When policy advocates debate how best to ensure equity in public education funding, the topic of teacher pension reform rarely comes up. But, in fact, pensions represent a very large and fast-growing source of education spending, much of it distributed in ways that are, in a number of states, anything but equitable. When states subsidize teacher…

Common sense and recent research make it clear that successful schools need strong principals. Strong principals help drive school performance in many ways, from shaping a school's mission and culture to hiring, developing, and retaining good teachers. Even so, principals often get short shrift in today's debates about human capital in public…

When people talk about human capital or talent in public education, they generally focus on teachers, not principals. That's a mistake. School districts and states generally don't take a strategic approach toward managing their principal workforce. Often, they lack even the most basic information about who is leading their schools: Where do most…

After years of non-stop increases--national k-12 per-pupil spending is up by "one-third" in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1995--schools now face the near-certainty of repeated annual budget cuts for the first time since the Great Depression. In some states and districts, reductions will be dramatic--well into the double digits. And…

The infamous equivalent or lower qualifications (ELQs) regulation--the withdrawal of funding from students who have previously gained a higher education qualification--has cast a long shadow over adult continuing education in English higher education since its introduction in 2007. Together with the attack on funded adult provision in local…

In "Market-Based Pay Reform for Public School Teachers"--a paper presented at the National Center on Performance Incentives research to policy conference in February--Michael Podgursky, professor of economics at the University of Missouri, examines the effects and unintended consequences of the current compensation system for teachers in…

"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) Duncan Makes $44 Billion in Education Funding Available to States: Education Secretary Says Stimulus Money Must Go…

It is the purpose of this chapter to show some of the more outstanding tendencies and examples of legislation affecting education in the United States during 1935 and 1936. During these years the legislature of every State had one or more legislative sessions, and, in addition, special sessions were called in many States. Moreover, many…

In 1932 the Office of Education published a bibliography on educational finance as one of the reports of the National Survey of School Finance (Bibliography on Educational Finance, 1923-31, U. S. Office of Education Bulletin 1932, No. 15). This bulletin contains a classified and annotated list of reports and studies published since that time, to…

This bulletin is published as a much-need service to young men and women considering preparation for teaching. In it they will find information and judgments on duties, requirements, opportunities, satisfactions and annoyances in teaching as a life work. Because essential data has changed, the current report is written to describe the occupation…

No argument would seem to be needed to prove that knowledge of contemporary legislation affecting education is of a practical advantage to every educational worker and to all citizens of representative government. Under our system it is the prerogative of a State legislature to overcome legal obstacles, or to set up new legal instruments for…

The material presented in this compilation constitutes a second supplement to Bulletin, 1915, No. 47, "Digest of Stage Laws Relating to Public Education," the first such supplement having been embodied in Bulletin, 1918, No. 23, "State Laws Relating to Education, Enacted in 1915, 1916, and 1917." The period covered extends from…