Findings of an audit of the New York State Education Department's oversight of school-district transportation contracting practices are provided in this report. The primary purpose of the audit was to assess the extent to which district officials fostered a competitive environment when contracting for transportation services and the effectiveness…

This document describes a vision for education in the state of Washington and offers a proposal for the state legislature's consideration. An article by the Governor, Booth Gardner, provides an overview of the state's vision for education, discussing the seven assumptions of school improvement, the shift from a focus on inputs to student outcomes,…

Under the State Child Health Insurance Program, states receive funds to purchase health insurance for low-income, uninsured children. Noting that partnering with managed care will be essential if school-based health centers are to receive reimbursement for serving the publicly insured portion of their clientele, this paper examines the…

The first six of the eight brief papers presented in this document, all produced in 1990 and all discussing critical issues in Massachusetts public education and describing "visions" for addressing these issues, were published in a slightly different format from the last two papers. For each of the issues presented, a…

Findings of a study that investigated the feasibility of educational vouchers for California education and their budgetary impact are presented in this paper. In a survey of 300 parents in the Los Angeles Unifies School District with children under the age of 16 who do or will attend public schools, 52 percent said that they would use a $2,600…

Opportunity-to-learn (OTL) standards respond to concerns that the use of new assessments based on more rigorous academic standards is unfair if some students lack the opportunity to learn what is measured on the assessments in the schools they attend. During 1992-93, the National Governors' Association (NGA) launched an effort to consider how…

This report addresses the issue of the extent to which state constitutions permit sectarian schools to be included in a choice program. The issue has arisen in connection with federal proposals to fund school-choice programs subject to the law of each state. If the question is considered without reference to federal funding, the inclusion of…

This document contains the proceedings of presentations made by the Fiscal Issues, Policy and Education Finance Special Interest Group of the American Education Research Association (AERA). Ten articles focus on equitable funding systems for K-12 education and examine school financing in the following states: Florida, Illinois, New York,…

Following the Kentucky Supreme Court's 1989 ruling that declared the state's common school system unconstitutional, lawyers and educators sued the state legislature for failure to provide an efficient school system. The role of litigation and lawyers in Kentucky education reform is examined in this paper. Part 1 describes how a group of lawyers…

New Jersey Law requires the Commissioner of Education to monitor the incidence of violence and vandalism in the public schools. Presented in this commissioner's report are summaries of district incident reports for the 1989-90 school year and comparisons with prior years (1984-89). The aggregated annual data exclude causes and circumstantial…

The nation's Governors resolved to lead restructuring efforts in their states as part of their commitment to achieve the national education goals by the year 2000. States are experimenting with a range of approaches to restructuring, depending on their resources, demographics, governance structures, and traditions. This report describes states'…

Changes in textbook adoption policies in three states--North Carolina, Texas, and California--are examined in this paper, which analyzes major legislative or regulatory changes in the context of each state's educational improvement efforts. Findings indicate a growing conflict between advocates for statewide versus local responsibility for…

A demographic, economic, and educational profile of South Carolina is provided in this report. Findings indicate that the state is characterized by a sharp contrast between metropolitan development and rural poverty, advancement in educational improvement, and economic growth. The 1984 Educational Improvement Act was found to have made little…

Changes in shared decision making as a result of the implementation of school-based management in the Dade County public school system are described in this report. Background information on the school system and its restructuring plan, implemented during the 1987-88 school year, is presented, followed by a discussion of changes in participative…

Three broad themes run throughout restructuring reforms: decentralization, collaboration, and accountability. The California Legislature recently established a statewide school restructuring demonstration program to help determine whether California educators can make restructuring work. This analysis examines the concept of school restructuring,…