The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981 provided for the consolidation of federal human service programs into block grants. A set of common issues has been proposed to provide a framework for evaluating the effects of block grant programs. These issues included funding, authority, administration, efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability. (DWH)

Title V of the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981 affects the Arts in Education Program by consolidating arts funding into general state-level block grants. The authors discuss some implications of this bill for local music educators. (Part of a theme issue on the crisis in music education.) (Author/SJL)

This document provides information on U.S. federal support for maternal and child health programs from 1935-1985. After a brief history of the Children's Bureau, which was the first unit of the federal government concerned with maternal and child health, funding and allocation formulas for Title V of the Social Security Act of 1935 are examined.…

Trends described in the planning and management of block grant programs are based on 13 states' implementation of seven block grants: (1) alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services; (2) community services; (3) education; (4) low-income home energy assistance; (5) maternal and child health services; (6) preventive health and health services;…

Block granting disburses mental health funds largely at the discretion of state mental health authorities, and state priorities typically focus on the most severely ill persons. Rural centers may suffer because multipurpose programs responding to a wide range of community needs are excluded from the mental health service delivery concept. (JHZ)

This report, one of a series, analyzes states' decisions on how to use block grant funds. Under block grants, states obtained greater decision-making authority to set program priorities and determine the use of funds than they had under the prior categorical programs. At the same time, federal appropriations to states under block grants were…

This report discusses the impact on elementary and secondary education in New York State and New York City of: (1) a New York Court of Appeals decision to grant State Legislature control over Federal funds received by the State; and (2) passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act providing block education grants to States. The report provides…

Assessing the Reagan Administration's first 3 years in office, this paper evaluates the administration's inability to enact its education agenda, which included reductions of federal regulations, cuts in education spending, tuition tax credits, prayer in the public schools, and abolishing the Department of Education. The consolidation of programs…

This report consolidates the information from a series of reports by the General Accounting Office (GAO) on states' fiscal, programmatic, and managerial responses to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981. Section 1 describes the major issues related to block grant implementation: (1) fiscal strategies adopted by states in response to…

This report, one of a series on block grant implementation, describes the efforts 13 states have made to involve the public in their block grant decisions, and the reaction of various state-level interest groups to those efforts. These public input opportunities were established in response to federal requirements, but also on account of the…

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 consolidated numerous federal programs into the education block grant and shifted primary administrative responsibility to states. States have to develop a formula to distribute 80 percent of their block grant funds to local education agencies, which have virtually complete discretion in deciding the…