Background/Context: Mayoral control of large city school districts has become the newest form of school district reorganization. Researchers have documented how real and perceived crises have propelled mayors in Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington DC, amongst others, to redefine the role of board governance by situating the operations of districts…

The problem. To consider reorganization of two or more Iowa school districts in light of declining enrollment, dwindling financial resources, the end of the state budget guarantee program and pressure to provide the most rigorous and relevant education possible to Iowa's students. Specifically, the problem is to determine what two or more school…

Examines some examples of how school boards draw attendance lines. (IRT)

Background/Context: Unlike the situation nationally where desegregation progress is faltering, the school district in Rock Hill, South Carolina, has recently undertaken measures to increase balance in pupil assignment despite considerable local opposition to these measures and the absence of a court order requiring the district to do so. Moreover,…

School governance has recently dominated Canadian provinces' political agendas. Every province has reduced the number of school boards and centralized decision making. This article summarizes school board and funding status in each province and territory. Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec have…

Sacramento schools achieved a turnaround in three years, after a new board reassigned inept administrators and devised a High Standards, Great Results Program comprised of the Puzzle (core achievement beliefs, community/parent support, and participative management) and Vital Signs (goals for readiness, attendance, literacy, and graduation rates).…

A group of volunteers formed a new school district in California, and the newly formed school board learned to leave management to the superintendent it had hired. (MLF)

Presents major portions of U.S. District Court Judge Fox's ruling in the Oliver case against the Kalamazoo School Board and the Michigan State Department of Education, among others; the former had voted on July 6, 1971 to abandon an integration plan adopted May 7, 1971. (JM)

In 1969, the New York City school decentralization law divided the city school system into 31 (later 32) community school districts, each under the auspices of a locally elected board. The findings and recommendations of a large-scale evaluation of the governance of New York City schools in the post-decentralization era are presented in this…

Using data from 168 central city school boards, this study examines the impact of different selection plans (at-large, mixed/ward, and appointive) on the relationship between Blacks' resources (numbers, money, and organization) and Black electoral success. Findings suggest that the use of an "at-large" selection system impedes the conversion of…

Discusses collaboration among small rural schools in Wales and how such collaboration is supported by the education authorities. Recent legislation led to the reorganization of Welsh education authorities and this, together with new demands and reduced resources, affected their support for small rural schools. Three models of school collaboration…

Describes seven school downsizing models adopted by school districts in several states to create small schools and schools-within-schools, including inadequacy of "policy by exception." Discusses policy-related challenges of schools-within-schools and small schools. Argues that state and school district policies and structures need to support, not…

School district organization in Wisconsin was never intended to be permanent or static. Changes in school district organization are a normal, ongoing process necessary to keep pace with changing needs, expectations, and conditions. Wisconsin has four different types of school districts--common school districts, Union High school districts, unified…

Traditional separation of politics and education creates two distinct bodies of literature neither of which is adequate for an understanding of the dilemmas school administrators face. Political realities should be recognized and a school commissioner should be responsible to the mayor. (Author/LHW)

While visiting small town school districts across the country, two educational administration professors discovered that boards of education everywhere faced the same challenges and exercised considerable competence, conscientiousness, and civic responsibility. Chief concerns were trying economic circumstances, changing demography, and district…