A county personnel department undertook reclassification of all positions by collecting and using job analysis data to rewrite job descriptions. External pay equity and validated selection procedures resulted with only a modest increase in payroll costs. (SK)

The Local Government Training Act in South Africa sets policy for creation, development, and maintenance of suitable training for the diverse functions of local government. The past exclusion of blacks from government positions means that training of municipal workers is a critical need. (SK)

Although local planning and budget departments are commonly separated, their decisions often interact. Using the concepts of club theory, the author addresses this interaction. He concludes that the optimum local budget and level of local development are interrelated. Marginal decision making and careful use of fiscal impact analyses are…

The Sheffield (England) City Council used an advisory group approach to solicit citizen participation in community planning. Two important lessons were: ensuring that all target groups are represented and providing training and information to prepare citizen representatives for their consulting role. (SK)

Two kinds of jurisdictions are compared and contrasted to help identify what is--and is not--distinctive to dimensions of the political process. Areas where research is needed are identified. (PN)

Despite the newly decentralized local government system in Ghana, communities have been slow to develop broad-based participatory consultative processes for community development. Inflexible bureaucracy also hinders involvement of stakeholders. (SK)

The evaluation of locally-funded bilingual education programs differs methodologically from that of federally-funded programs. In the latter, comparisons are made between the performance of limited English proficiency (LEP) students in bilingual programs with those LEP students not in the programs, to determine what the proficiency of the program…

This report supplies information on Washington State's ranking, compared to national data, concerning measures of aggregate state support for higher education during 1990-91. It provides data on enrollments as a percentage of population for both two- and four-year institutions, as well as the factors affecting state and local support of public…

This document is the interim report of a task force on drug and alcohol abuse prevention for Montgomery County, Maryland. The report emphasizes that in order to effect prevention, a partnership between business, schools, and communities is needed. These four tasks of the task force are listed: (1) to determine the extent of the problem; (2) to…

Discusses the question of who will pay for the undocumented immigrants' access to social services, particularly health services. Argues that neither state governments, counties, local governments, private hospitals, the judiciary, nor the federal government have accepted responsibility, and consequently, the workers and the community at large are…

Colleges and universities are finding that they are not always valued in the community, but may be perceived to be straining public services and not contributing adequately to the community's resources or well-being. (MSE)

Claims it is appropriate for the aging and developmental disabilities networks to explore the intersections of their operations with respect to their methods of administration, advocacy, service systems, development, and policies. Discusses roles of State and Area Agencies on Aging. (Author/ABL)

This paper discusses the effects of President Reagan's budget cuts on federally supported human service programs in New York. Various programs are analyzed to determine their vulnerability to budget reductions. It is suggested that employment, nutrition and health programs are most likely to be cut while education, adoption assistance, senior…

This paper explores educational financial flexibility with a focus on the specific issues surrounding local flexibility in North Carolina school districts. Strategies that states have used to increase local financial flexibility include waivers, reduction of budget categories, block grants, and school-based budgeting. The North Carolina system of…

The extent of housing need among ethnic minorities in Great Britain is examined in terms of their concentration in areas of poor housing, local government policies on allocation of housing to minorities, proportions of shared dwellings, and lack of housing amenities. Local government renting policies are discussed, showing the need to change…