Abstract
Two US cities may have discovered a way to deliver elementary and secondary public education with the kind of efficiency that has been notably absent in the majority of school systems. Long Branch, New Jersey, and Bellflower-Lakewood-Cerritos in Southern California have some basic differences in their histories and growth patterns, but they have been confronted with similar problems, such as financial cutbacks, declining enrollment, unsettling community politics, etc. In a major attempt to resolve their problems, both school systems have turned to educational performance audits (EPAs), a relatively new type of study developed by Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. The EPA examines the many elements impacting the delivery of education and stresses the importance of integrated management control for guaranteeing the effective and efficient use of all resources to reach a district's established goals.
