The Role of AGA in the Public
Policy & Budgeting Process in
Tennessee
Rodney E. Stanley, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Chair
Department of Public Administration
College of Public Service &
Urban Affairs
Tennessee State University
Introduction
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Public Policy Defined
Public Budgeting Defined
Tennessee Lottery
“On what basis shall it be determined to allocate
X dollars to activity A instead of activity B (V.O.
Key, 1940)?
The Perennial Budgeting Question is in essence
a Public Policy Question.
The Role of AGA in the Public Policy Process
What is Public Policy?
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“Public Policy is the sum of government activities,
whether acting directly or through agents, as those
actions have an influence on the lives of citizens.”
Three Levels of Public Policy
 Policy Choices
 Policy Formulation
 Policy Outputs
 Policy Implementation
 Policy Impacts
 Policy Evaluation
Public Policy Outputs (choices
put into action)
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Inputs -Parochial interests of the stakeholders
involved in the process.
Black Box – Political negotiation that is not
considered systematic.
Outputs – Budget document outlining purposes
and goals.
Evaluation – Results are merged into inputs for
future budgetary decisions.
Environment – the political culture of a nation,
state or locality making budgetary decisions.
Policy Preferences: Where Do
They Come From?
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Public Policy & Budget Theory
Partisan Politics
Conservative/Liberal value judgments
Professional Hunch
Public Policy Impacts
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Defined as, “The effect that both policy
choices & outputs have on citizens.
Tennessee Lottery
What citizen groups were effected by the
adoption of the state lottery?
Tennessee Lottery Example
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Policy Choices & Formulation
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Policy Outputs & Implementation
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Who were the stakeholders & Why this
particular policy?
What results in Higher Education have we
witnessed?
Policy Impacts & Evaluation
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Is the Hope Scholarship working?
Public Policy & Public
Budgeting
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How important are fiscal resources in all
three stages of policy formulation,
implementation and evaluation?
“On what basis shall it be determined to
allocate X dollars to activity A instead of
activity B (V.O. Key, 1940)?
What is Public Budgeting?
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“A collection of documents that refer to
the financial conditions and the future
plans of an organization (Lee and
Johnson, 2004: 16).”
The documents include revenue
information, expenditures, activities and
purposes or goals.
Purposes and Goals
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What are they?
What function do purposes and goals
serve in public policy & budgeting?
State Policy & financial Preferences by
those in power.
Dimensions of the Public
Budget
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Political Instrument for Distributing and
Redistributing Scarce Resources
A Managerial Tool For Describing The
Ways and Means of Program Funding
Economic Instrument
Accounting and Auditing Instrument
Services Provided
Public
 Public Good
 Privatization/Contracting Out
 Externalities
 Responsibility and Accountability to
Constituents
Values in Public Budgeting &
Public Policy
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Efficiency
Effectiveness
Equity
Accountability
Accountability: The Role of AGA
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What is it and why is it important?
How is accountability of budgetary
decision-making exercised in America?
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Through Democracy
Where Does Their Budget
Authority Come From?
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Constitution
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Explicit or Implied?
1921 Budget Reform Act
Does the Bureaucracy have a
constitutional legitimacy in the budget
process?
State Level
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Governor
Legislature
Courts
Bureaucracy
How Are Budgetary Decisions
Made?
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Mixed-Scanning
Rationalism
Process Oriented
Systematically
Mixed-Scanning
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Incrementalism and Rationalism combined
Small Marginal changes are made at the
request of political players, as a result of
the political process.
Based on previous years figures
Comprehensive analysis utilizes data
sources and statistical techniques
Problems With Mixed-Scanning
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Assumes that the correct mix of
incrementalism and comprehensive
modeling can be determined to make
budgetary decisions.
Rationalism
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Cost/Benefit Analysis
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Define a problem
Solution
Alternative Solutions
Analysis
Select the program or service that offers the
greatest good for the greatest number
(Utilitarianism)
Problems With Rationalism
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Assumes that enough time and data exists
to make every budgetary decision.
Unrealistic
Complicated
No specifications for evaluation
Systems Approach To
Budgeting
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Inputs -Parochial interests of the stakeholders
involved in the process.
Black Box – Political negotiation that is not
considered systematic.
Outputs – Budget document outlining purposes
and goals.
Evaluation – Results are merged into inputs for
future budgetary decisions.
Environment – the political culture of a nation,
state or locality making budgetary decisions.
Problems With The Systems
Approach
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No one has been successful in identifying
what takes place in the “Black Box.”
Assumes that all inputs are knowledgeable
and correct about the budgetary decisions
at hand.
Assumes all outputs can be evaluated.
Summary of Public Policy &
Budgetary Decision-Making
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The consensus suggests that all four types
of decision-making are utilized in
budgeting.
Conclusion
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“On what basis shall it be determined to
allocate X dollars to activity A instead of
activity B (V.O. Key, 1940)?
Incrementalism
The Perennial Budgeting Question is in
essence a Public Policy Question.