Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify the essential skills needed and training provided for chief school business officials in Los Angeles County to manage new and modernization construction projects as perceived by chief school business officials in Los Angeles County, and to determine if there was a significant difference between the skills needed and skill training provided. Methodology. The researcher used descriptive and ex post facto research. All chief school business officials in Los Angeles county elementary, high school, and unified school districts were surveyed with an 81 percent rate of return. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, and simple analysis of variance. Major findings. Nearly one-third of the chief school business officials received no training. All skills needed by chief school business officials received a "moderately essential to very essential" rating. All training provided to chief school business officials was given a "no training to hardly any" rating. All essential skills needed by chief school business officials differed significantly from training provided at the.001 level of confidence. Essential skills needed and training provided did not vary significantly with the type of district, size of district, cost of construction project, training in school construction management, or funding source. Conclusions. All of the thirty-three skills were consistently identified as essential. The related training was inadequately provided. To achieve an optimum level of construction management results, chief school business officials must be offered comprehensive training. Recommendations. The state of California should provide construction-related training for chief school business officials in order to maximize the utilization of construction-related funds now in the billion dollar range. The training must be provided if chief school business officials are to continue to cope with the increasingly complex and diverse demands of the position.