State and local governments today face significant financial stress from the most recent recession, which makes their need to control benefit costs even greater. Revenues declined 22% from 2008 to 2009, mostly because of reduced tax income. At the same time, state and local government spending on unemployment compensation jumped 86%. It is no…

The landscape of public education retirement plans is in an upheaval. A variety of economic, demographic, and political factors make it increasingly difficult for defined-benefit pension plans alone to provide educators with an adequate retirement. As a result, for the nearly seven million educators in America's public primary and secondary…

Sick leave banks are a common staple of teacher contracts. Although these banks may benefit employees, they expose school districts to a variety of complications and unintended consequences, including administrative complexity, potential cash flow implications, cost disparities, increased absenteeism, instructional instability, privacy issues, and…

A year ago at ASBO International's Annual Meeting and Expo in Seattle, Washington, school business officials from four states presented a powerful double-session panel on the status of changes in teacher contracts and educational funding in their regions of the country. The presenters have since updated their comments with new information and…

Most school districts today are looking for ways to save money without decreasing services to its staff. Retired pharmacist Tim Sylvester, a lifelong resident of Alpena Public Schools in Alpena, Michigan, presented the district with a pharmaceuticals plan that would save the district money without raising employee co-pays for prescriptions. The…

Discusses various employee fringe benefit programs and suggests possible ways to ensure that such programs operate in the most efficient and least costly manner. (JG)

Two legal cases depict affirmative action as the primary source of racial tensions within school operations: "Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education" (1986) and "United States v. Board of Education of the Township of Piscataway" (1993). Pre-established policies of preferential treatment have no place in today's teacher-employment…

Discusses the effects on teacher salaries and employment practices of several Canadian provinces' cost-cutting measures; emphasizes British Columbia's "Public Restraint Act" and public employees' response to it. (MCG)