In 1998, the New Jersey Supreme Court directed schools in 30 poor urban districts to adopt a comprehensive school reform program by the 2000-2001 academic year. Part of this program involved delegating resource-allocation decisions to the school level, thereby increasing schools' effectiveness and productivity by bringing the perspectives of…

School desegregation court cases provided the impetus to early experimental efforts at government takeover of public schools. Most recently, states have taken over school districts for failure to demonstrate adequate academic progress (educational bankruptcy). North Carolina's ABC program is profiled. Legal, financial, and organizational…