In 2000, the California State Legislature passed the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act, which authorized funding for county juvenile justice programs and designated the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA), formerly named the Board of Corrections, the administrator of funding. California counties receiving state funds for Juvenile Justice…

Madeline Smith, a new elementary principal in northeastern Pennsylvania, wrestles with how to handle a dilemma involving one of her special education teachers who is wearing a head wrap while working. Wearing the head wrap is a violation of district policy, and if the head wrap is a religious symbol, then the employee is also violating the state…

Since 1995, efforts to prohibit affirmative action have intensified, perhaps most strikingly in higher education. In 1996, California voters adopted Proposition 209 (Prop. 209), an amendment to the state constitution that banned both discrimination and affirmative action programs that give preferences to groups or individuals based on their race,…

As part of a sweeping educational reform package, the Texas legislature passed a No Pass/No Play provision requiring that a student have a 6-weeks average of at least 70 in every course or sit out of all extracurricular activities for the next 6 weeks. A review of the effects of this provision in the Austin Independent School District indicated…

A review was conducted of the operations of the State Board of Independent Postsecondary Vocational, Technical, Trade, and Business Schools in Florida. The review had the following aims: to determine the history of board action upon school closure and recommend changes to protect students adequately when their schools close; to examine the…

In every state of the United States, efforts are under way to improve the way education is provided; however, no single reform strategy dominates. This document summarizes major statewide reforms under way in each of the 50 states. The impetus for reform, the driving agencies or institutions behind reform, as well as the intended results, vary…

This study contains the results of a nationwide survey of state regulatory agencies conducted to update family day care licensing information gathered in 1992. Following a list of definitions for terms used in the study and a brief overview of each state's regulatory requirements for small and large family day care providers, the main section…

This booklet, available in both English and French, is designed to help parents understand why they should use proper child restraints in their motor vehicles when they are carrying children. The booklet describes: (1) the safety standards for child restraint systems; (2) the types of child restraint systems; (3) the responsibilities of drivers…

Charter schools are a growing phenomenon in American education. This legislative update provides information on the four states--Idaho, Missouri, Virginia, and Utah--that enacted charter-school laws during the 1998 legislative session, as well as information on legislative changes in other states with charter-school legislation. Charter schools…

This publication provides a brief overview of significant New York State laws and regulations relating to local government records. A number of additional laws and regulations contain references to specific local records and their required retention. However, this report does not contain references to legal opinions and court decisions, nor does…

The Target 2000 legislation enacted by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1989 mandates halving the state's dropout rate by the year 2000. The statute requires that the State Board of Education, assisted by a select committee, devise and pilot-test dropout prevention programs during school years 1989-90, 1990-91, and 1991-92. In September…

In 1986, Act 321 granted the University of Hawaii and the Department of Education the flexibility to manage their fiscal operations. The State Legislature asked the auditor to evaluate this legislation's impact and the progress made on educational assessment at these two agencies. Under the flexibility legislation, the university has provided…

This book, written by a member of the Louisiana State Legislature (who authored a bill during the 1981 legislative session mandating balanced treatment for creation-science wherever evolution-science is taught to public school children), takes a step toward answering the question: Should the scientific evidences for creation be given equal time…

The Free University of Berlin is, according to the authors, not an institution of higher learning but of permanent political agitation. They trace the historical consequences of the institutionalization of the student revolt of the 1960's through legislation enacted by the states to reform the universities. (JT)