This book is a tool for Illinois school business officials, superintendents, and other administrators with budgeting responsibilities. It is also a resource for school board members. The foreword describes the financial responsibilities of the school board along with the caveat that financial management is staff work, not board work. Detailed guidance is laid out in 23 chapters: (1) "The Illinois System of Public School Funding"; (2) "Categories for Revenue Budgeting and Accounting"; (3) "The Property Tax Cycle"; (4) "Living with the Tax Cap"; (5) "Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax Revenue"; (6) "The Distribution of General State Aid"; (7) "State Categorical Funding"; (8) "Federal and Grant Revenue"; (9) "Local Funding Sources"; (10) "Budgeting and Projecting Revenue"; (11) "Borrowing Options"; (12) "Revenue Management and Control"; (13) "Planning the Successful Referendum"; (14) The Funding Debate"; (15) "The Structure of the Expenditure Budget"; (16) "Budgeting Calendars and Communications"; (17) "Budgeting the Elementary School"; (18) "Budgeting the Secondary School"; (19) "Budgeting Non-Instructional and Capital Costs"; (20) "Long-term Expenditure Projections"; (21) "Expenditure Management and Control"; (22) "Looking at the Big Picture"; and (23) "Looking Ahead." Two appendices contain a listing of Internet resources and a bibliography. (Contains 49 resource Web site addresses and 65 references.) (RT)