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This book identifies a targeted set of policy topics related to student learning. It includes some key concepts and provides a set of policy categories and issues designed to serve as the basis for board/superintendent leadership and any resulting staff-implementation of a district's educational program. The categories and topics, which are directed at the education program and student learning, are based on the underlying principle that it is the board's and superintendent's responsibility to ensure that all students have an opportunity to succeed at learning. The program begins with a framework for school-district policymaking, emphasizing the key components in policy development. The framework includes: the legal role of policy; the purposes of policies; the relationship between boards and superintendents in policymaking; policy development, adoption, and maintenance; the various roles of staff and community in policy development; governance and planning; academic standards and assessment; education programs; curriculum; instruction; learning environments; professional standards; and parent/community engagement. The material identifies key policy components for each topic: those that target student learning and fundamental policy considerations related to that topic. An example of a topical policy in each category is included in an appendix. (RJM)

This survey provides answers to general questions regarding statutes and case law with respect to schools in force as of January 1, 2002, and administrative rules in effect as of March 30, 2001. It generally excludes, however, laws that are unique to Chicago Public School District 299. The book contains 27 chapters covering the following broad topics: (1) "Control of Illinois Public Schools"; (2) "School Boards"; (3) "School Board Membership"; (4) "School Election Procedures"; (5) "School Board Officers"; (6) "School Board Meetings"; (7) "School District Records"; (8) "Changing School District Boundaries and Territory"; (9) "Control and Use of School Property"; (10) "The Educational Program"; (11) "Students and Parents"; (12) "Student Discipline"; (13) "Children with Disabilities and Special Education"; (14) "Religion and Race and the Public Schools"; (15) "Terms and Conditions of Teacher Employment"; (16) "Teacher Tenure and Seniority Rights"; (17) "School Employment in General"; (18) "Teacher Dismissal for Cause"; (19) "School Administrators"; (20) "Noncertified Employees"; (21) "Collective Bargaining"; (22) "School Districts and Liability for Injuries"; (23) "Property Tax Income"; (24) "State Aid and Other School Income"; (25) "Budgeting and Managing School Funds"; (26) "School Board Borrowing and Debt"; and (27) "Illinois High School Association." The book concludes with a table of cases and index. It is packaged with a compact disc containing the entire text of the book's 27 chapters and Quick Reference Index; the disc also features the full text of most statutes, regulations, and court decisions cited. (RT)

This book is a tool for Illinois school business officials, superintendents, and other administrators with budgeting responsibilities. It is also a resource for school board members. The foreword describes the financial responsibilities of the school board along with the caveat that financial management is staff work, not board work. Detailed guidance is laid out in 23 chapters: (1) "The Illinois System of Public School Funding"; (2) "Categories for Revenue Budgeting and Accounting"; (3) "The Property Tax Cycle"; (4) "Living with the Tax Cap"; (5) "Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax Revenue"; (6) "The Distribution of General State Aid"; (7) "State Categorical Funding"; (8) "Federal and Grant Revenue"; (9) "Local Funding Sources"; (10) "Budgeting and Projecting Revenue"; (11) "Borrowing Options"; (12) "Revenue Management and Control"; (13) "Planning the Successful Referendum"; (14) The Funding Debate"; (15) "The Structure of the Expenditure Budget"; (16) "Budgeting Calendars and Communications"; (17) "Budgeting the Elementary School"; (18) "Budgeting the Secondary School"; (19) "Budgeting Non-Instructional and Capital Costs"; (20) "Long-term Expenditure Projections"; (21) "Expenditure Management and Control"; (22) "Looking at the Big Picture"; and (23) "Looking Ahead." Two appendices contain a listing of Internet resources and a bibliography. (Contains 49 resource Web site addresses and 65 references.) (RT)

This is a description of a mythical election of mythical school board members in a mythical district in Illinois. The law, however, is based in Illinois statutes and court cases. The book is divided into four major sections, each of which is addressed to one of the important functionaries in the election process. The largest part is addressed to the secretary of the board of election. It takes him through the mythical election on a chronological basis. The foundation for this portion is the calendar of events, which is presented here. Sections also address the candidate for the board, the election judges, and the school attorney. Numerous legal forms are illustrated and key concepts are highlighted. (Author/IRT)

The purpose of this book is to answer questions regarding Illinois statutes, case law, and an administrative rules in force as of January 1, 1998. The book is designed for the lay men and women serving on school boards and in other official capacities, but it also answers legal questions commonly raised by teachers, parents, students, and others interested in public schools. Its two dozen chapters on such topics as student discipline, the educational program, education of the handicapped, teacher employment, collective bargaining, school elections, public meetings, budgeting, property taxes, and state aid present case examples. The information is presented in a question and answer format and features such questions as, "May a school board make sex education a required course offering?"; "Do citizens have a right to inspect instructional materials?"; "Is a moment of silence for voluntary prayer permissible?"; and "When may a school board hold a closed meeting?" All the information provided is fully documented as to where the law may be found, and an explanation of legal references tells the reader how to locate statutes and court rulings for more information. An index and approximately 760 case citations are included. (RJM)

This handbook is designed to help Illinois school administrators and school board members achieve fairness and legality in teacher dismissal proceedings. In their discussion, the authors focus entirely on the procedures to be followed once it appears that dismissal is warranted; they make no attempt to define the legitimate causes for dismissal or to deal with the ways in which administrators can compile evidence to support their charges. Frequent references and citations refer to provisions of the School Code of the 1973 Illinois Revised Statutes and to relevant decisions of Illinois and federal courts. Because of this heavy emphasis on Illinois state law, the value of the handbook to school officials in other states will be somewhat limited. (Author/JG)

School boards must recognize that bargaining with unionized teachers is becoming inevitable. Attempts to postpone formal negotiation usually result in giving away more by accident than would have been the case in the formal situation. While it is true that formal bargaining involves an adversary relationship between school boards and teachers, serious conflict is most easily avoided if both sides prepare seriously and recognize the realities of the process, including the fact that the process deals not with the needs of teachers as individuals, but with their needs as a group. As the public's representative in the negotiation process, the school board has a responsibility to limit the scope of the negotiations as much as possible. To this end the board relies on its credibility in the community as a source of strength. The union finds its strength not only in the board's failure of credibility, but in emotional confrontation with a board that is neither prepared nor willing to bargain seriously. (Author/PGD)

The authors define management as "the process of making an organization purposeful and effective; it involves selecting, appraising, and developing people and linking them in their jobs in a way that enables an organization to achieve desired results." The authors divide their discussion into three parts. The first, "Management in Education," looks at the current state of the art, the potential benefits of sound management, and what school boards can do to encourage development of a true management process for their districts. The second, "Elements of Management," offers both basic principles and specific examples of what makes for good management. Chapters in this section cover getting organized to manage, building a management team, planning, information for decision-making, performance appraisal, the selection and development of teachers, paying for performance, and public and employee relations. The third, "School Boards on the Job," examines some practical realities that make schools different from other organizations, the nature of school boards, and the role of the superintendent. (Author/IRT)