Describes three law suits filed by part-time community college faculty members in Washington State for retirement benefits, health care benefits, and unpaid wages and overtime. Notes that college officials insist they have violated no state laws. Reports on the development of a lobbying group among the state's thousands of part-time faculty…

Fully 40 percent ($5 billion) of Georgia's FY 2000 general funds budget is for K-12 education. There is increased funding for a homestead exemption, expansion of the HOPE (higher education) Scholarship Program, capital outlay projects, remedial assistance programs, and instruction of limited-English speaking students. (MLH)

Summarizes a study focused on three major components of Texas Centers for Professional Development and Technology: visions of professional development, enactments of PDS models, and the models' effects on experienced teachers, university faculty, and preservice teachers. Due to the program's collaborative nature, study participants learned from…

A survey of 292 rural Oklahoma teachers and administrators examined the implementation and impact of reforms mandated by the Oklahoma Education Reform Act (1990): actual changes in their school district and in rural districts statewide; personal and professional impact of the reforms; which reforms were having the most impact; impact on daily…

Discusses methodological issues that emerged in evaluating a three-year paternal involvement demonstration project for poor inner-city noncustodial fathers. The dilemmas that arose from the contradictory goals of program evaluation and the need to meet federal and state waiver goals are discussed, and the tradeoffs needed to ensure a meaningful…

Florida's rapidly growing public school system enrolls over 2 million students. Total operating costs are over $11 billion annually. School funding declined in the early 1990s and is still 3% below the pre-recession peak. Despite an $11 billion tobacco industry settlement, the state is pushing fiscal performance incentives instead of increasing…

Arizona's "exemplary" charter-school legislation illustrates how three underlying ideologies (antibureaucracy, market-based education, and teacher professionalism) play out in practical terms. Although Arizona charter schools are achieving stability via independent financial status and real-time funding, many have monitoring…

Discusses the integrated, school-linked services movement and illustrates the efforts of this movement in California as an example. Addresses the purposes of some of the components of integrated services, provides examples of legislative enactments, and examines implications for the changing role of social workers toward that of family and…

Kentucky's ungraded Primary School Program is defined by seven critical attributes: developmentally appropriate educational practices, multiage/multiability classrooms, continuous progress, authentic assessments, qualitative reporting methods, professional teamwork, and positive parent involvement. This article explains these attributes,…

Explores the facts and perceptions regarding recycling, what can be done to make products more environmentally compatible, and how to think about recycling decisions in a more helpful way. (Contains 39 references.) (MDH)

State and federal policymakers have recently upgraded accountability rules, thrusting school leaders into uncharted, uncomfortable territory. In this scenario, principals must adopt flexible, facilitative leadership styles, model core school values, develop organizational capacity, accept heightened public scrutiny, and represent the school's…

As a policy pronouncement, California's Proposition 227 mandates a duty of care that educators owe their students. Failure to teach primarily in English creates a private cause of action against an educator that overcomes legal and policy concerns of "Peter W. v. San Francisco Unified School District." (Contains 57 notes and references.)

Discusses the boycott of meetings in California by the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) because of the passage of Proposition 187. Uses the decision for the boycott as a means to explore the notions of democracy, citizenship, and citizenship education. (CMK)

Describes racial and ethnic demographic changes in the United States, created in part by high rates of immigration; their impact on the size and composition of elementary and secondary schools; and the budget implications for school districts. (PKP)

Interviews with 11 Colorado state legislators about their views on local control reveal they have no fear of pushing the constitutional envelope when it comes to legislating school policy. School board members must get involved in the legislative process, whether by lobbying legislators on behalf of important education issues or testifying as…