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For Michigan, like many other states, providing noninstructional services strains public school district budgets. School districts provide more transportation, food, maintenance, and counseling services than ever before. In some cases, noninstructional expenses exceed classroom expenses. Seven states, including Michigan, employ more nonteachers than teachers. Consequently, Michigan spends less than 50 cents of every education dollar in the classroom. Without commenting on whether school districts should be providing so many noninstructional services, this guide offers ways for Michigan school districts to manage effectively and efficiently the noninstructional aspects of public education while remaining competitive in the new school-choice environment. This is not a comprehensive assessment of how all Michigan school districts are operating; rather, it is a selection of good ideas and their implementation. Specifically, this guide suggests six "habits" for fiscal responsibility: (1) Minimize administrative costs; (2) take advantage of cost savings from outsourcing noninstructional services; (3) manage employee health benefits effectively; (4) structure capital costs effectively; (5) participate in Michigan's schools-of-choice program; and (6) reform collective bargaining. This guide includes examples of fiscally responsible, as well as fiscally irresponsible, school districts in Michigan and other places. (Contains 2 figures and 53 endnotes, some of which include references.) (WFA)

This report examines what share of the current level of child poverty in the United States can be attributed to the growth of single parenthood since the 1960s, focusing on what the child poverty rate would be today if single parent families had remained at the levels that existed before the beginning of the war on poverty. Researchers simulated the effects of higher marriage rates using data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the year 2000. They matched a portion of single parents with potential spouses who were identical in age, race, and educational level, then hypothetically joined these couples into one household and determined whether they would be poor based on the couple's combined income. Results found that the decline of marriage since the 1960s has been a substantial factor behind the current high levels of child poverty. Child poverty would be nearly a third lower today if the traditional two-parent family had not deteriorated over the past 3 decades. The results show that when poor single mothers are married to single men of similar age, race, and education, their marriage lifts the family out of poverty in about 80 percent of the cases. (Contains eight tables and two charts.) (SM)

This study uses National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data to analyze differences in black and white child poverty. The NLSY documents family income and underlying conditions such as employment, educational attainment, welfare use, and marriage or divorce. This analysis examines: time in poverty, time on welfare, time in a single parent home, mother's math and verbal skill level, number of children born to the child's mother, mother's age at first birth, regional variables, rural residence, and racial group. Results indicate that welfare dependence and single parenthood are the major underlying factors producing child poverty. Increases in time on welfare, time in a single parent family, and number of siblings lead to increases in a child's time in poverty. Increases in a mother's math and verbal skills lead to decreases in a child's time in poverty. Race per se is not a significant factor in directly increasing child poverty. Black children have the same poverty rate as white children who are raised in similar circumstances. However, black children are more likely to be poor than white children primarily because they are more likely to live in single parent homes and be on welfare. Technical specifications are appended. (SM)