Student-Based Budgeting as a Mechanism for Promoting Democratic Decision Making: Testing the Theory of Action

Abstract

Although student-based budgeting (SBB) is a multifaceted finance, governance, and management reform, little research has examined its governance effects. This article addresses that gap by reporting findings from a “critical case” of SBB, implemented under conditions that might promote meaningful teacher, parent, and community engagement in site-based policy decisions. Anchored in theories of the micropolitics of schools and conceptions of democratic decision making, this case demonstrates that SBB did not alter how principals engaged teachers, parents, and community members in budget decision-making processes. Generally speaking, decision-making processes represented narrow and shallow forms of actor engagement and democratic decision making. Study findings reveal that SBB in its current form is not a robust mechanism for realizing its governance aims and suggest that other factors, including but not limited to the misalignment of accountability and authority, warrant the attention of researchers and policy makers.