Publications
Publications
- September 2002
- HBS Case Collection
Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002 (A): The Freedom Agenda
By: Stig Leschly
Abstract
Describes efforts in Seattle Public Schools, under the leadership of Superintendent Joseph Olchefske, to replace the district's centralized budgeting process with school-level budgets. Olchefske's decentralization effort, referred to locally as the Freedom Agenda, allocated funding to schools on the basis of student enrollment and sought to give principals increased flexibility in managing resources, hiring staff, and designing education programs. The central aim of the Freedom Agenda was to equip principals and their leadership teams with the resources and authority they needed to implement educational programs tailored to individual student needs. Focuses significantly on the interaction of Olchefske's decentralization plan with the incentives and constraints that accompany public funding.
Keywords
Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Education; Education Industry; Seattle
Citation
Leschly, Stig. "Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002 (A): The Freedom Agenda." Harvard Business School Case 803-037, September 2002.