rick hess is director of the american enterprise institute and co-editor of the book. he will give us background on the book and explain his themes. might cast of the, his executive director of council of city schools and author of one of the book's chapters will tell us about the council's initiative to help urban school districts improve their financial management and operational practicees which were innovative benchmarking. and then we have karen all the smiles, president and executive director of education resource strategy will share the wisdom she gleaned from helping urban district analyze the way they use resources and altering strategies and creating better systems and finally dr. john covington, superintendent of kansas city school district who will tell his story and share his battle scars about his efforts for with schools by closing half of the building's shifting resources and making some tough changes. the book and this event are predicated on the assumption that schools are facing some very difficult times in terms of budgets. not just for the next cou