This report reviews changes in higher education staff by occupation between 1993 and 1997. Specific attention is paid to staffing patterns in states with right to work laws compared to those without it. When a state enacts a right to work law, it can be assumed it is not supportive of public unions. This analysis is based on data from the National…

This report contains data on state funding for higher education for the 1997-1998 school year. State funding for higher education continued to grow in FY98 for the fifth straight year, increasing 6%, or $2.8 billion, over the prior fiscal year. The amount of support for higher education exceeded $49 billion, and the 1-year and 2-year percentage…

This report reviews the effectiveness of Washington's HOPE Centers and Responsible Living Skills Programs (RLSPs) and reports findings and recommendations. In 1999, state legislators enacted the HOPE Act, which created these two services. HOPE Centers are temporary residential facilities where street youth can stay for 30 days while being…

This report examines why the child support system breaks down for so many low-income families, presenting information from interviews with unmarried mothers and fathers nationwide. Four chapters focus on: (1) "Introduction" (child support policy in California and nationwide); (2) "The National and California Child Support…

The seventh annual Survey of State Higher Education Finance Officers (SHEFOs) shows the continuing triumph of performance reporting and the continuing trials of performance budgeting and funding in higher education. Responses from SHEFOs from all 50 states show that performance reporting, which now is used in all but 4 states, is by far the…

Assembly Bill (AB) 1402 authorized California's school districts to enter into design-build contracts for projects with design and construction costs exceeding $10 million. These guidelines are intended to accomplish the following purposes: (1) inform school districts of the design-build process under AB 1402; (2) help school districts to…

This paper examines the social, political, and economic factors that influenced the adoption and diffusion of early-elementary school class-size-reduction policies at the state level. It applies a neo-institutional framework to explain the rapid spread of class-size reduction policies throughout many state legislatures and boards of education. It…

This report provides statistics on numbers of students in Ohio identified as gifted; examines the effect of a 1999 state law standardizing the identification of gifted students; identifies factors that influence the proportion of students that districts identify as gifted; compares the identification of gifted students in Ohio with other states;…

This new edition of the Idaho Library Laws contains changes through the 1998 legislative session and includes Idaho Code sections that legally affect city, school-community or district libraries, or the Idaho State Library. These sections include the basic library laws in Idaho Code Title 33, Chapters 25, 26, and 27, additional sections of the law…

This report describes the development of the juvenile justice system in the United States. It uses current data to look at where it is heading, and the recent trend of transferring certain juvenile cases to adult criminal court. Section 1 explains that the juvenile justice system was founded on the concept of rehabilitation through individualized…

This qualitative study documented the variance of five different school districts and one consortium as they implemented Local Professional Development Committees (LPDCs). Two of the sites were pilot districts in the state of Ohio, which mandated that districts/consortiums create LPDCs effective in September 1998. The six different cases are…

This document presents the annual report and recommendations of Minnesota's Medical Education and Research Costs (MERC) Trust Fund, a program that provides funding for the clinical training of selected medical professions through compensating the costs of training provided in a clinical teaching environment. State general funds and health care…

This document combines in one place the provisions of Washington State law that provide the legal framework for "education reform." Due to the nature in which Washington State laws are "codified" in statute and to the comprehensiveness of education reform, the laws regarding education reform are scattered throughout the Revised…

For the 4th year, the Center for Education Reform has evaluated the strength of state legislation establishing charter schools throughout America. The Center offers the nation's only comprehensive evaluation of all charter-school laws using well-established criteria. These laws fall along a spectrum from "strong" (fostering the…

The Alabama Commission on Higher Education has the statutory responsibility for the overall statewide planning and coordination of higher education in Alabama, the administration of various student aid programs, and the performance of designated regulatory functions. This annual report provides information about all of these responsibilities and…