During recent years, employment as a public school teacher has changed from being one of the most secure positions in the nation's workforce to one of the most uncertain. Now, in many districts, there is a good chance newly employed teachers will receive a reduction in force (RIF) notice each spring. The number of educators who are RIFed each…

The first half of this paper reviews the school enrollment trend in the state of Wisconsin and discusses the implications of school closings. It offers planning suggestions to local districts in light of statewide declining enrollments. The second half of the paper--a review of recent literature related to "cutback management"--is…

At present, there are no viable models of organizations in decline; all sociological and economic theories deal with growing, expanding organizations. However, as the statistical data from Illinois school districts indicate, declining enrollment and reduction in force are pressing problems. This statistical analysis contains data on population,…