Teacher control of public education is a possibility. If it eventuates, the concept of local, lay, public control of the schools is going to be severely shaken. (Author/WM)

The first in a series of articles devoted to raising questions about the meaning of collective bargaining to educational organizations, inquiring after the nature of the process, and devising strategies for obtaining maximum organizational and educational utility from collective bargaining and related structures. (Author)

Reprints of the five-part series, Bargaining for Beginners, are available from Reprint Dept., The American School Board Journal, 1233 Central St., Evanston, Ill. 60201 (

As the size of the district increases, the control exercised by the board decreases for external and internal reasons. (Author)

By resisting laws that would legalize teacher strikes, state legislatures and local school districts probably have contributed to the excessive time devoted to bargaining and consequently have helped bring on themselves many of the ills that protracted bargaining invites. (Author/IRT)

School boards and labor unions can benefit from a shared-revenue model. Labor costs would be contractually tied to available revenue, rather than to fixed expenses. Labor would have greater fiscal authority than under traditional collective bargaining and a real incentive to manage its own fiscal resources, since it could keep what it saved. An…

When chief participants have failed to prepare adequately for negotiations, the resulting contract can be costly to the district. This article describes preparation procedures, such as developing the time table; designating the negotiations team; clarifying board role; reviewing the current contract, grievance cases, and recent legislation; and…

Examination of arbitration decisions in Wisconsin teacher wage disputes, 1977-86, found that wage increases agreed to earlier by comparable school districts had a substantial impact on the arbitrators' decisions. (SK)

Information is presented that is designed to help school board members and public school administrators successfully carry out collective negotiations with teacher organizations. The following topics are discussed: (1) Comparison of private and public collective bargaining, (2) essential ingredients of collective negotiations agreements, (3)…

Index salary scheduling, now in effect in many of the nation's schools, establishes percentages for teacher preparation and experience levels, and then compensates teachers by a base salary plus the appropriate percentages. School boards and administrators are discovering, however, that the plan often leads to certain unforeseen problems, namely,…

This study of policy making is set in Chicago's school system during the late 1960's. The three case studies presented here identify a school board's response to core issues faced by school policy makers in the largest of the central cities in the United States. After applying both bargaining and unitary models to the Chicago school board's policy…

The primary responsibility of school board members has always been the development of the policies that govern the school district. If these policies are to properly address the actual needs of the school district they must be based on an accurate and comprehensive knowledge of the issue confronting the district. This handbook is designed first to…