Evaluates the performance of federal block grants in health, law enforcement, peoplepower training, community development, and Social Security programs, to help forecast the effects of such grants in education. Finds that block grants did not improve local control, accountability, citizen participation, efficiency, targeting of funds, or program…

Findings from four studies reveal that: administrators enjoy the deregulation of Chapter 2 but are concerned about audits and evaluation; a wide variety of fund distribution formulas exists; expenditures were heavy for computers; and private school participation has increased. (MLF)

The contributions are reviewed of the federal education block grant--Chapter Two of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981--to local educational improvement. Educational technology and staff and curricular development have been enhanced by the block grant, but improvements remain modest, with depth of impact traded for breadth.…

Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) of 1981 consolidated 29 federally funded categorical programs into an education block grant available to all state education agencies and, through them, to school districts. Chapter 2's legislative purpose was to transfer authority and responsibility to state and local education…

This paper reports on an evaluation of implementation strategies of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA), Chapter 2 in New York State. It documents the origin of the state plan and how New York State education agencies coordinated their efforts to distribute ECIA local assistance and competitive grant monies to school districts…

The After-School Alliance assessed the impact of a $400 million cut to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program proposed by President George W. Bush for fiscal year 2004. The assessment determined the effect the proposed cut would have on the availability of after-school programs in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.…

The welfare initiative signed into law in August 1996 replaces Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The federal responsibility to match state expenditures on cash assistance to low-income families with children has become a fixed block grant to states with requirements that focus on a…

This is the third volume of a three-volume report on the Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) survey project undertaken to assess the impact of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Services (ADMS) block grant program on the delivery of mental health services to older persons. This volume presents results from a 2-year follow-up survey…

The overall objective of this review was to obtain information on several issues raised in the Congress pertaining to the reauthorization of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program. The information includes: (1) what CSBG funds are used for and whether CSBG-supported services duplicate other local social service programs, (2) what role…

In 1996 the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program was replaced with a federal block grant program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which imposed time limits and work requirements on welfare recipients. The welfare legislation placed a lifetime ban on TANF and food stamp benefits for convicted drug felons, although…

This report by the Kansas Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights reviews state enforcement of nondiscrimination provisions related to federally funded programs. The report looks at procedures used in fund allocation as well as public participation in the allocation decisions. It also looks at the extent to which…

This document is the second volume of a series of reports on the Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) Survey project undertaken to assess the impact of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Services block grant program on the delivery of mental health services to older persons. Section I of this volume presents excerpts from the reports on…

Draws on case studies from eight states to examine the initial operation of federal block grants. Finds that Chapter 2 worked better in its first year than its critics had predicted and that local education agencies frequently used their "united" money in innovative ways to meet local educational needs. (GC)

The conclusions of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) concerning the effects of consolidating federal categorical aid programs into block grant programs are presented in this report. The block grants reviewed were established before 1981 under the Partnership for Health Act, the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, the Comprehensive…

A study of Chapter 2 first-year implementation in nine states found that administrators like the flexibility of the block grants. Problems remain concerning the participation of private school students, service to special populations, and the continued use of state advisory councils. (MLF)