Principals’ Budget Management Practices: A Predictor of Public Junior Secondary School Performance in Kwara State, Nigeria

. Effective and efficient school budgets determine the extent of attaining school objectives. This study investigated principals' budget management practices: a predictor of public junior secondary school performance in Kwara State, Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to examine the level of principals' budget management practices in Kwara State, find out the level of public junior secondary school performance in Kwara State, Nigeria, establish the relationship between principals' budget planning and public junior secondary school performance in Kwara State; investigate the relationship between principals' budget controlling and public junior secondary school performance in Kwara State and examine the relationship between principals' budget monitoring and public junior secondary school performance in Kwara State. The study adopted a descriptive survey of correlational type. One hundred and ninety respondents were used for the study. Principals' Budget Management Practices and Public Junior Secondary School Performance Questionnaire (PBMPPJSSPQ) were used for data collection. Two research questions were raised and answered to guide the study's conduct using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages. Four research hypotheses were formulated and tested using inferential Pearson product-moment correlation statistics at a 0.05 significance level. Findings showed that principals' budget management practices in budget planning, budgeting monitoring, and controlling would tremendously enhance and improve public junior secondary school performance in school effectiveness, discipline, sports and recreation and students' academic achievement. It was recommended that the Kwara State government involve school principals and teachers in the budget management practices, planning, and implementation. This will enable the school staff and heads to understand the educational budget allocation and ensure funds are spent judiciously.