This article describes an approach for preparing school-based educational leaders in school finance. In this approach, finance is treated as a learning opportunity that can assist school leaders in addressing the moral, ethical, political, and resource-related tensions that they face in their daily enactment of leadership responsibilities. The article begins with a brief overview of the general leadership challenge and discusses the particular matter of preparing school leaders to effectively manage resources and resource-related decision-making at the school site. The article then presents a conceptual framework and an instructional approach for teaching school finance in a leadership development program. In this framework, school finance serves as a forum for wrestling with the challenge of making difficult choices among competing interests in a manner that advances the school's capacity for improvement. Finally, some observations from school leaders who have participated in such an approach are provided to illuminate the main argument of the article.
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