scholarly journals Introducing a Market Element into the Funding Mechanism of Public Education in British Columbia: A critical policy analysis of the School Amendment Act, 2002

2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Fallon ◽  
Jerald Paquette
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Public Education ◽  
School District ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Public School Districts ◽  
Policy Study ◽  
Critical Policy Analysis ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Funding Mechanism ◽  
Critical Policy

Abstract This policy study explores origins of part 6.1 of Bill 34 (School Amendment Act, 2002) and its impacts on the institutional behaviour of two public school districts in British Columbia. Part 6.1 permits school districts to raise funds through for-profit school district business companies (SDBC). The analysis found several consequences of the policy: lack of accountability of SDBCs, increased fiscal inequity among school districts, and greater responsiveness of school districts to the needs of a globally rather than locally situated community of students.

scholarly journals Diversity for Whom? Gentrification, Demographic Change, and the Politics of School Integration

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Diem ◽  
Jennifer Jellison Holme ◽  
Wesley Edwards ◽  
Madeline Haynes ◽  
Eliza Epstein
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
District Leaders ◽  
Critical Policy Analysis ◽  
School Demographics ◽  
The Face ◽  
Critical Policy

Gentrification and the displacement of low-income residents of color from neighborhoods where they have long resided has accelerated over the last 20 years. In some cities, this process has begun to impact school demographics. Although research shows that school districts experiencing gentrification are responding in ways that fuel segregation and inequality, in some contexts gentrification is viewed by administrators as an opportunity to seek racial and economic integration. In our exploratory comparative case study, we examined districts in gentrifying cities pursuing integration in the face of rapid gentrification. Our critical policy analysis illustrates how district leaders’ diversity efforts can be overshadowed by their desire to appease and attract gentrifying families. Although districts are maintaining or increasing diversity in gentrifying contexts, our study raises broader equity questions that call for further inquiry of within-district equity and the displacement of students.

The Extent and Impact of Educational Policy Bargaining

ILR Review ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Goldschmidt ◽  
Leland E. Stuart
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Educational Policy ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Public School Districts ◽  
Student Placement ◽  
Teacher Organizations ◽  
Policy Content ◽  
Teacher Placement

The authors examine a national sample of 80 collective bargaining agreements negotiated in 1981–82 by teacher organizations and school boards in large U.S. public school districts to determine how great was the educational policy content of those agreements. They find that educational policy provisions, defined as those that affect educational programs more than teachers' working conditions, are far more extensive than previous studies suggest. Of the contracts sampled, 46 percent are found to contain provisions regulating the curriculum; 59 percent, provisions regulating student placement; and 96 percent, provisions regulating teacher placement. The authors conclude that this extensive policy bargaining has reduced the capacity of many school districts to respond to changing expectations for public education.

Face Mask Policies of US Public School Districts in States without Statewide Mandates

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Jacobs ◽  
Arvi Ohinmaa
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
School District ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Public School Districts ◽  
Us States ◽  
School Settings ◽  
The Individual

Objective: We developed categories of the degree of restrictiveness of public schoolboards’ face mask policies in 10 US states that had no statewide mask mandates at any time during the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data on schoolboards’ mask wearing policies for the individual boards in these states. Methods: We obtained school reopening plans found on school district webpages. We abstracted district mask policies and sorted them into groups indicating whether mask wearing was required or recommended. Results: Overall, 44% of boards mandated masks in school settings. There was a wide variation of policies within and between states. Conclusions: When left to their own resources, schoolboards will follow a variety of policies, many of which are a departure from state recommendations.

The Fragmentation of Metropolitan Public School Districts and the Segregation of American Schools: A Longitudinal Analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (12) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith P. Richards ◽  
Kori J. Stroub
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
School District ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Public School Districts ◽  
Ethnic Segregation ◽  
Public School District ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Context Scholars have increasingly raised concerns about the “fragmentation” or proliferation of metropolitan public school districts, citing the potential for fragmentation to facilitate racial/ethnic segregation by permitting individuals to sort more efficiently across district boundaries. In addition, scholars have expressed particular concern about the rapid growth of charter districts and their potential to exacerbate segregation. Purpose of Study In this study, we provide initial evidence on the effect of public school district fragmentation on the trajectory of racial/ethnic segregation in metropolitan areas, attending to the differential effects of regular school district fragmentation as well as charter district fragmentation. Research Design Using NCES Common Core data for the 2002–2010 school years, we computed measures of regular public school district fragmentation and charter district fragmentation as well as nine measures of racial/ethnic segregation for all 366 U.S. metropolitan areas (3 geographic x 3 racial/ethnic decompositions). We then estimated a series of multilevel longitudinal models predicting change in each measure of segregation as a function of regular and charter school district fragmentation. Results We found that school district fragmentation is unrelated to the overall level of segregation in a metropolitan area. More fragmented metropolitan areas have higher levels of segregation across districts than less fragmented metropolitan areas; however, they have lower levels of segregation within districts and equivalent levels of total metropolitan segregation. Likewise, school district fragmentation was not associated with worsening segregation over time or with attenuation of the secular trend toward declining segregation. More fragmented metropolitan areas had smaller declines in between-district segregation over the study period than less fragmented metropolitan areas; however, they had equivalent declines in within-district and total metropolitan segregation. In addition, charter district fragmentation was unrelated to the level or trajectory of school segregation in a metropolitan area. Conclusions Our results provide a somewhat more sanguine assessment of school district fragmentation than previous research. We found that the fragmentation of regular public school districts serves to shift the geographic scale of segregation from within districts to between districts; however, fragmentation does not exacerbate metropolitan racial/ethnic segregation. In addition, despite the rapid growth of charter districts, we find no evidence that charter district fragmentation has worsened overall metropolitan racial/ethnic segregation. Moreover, metropolitan areas are not experiencing the “fragmentation” of their traditional public school districts; rather, traditional school districts are consolidating despite increasing enrollment.

