management Association book with an example of a format for this), writing a comprehensive purchasing or risk management policy for an organization, preparing a research report on an aspect of financial management or public budgeting, making a documentary on state- or local-level budget-makers, developing a training guide or instructional video on a public budgeting and finance topic, organizing a workshop, reviewing legislation /regulations /court rulings on a complex issue and developing a lay-person's guide to the legal status of that issue, or any other topic of interest to the student and public administrators. In selecting a topic, students are strongly encouraged to consult with officials in a public or non-profit organization and to tailor the project to meet a public budgeting or financial management need of that organization. In summary, you determine the subject matter and the nature of the project.

There are four components to this project:

1. Identify a general topic for your project in one paragraph or so. This will not be graded but you will receive feedback on whether this is an appropriate topic. Note that the project must be budgeting- or financial management-related and involve a public or non-profit entity.

2. Submit a learning contract proposal for instructor approval, via Blackboard, per the schedule (5 pts). This proposal should contain:

a) a description of your learning objectives; that is, the knowledge or skills you hope to acquire or enhance through this project;
b) an explanation of the intended audience and the need for the project;
c) the methods you will use to gather necessary information or skills (beyond the research required in step 3 below);
d) a description of the product you intend to produce (a research paper, a report, a section of a manual, a fiscal analysis, an analysis of a budgetary process, a video, etc....);

3. Conduct a review of the current academic and professional literature on their topic and prepare an annotated bibliography of the 15-20 most useful and relevant sources. Students should use resources from the library, the Internet, professional and trade publications, interviews, and in some cases statutes, regulations and/or court rulings (worth 5 points).

4.Finally, you must submit the project itself. Each group will make apresentation on their projectvia webcamin the 6th week of class (worth 10 points). Maximum time limit for the executive-style summary presentation: 5 minutes. Note that part of your class participation grade is viewing and commenting on others' major presentations in Week 7. You should also respond to others' comments on your own projects!

Required Texts:

Mikesell, John A. Fiscal Administration: Analysis and Applications for the Public Sector. 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishers, 2013. Main text for class. Most basic public financial management information as well as most exercises will come from this book. [MIKE]

Wildavsky, Aaron and Caiden, Naomi. The New Politics of the Budgetary Process. 5th ed. New York: Longman, 2004. Secondary text for class. Extensive in-depth analysis of the federal budgetary process, a classic in the field of public budgeting and finance. [WILD].