School board decisions should reflect the needs of the public. Questionnaires, home visits and discussions help to achieve these ends. (AF)

The first of these speeches, "The Trustee: An Endangered Species," recounts current challenges facing community college trusteeship, including enrollment ceilings, faculty unionism, state super-boards, and financial disclosure laws. The traditional role of the trustee was not designed to meet these and other current threats to the community…

The governor of Oregon, addressing the American Association of Community College Trustees, recommends local election of trustees, local control and state financing of community colleges, student (but not faculty) representation on boards of trustees, open board meetings, financial aid for children of middle-income families, student tuition, and…

The article examines the Buffalo, New York, experiment of community control at the local school level and why it succeeded when other similar experiments failed. (MF)

This document is based upon Charles A. Ratliff's perspective on California community college governance. It was originally published in the journal, "Insight Into Student Services" in May 2003. Mr. Ratliff discusses the historical emergence of the California community college as a system and the major external pressures that have been…

The plan proposed in this report gives elected community boards of education the responsibility and authority to meet particular educational needs of their communities, including in the special area of low academic achievement. The proposal is in the form of a guideline and covers such areas as selection of community boards; parent participation;…

The steady drift toward state control of community college education is a growing issue of concern. This movement has not come from significant changes in the authority or responsibilities of the state community college boards or agencies so much as from a variety of other national and state precursors. This document attempts to establish the…

This paper presents the idea of formal neighborhood government as a beginning to discussion and debate. Only by clearing away the confusion over what changes are being asked for by the proponents of decentralization can the neighborhood government movement be placed in historical perspective. The justification for neighborhood government,…

The history, current issues and future potential of rural township government today were the central focus of a 1972 survey of 18 townships in 6 southwestern Minnesota counties. Survey methodology included personal interviews with both residents and township officers, mailed questionnaires, and attendance at board meetings of the Minnesota…

Since 1948, the locus of leadership, control, and management of the community colleges of New York has been vested in a three-tiered structural arrangement--the local institutional board of trustees and local sponsor, the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY), and the Board of Regents. Article 126, the Community College Law,…

A case study of site-based governance councils in Salt Lake City (Utah) is described. The study was a test of whether building-based councils actually enable teachers and parents to exert substantial influence on school policy. The reason why research findings did not fit expectations is discussed. (SLD)

This book is an introduction and guide to school-based management, a decentralized form of organization in which decisions that have traditionally been made by a superintendent or school board are made by the local school. Chapter 1 provides an overview of decision-making in public school systems starting with a brief history of the trend toward…

A study was conducted to examine current concepts and procedures of community college governance in the United States and the United Kingdom. Agendas and minutes of board meetings were analyzed and interviews were conducted with administrators and board members at four institutions, one rural and one urban from each country. The participating…

Much of the legal and regulatory public policy discussion has centered around the model of the community broadcasting station, a station which is licensed to serve a particular community and which broadcasts a combination of Public Broadcasting System-supplied and locally produced programs. Typically, these stations are controlled by a single…