The J.F. Austin Group
Research Based Evidence

Practical research on school finance, governance, and financial discipline.

Each publication states its evidence, its limits, and what it does not claim. Every source we cite was opened and is listed with its link so you can check it.

Financial Leadership. Strategic Oversight. Organizational Accountability.

TEACHING CASE · SCHOOL FINANCE AND GOVERNANCE

The Board Hears It Last: Finances at Tallow Creek City Schools

A teaching case in school finance, governance, and leadership. It follows a small, fictional Georgia city school system as unpaid bills, falling cash, temporary grants, rising costs, aging property assessments, and late audits build over six years while the board receives a one-page report. The district is fictional.

22 pages · 20 exhibits · discussion questions · references

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What readers will practice

  • Reading the financial indicators a board should see
  • Separating what happened from who knew what
  • Applying Georgia's current oversight rules

WHITE PAPERS

Four short papers, each with its limits stated.

SCHOOL DISTRICT LEADERSHIP

Systems That Outlast Turnover: A Hypothesis-Driven Approach to Finance and Operations Leadership in Rural School Districts

6 pages

Download PDFRead online
SCHOOL DISTRICT OPERATIONS

Lean Six Sigma and Beyond: Comparing DMAIC with a Turnover-Resilient Methodology for Rural School District Finance and Operations

6 pages

Download PDFRead online
SMALL BUSINESS FINANCE

Tax-Ready Books: A Systems Approach to Bookkeeping, Planning, and Preparation for Owner-Led Businesses

6 pages

Download PDFRead online
SMALL BUSINESS TAX

Tax Preparer or Tax Strategist? Distinguishing Compliance Services from Planning Advice for Small Business Owners

7 pages

Download PDFRead online

HOW WE PUBLISH

How we publish.

Sources opened and listed

Every reference includes a link so readers can check it.

Limits stated

Each publication says what it does not show.

Fiction labeled

The Tallow Creek case is fictional and says so on its first page.

James F. Austin III, Ed.M.. Harvard Graduate School of Education (Ed.M.). Doctoral candidate (Ed.D.), Peabody College, Vanderbilt University.

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Ask us about rural PK-12 advisory or Tax-Ready Books.