This paper investigates the relationship between the demand-response behavior of school boards and incumbent school board member defeat. Demand is defined as public demand as operationalized by social, economic, and political indicators (listed in Appendix A). Response is defined as school board response to public demand as operationalized by the…

An interesting econometric problem is to decide whether any given state in the budget process is an example of the political or the bureaucratic model of budgeting. The current paper presents a method of deciding this question and then uses it to study local governmental spending on education. The method is based on the important difference…

Examines a series of hypotheses related to the "gap" between what a community desires of its schools and the school board's response to those desires. (Author/IRT)

This book examines charter-school legislation in the United States, as well as charter-school operations in Colorado, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Georgia. It reviews the legislative process in these four states, focusing on the compromises forged as lawmakers worked for adoption. It describes whether the states' resulting programs provide…

The attitudes and opinions of Massachusetts legislators, municipal leaders, and educators regarding school finance reform reveal that school finance reform should aim for equal educational opportunity. Future school aid reform should be a total program to provide aid to cities and towns, gradually raising education's share to 50 percent state aid…

This book focuses on the question of how citizen participation affects the making of the school budget, the crucial controlling instrument of modern bureaucratic organizations. The four communities studied differed in size, social and economic characteristics, and form of government. Chapter 1 introduces the topic and begins the discussion of the…

The educational funding system in Massachusetts has become less equitable than before, since the passage of Proposition Two and a Half. A decision-making process driven by zero-sum economics, rather than educational needs, is particularly harmful to urban youth; failure to educate every young American threatens the nation's social and economic…

This study examined how Illinois and Massachusetts are attempting to establish a more inclusive educational system as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The study looked at factors affecting inclusion in six categories: (1) funding, (2) education delivery systems, (3) political climate, (4) Federal and State regulations…