The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) criticizes state-mandated program-oriented budgeting as limited, laborious, inflexible, and more concerned with efficiency than with sound education. NJEA sets out its own guidelines on school budgeting, which favor the traditional line-item budget. (SJL)

The report on special education services in Louisiana reviews present services, recent Federal court decisions mandating special education for all handicapped children, and makes recommendations for program improvement. It is noted that Louisiana Law requires public education of all exceptional children between 3 and 21 years of age with IQs above…

The author examines the usefulness of a single and separate governance structure for all the public vocational-technical education in a state. The article tells how the policy change came about in Arkansas and looks at the progress that has taken place under the new system. (CT)

A group of low-performing schools received additional state funds to improve achievement as part of California's Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (II/USP). A mixed-method evaluation was conducted to determine whether II/USP schools outperformed similar non-II/USP schools, how teachers and administrators understood resources…

Discusses recommendations made by the Massachusetts Advisory Council of Vocational-Technical Education to improve the quality of secondary vocational curriculum. The author examines how and why the recommendations were created, how a hugh agenda was whittled down in scope, and how the council decided to favor the development of "cluster…