Nebraska lawmakers the week of April 10, 2006 approved a hotly debated bill to break up the Omaha Public Schools--largely along racial and ethnic lines--under a plan that critics say amounts to state-sanctioned segregation and that likely will face a legal challenge. Passed April 13, 2006 in the last hours of the legislative session and signed the…

The Massachusetts Coalition for Bilingual Education, made up of various organizations, worked to obtain passage of the first state legislation mandating and providing funding for bilingual education. (RC)

A sampling of a dozen states showed that virtually all of them have interim committees on education. The diversity in structures and issues among these committees is summarized. (Author/MLF)

Discusses the background, philosophy and provisions of the Model State Subsidized Adoption Act, which makes appropriate adoptions possible, through public subsidy, of children who might not otherwise be adopted because of special circumstances (handicaps, race, age). (ED)

Discusses some of the unethical and illegal practices uncovered in Oregon last spring when schools asked photographers for cash rebates and "free" services in return for requiring seniors to patronize a particular studio for graduation pictures. (RB)

This document describes the 1987 Wisconsin Act 287 which concern providing family leave and medical leave to employees. The background of the law is described in the first part of the document. The second part of the document describes the family and medical leave act. These topics are covered: (1) basic provisions of family and medical leave,…

The plight of the chronically mentally ill is discussed in this document. Chronic mental illness is defined as producing major impairments in functioning for an extended period of time. It is noted the chronically mentally ill are expected to negotiate a bureaucratic maze to receive help. The history of treatment of the mentally ill is traced from…

This report explains the procedure for terminating parental rights and discusses related issues, including grounds for termination, consideration of the child's best interests, and procedural safeguards for the rights of parents. Emerging issues of interest to state legislators are examined. An analysis of involuntary termination of parental…

Punitive damages have been permitted in certain cases to deter wrongdoers from similar conduct in the future. The Supreme Court decision in the case of "Smith vs. Wade" set the standard for the award of punitive damages by permitting punitive award on varying standards of negligence, gross negligence, recklessness, or other culpable…

The minimum legal drinking age in Illinois was returned to 21 effective January 1, 1980. To examine the effect of this change on accident involvement by young drivers, data from the last 3 years of the lowered drinking age (1977-1979) were compared to the first 3 years of the restored drinking age (1980-1982). Data were obtained from the Illinois…

The author replies to a criticism of an article of his which appeared in a previous issue of the journal. The criticism of Arnstine's article precedes the rejoinder in this same issue.

State laws that legalize bargaining by professors have been a major stimulus for rapid growth of collective bargaining among college professors in recent years. Describes that development. (JF)

A supplement to National School Bus Minimum Standards contains standards that refer to equipment that must be part of the bus body or part of the chassis of a bus used to transport school children to and from school in Alaska. Standards of "activity" buses that are used to transport school children to and from authorized school…

This compilation of the Alaska school laws consists of Title 14, Education Alaska Statues, 1971; as amended, revised, or repealed by the Session Laws through 1975. In addition, a number of miscellaneous laws from other titles that have a relationship to education are included. The Compiled School Laws, as issued by the Department of Education, is…

Presents basic legal issues fundamental to revenue bonds (bonds secured by pledging only the revenues from the facility for the payment of the principal and interest on the bonds) authorized for construction of college and university residence halls and provides reference to, as well as discussion of, court decisions giving specific attention to…