In recent years, record numbers of undocumented and asylum-seeking families and children from Mexico and Northern Triangle countries--El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras--crossed the U.S. southwest border in search of safety and opportunity. Some cross undetected, without registering with immigration authorities and becoming…

All states value their distinct approaches to policy and to life and the U.S. Constitution embeds the idea of state rights and responsibilities as a core principle in the federal system. California arguably takes this further than most. This paper provides a new way to think about how national policies might complicate or augment the next state…

For all the national and even international debate about the state of American education, public schooling in the U.S. is still a local matter--and the school district remains its hub. As administrators know, there's nothing abstract about the process of getting millions of students into their seats, assuring they receive the instruction they're…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Senate Committee Passes Education Appropriations Bill; (2) Upside Down: New Alliance Brief Says Federal Education…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) House and Senate Pass Budget Blueprints: Plans Would Increase Spending by More than $20 Billion Over the President's…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) NCLB Anniversary Prompts Renewed Calls for Reauthorization: Growth Models, High School Reform Emerge as Points of…

This interview indicates a lawmaker's views on the future of public education in California. (MM)

In "The Transformation of Great American School Districts", William Lowe Boyd, Charles Taylor Kerchner, and Mark Blyth argue that urban education reform can best be understood as a long process of institutional change, rather than as a series of failed projects. They examine the core assumptions that underlay the Progressive Era model of…

Using the Claremont Group's four-stage model of educational decision making, the author analyzes trends in California toward state control of education. He discusses the implications for educators of increasing policy control by politicians and legislators. (SJL)

State regulation of public higher education in California is considered. California's Master Plan may be described as the state's major regulatory scheme for higher education, since it established the educational missions, admissions standards, and institutional growth limits in each public segment. Major regulations arising from the Donahoe Act…

A reply is offered to Joseph Pechman and Ira Sharkansky, who have refuted the contentions of the authors in their book, "Benefits, Costs, and Finance of Public Higher Education," which deals with the size and distribution of costs and benefits. Pechman and Sharkansky's critique, "The Distributional Effects of Public Higher Education…

From 1984 to 1994, the state of California constructed 19 prisons and only one state university, according to this report presented by the Justice Policy Institute. The report suggests on the basis of that data and other findings that the state of California has made financial and budget policy decisions which work against African Americans, and…

An analysis of the impact of state government regulation on higher education in California is presented. Two assumptions are explained on which the analysis is based; i.e., that the mission of higher education is teaching, scholarship, and service to the community and that public higher education is rightfully under the authority of the governor…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) How's the Water?: Congressional Hearing on High School Reform Recognizes the Crisis, but Urges Caution Before…

The purpose of this research effort is to determine: (1) why formulas are used in the budgetary process of public higher education; (2) what organizations play an active role in the development of the formulas; (3) what strategies and counterstrategies are adopted by the participants in the formula budgeting process for public higher education;…