Defining Public Schools and Understanding Their Shifting Terrain

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Stitzlein
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public Education ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Portfolio Management ◽  
Education Management ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
School Practice ◽  
And Function

Chapter three illustrates the essential role of public schools in a vibrant democracy. I define what public schools are, identifying five key elements essential to their form and function. My discussion of the shifting nature of democracy, schools, and citizenship reveals that it is worthwhile to refocus our attention on these elements of public schools now as some are being compromised or eclipsed within the latest forms of school practice and governance. I detail the changing landscape of public schools in recent years by looking at particular recent transformations to the governance and practice of public education. These changes include aspects of schools choice, vouchers, for-profit education management, loss of local control, mayoral oversight of schools, recovery school districts, portfolio management models, and corporate influences. I also describe how citizens’ relationships with schools have changed and how citizens themselves have changed, especially under the influence of neoliberalism.

scholarly journals “The State Pulled a Fast One on Us”: A Critical Policy Analysis of State-Level Policies Affecting English Learners From District-Level Perspectives

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Sampson
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
English Learners ◽  
State Level ◽  
District Level ◽  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
Critical Policy Analysis ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Critical Policy

States’ increasing involvement in educational policy making can play a significant role in how school districts provide equitable educational opportunities. Guided by critical policy analysis, the purpose of this article is to examine state-level policy pertaining to English learners (ELs) from district-level perspectives. Based on interview and archival data from a multiple case study of three metropolitan school districts in different states, district-level perspectives illustrate how these state-level policies were symbolic, restrictive, or exclusionary toward ELs. The results also demonstrate ways that districts advocated, engaged, resisted, and navigated state-level policies and politics. Based on these findings, I argue that state-level policies and related politics can compromise school districts’ ability to provide ELs with adequate educational opportunities.

scholarly journals Fraud at the Public Park Community School District

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-100
Author(s):  
Rania Mousa
Keyword(s):  
School District ◽  
Internal Control ◽  
Internal Controls ◽  
Public School Districts ◽  
Community School ◽  
Public Park ◽  
The Public ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit

ABSTRACT This case study examines potentially fraudulent activities that took place in the Public Park Community School District. Students start their investigations by reading each section and answering case questions. Students analyze potentially fraudulent incidents, identify red flags, calculate potential losses, examine deficiencies in internal controls and suggest effective internal controls. Student feedback indicates the case increased their understanding of fraudulent activities, internal control weaknesses, and effective internal controls in the specific context of public school districts. The findings also highlight the importance of cultivating a strong internal control environment in not-for-profit organizations engaging in fundraising activities.

School District Budgeting and Financial Management in the United States

Education ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Reitano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Education ◽  
School District ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Debt Management ◽  
Budget Process ◽  
Financial Condition

In the United States, school districts operate as a type of special purpose local government. Similar to general purpose governments, school districts are funded by own-source and intergovernmental revenues, although there is considerable variation in their revenue mix, contingent in part upon state-funding formulas. Unlike general purpose governments, school districts focus on the provision of public education to facilitate student learning, and therefore, expenditures are primarily relegated to teacher, support staff, and administrator salaries and benefits. Ensuring the provision of public education begins in part with the budget process. The school district budget process can assume different forms from incremental to rational and may involve a range of stakeholders, including elected officials and members of the public. Incremental budgeting begins with the prior-year budget and small upward increments, while alternatives can be based on rational decision-making theories, such as performance budgeting or zero-based budgeting. Despite these different potential budgeting methods, systematic evidence of their implantation in school districts is generally unavailable. As a complement to the budget process, school districts are also involved in financial management, which involves the strategic analysis of financial condition in the pursuit of financial resiliency and sustainability. In particular, school district budgeting and financial management involves strategically planning for and responding to internal and external trends to ensure continued public service provision in the form of public education. As a growing area of research, school district budgeting and financial management encompasses topics such as budget forecasting, financial condition analysis, optimization of fiscal reserves over the business cycle, and debt management, among other topics.

scholarly journals Coordinating Policy Layers of School Fundraising in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: An Institutional Ethnography

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Winton
Keyword(s):  
Parent Involvement ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Institutional Ethnography ◽  
School Council ◽  
Critical Policy Analysis ◽  
Good Parent ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Policy ◽  
Toronto District School Board

In this article, I report findings from an investigation into the politics and coordination of school fundraising in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Theoretically grounded in institutional ethnography and critical policy analysis, the study began from the standpoint of parents asked to give money to their children’s school(s). I show how provincial and TDSB funding, parent involvement, fundraising, and school council policies organize parents’ experience of school fundraising. I also explore how participating in fundraising enables parents to meet neoliberal expectations of a “good parent” and how through their efforts to secure advantages for their children, fundraising parents are accomplices in the privatization of public education. I conclude by discussing possibilities for intervention into the social organization of school fundraising in TDSB schools.

Organizing and Managing for Excellence and Equity: The Work and Dilemmas of Instructionally Focused Education Systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 812-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald J. Peurach ◽  
Maxwell M. Yurkofsky ◽  
Daniella Hall Sutherland
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
Public Education ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Public School Districts ◽  
Improve Quality ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Central Offices

A sustained policy press to improve quality and reduce disparities in public education is driving U.S. public school districts to organize and manage instruction for excellence and equity. The purpose of this analysis is to elaborate and to animate patterns and dilemmas in this work. The analysis identifies five domains of work central to this transformation, four patterns in the distribution of this work among central offices and schools, and four dilemmas endemic to the work. It then uses the preceding to frame vignettes of that work and those dilemmas as playing out in four different public school districts.

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