Mediation was required by the Individuals With Disabilities Education (IDEA) 1997, and resolution sessions were added to the IDEA 2004. This study examines the perceptions of 260 special education directors in Georgia, Massachusetts, Washington, and Wisconsin to determine their perceptions regarding alternative dispute resolutions in which they…

Outlines the history of Wisconsin's Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA), details the new MERA procedures, and analyzes some of the procedure's implications for municipal labor relations. Concludes that the limitations placed on the right to strike may undermine the statute's long-term effectiveness. Journal availability: see EA 511 539.…

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)

Until public policy is modified, the only rational substitute for the right of strike/lockout is arbitration on a final offer basis. (Author/IRT)

Examines the use of final-offer arbitration in public sector collective bargaining in five states. (PKP)

This report is designed to assist school administrators and school boards to prepare for negotiating issues relating to class size. It includes a brief summary of the research on class size, adapted from ERS's report Class Size: A Summary of Research. Viewpoints of both school management leaders and teacher organization leaders on negotiating the…

This paper, addressed to public school employers, discusses lessons to be learned from the Wisconsin Legislature's passage of a 1978 law known as mediation-arbitration, which allows employers and unions to agree to an alternative voluntary impasse procedure to the one set forth in the statutes. First, the paper discusses the history of the agency…

The recent increase in the number of teacher strikes following an impasse or stalemate in contract negotiations has led to a reevaluation of the role of State Educational Agencies (SEA) in such situations, in Wisconsin and elsewhere. The paper summarizes statutory framework governing the role of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI)…

Surveys of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin school board members indicate significant impact of state collective bargaining legislation on perceived ability of board members to perform legislatively prescribed duties. (Author/JBM)

Examines the implications for educational labor relations in the recommendations from "A Nation at Risk." Reviews Michigan's and Wisconsin's employment relations acts and the National Labor Relations Act. (MD)

The literature on collective bargaining in public education typically argues whether such bargaining is good public policy or bad, sound or unsound, and so forth. No studies to date have measured the actual impact of differing kinds of collective bargaining legislation on local school boards' decisionmaking powers. This study examined whether two…