Are you familiar with the budget of your current or home state? Your state's budget directly impacts social services, your family's healthcare, and the condition of the roads you use every day.

In this assignment, you will investigate your state's budget and the state agencies, programs, or departments that it supports. You will choose one of these state entities featured in your state's budget and examine the finances of your chosen state entity, taking a close look at its budget, goals, and capital projects.

Preparation

1. View the State Budget Office DirectoryLinks to an external site. to find a link to the budget office in your state.
2. View the budget of your state.
3. Choose one state agency, program, or department that is listed in the state budget to investigate in this assignment.

Instructions

In a 4-5-page paper (plus a cover page and a source list page), please include the following:

1. Examine the phases of the State Budget submission process for your state.
   • Title this section of your paper State Budget Submission Process.
2. Describe your chosen state entity, including context and background information.
   • Title this section of your paper Introducing the Chosen State Entity.
3. Discuss the type of budget format used by your chosen state entity and how you determined this budget type, as well as the data from that state entity's most recent budget submission.
   • Title this section of your paper State Entity Budget Format.
   • Note: Your book is a great resource for writing this section of your paper. In Chapter 1, you'll find information about budget formats as well as how to read and evaluate a budget.
4. Examine where your chosen state entity gets its revenue and other funding from.
   • Title this section of your paper State Entity Financial Sources.
5. Discuss two challenges administrators might face when managing the budget for your chosen state entity.
   • Title this section of your paper State Entity Budget Challenges.
6. Compare the process of submitting the Federal Budget to that of the State Budget, highlighting key differences and similarities.
   • Title this section of your paper Federal and State Budget Submission Comparison.
   • Note: This section should focus on comparing the Federal and State Budget processes directly, highlighting their differences and similarities, rather than detailing them separately.
7. In a Source List using proper SWS style, support your observations by citing at least four credible sources.

For more information on finding sources that are credible, visit Library FAQ: How do I know if information is credible?