Children comprise the largest group of poor Canadians. While childhood poverty is closely related to a number of factors pertaining to the structure and functioning of families, such as parental marital status and wage-earning patterns, the poverty of children is a consequence of the poverty of families. As such, childhood poverty can be reduced…

The paper discusses alternative forms of financing for postsecondary education. Most will agree that higher education is too costly to leave to the natural devices of the marketplace. The basic fiscal alternatives are: (1) to privatize the offerings of educational services and the decision to buy them; (2) to make the offering of educational…

The study examines the issue of wife abuse in a rural area, assesses major service interventions suggested by the literature, and evaluates their practicality in rural areas. The area used for the study was the 10 rural and most southern counties in Southern Illinois, characterized by high unemployment and low per capita income. A questionnaire…

Defining public services as the basic community/regional services which are provided to residents through tax receipts and service charges, this publication identifies variables for each service group and presents them in the form of questions that communities should find useful when analyzing impacts of growth. After listing questions dealing…

THREE MAJOR QUESTIONS ARE RAISED--(1) WHAT IS MEANT BY POVERTY AND TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE OVERALL AMOUNT OF POVERTY DEPEND ON THE SORT OF MEASURING ROD USED. (2) HOW MANY AND WHAT PROPORTION OF THE NATION'S CHILDREN ARE GROWING UP IN POVERTY. AND (3) WHERE, GEOGRAPHICALLY AND SOCIALLY, ARE THESE CHILDREN OF THE POOR TO BE FOUND. POVERTY IS…

This report explores the dimensions of the potential loss of low-rent housing, its causes, and the possible solutions. Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2, "Housing the Poor: Trends and Issues," includes the following sections: (1) "Trends in the Incidence of Poverty"; and (2) "Trends in Low Rent Housing." Chapter…

This report presents the Children's Defense Fund's (CDF) recommendations for spending the fiscal year 1998-1999 Minnesota state budget surplus. The intent of the CDF plan is four-fold: (1) emphasizing long-term investments in children's well-being; (2) address children's immediate health and safety concerns; (3) contribute to the continued…

In rural Minnesota many school districts are limited in their efforts to restructure by low enrollment, rural geographic location, meager tax base, narrow staff experience, extensive job responsibilities for staff, restricted staff development opportunities, and lack of direction in curriculum coordination. Because of actual or perceived…

This Kids Count data book examines trends in the well-being of Kentucky children on a state-wide, county, and school district basis. An introductory essay finds a strong link between the percentage of adults completing high school in a given school district and various indicators: As the percentage of adults completing high school increases, the…

Over the last 30 years, the school choice movement has been one of the most prominent large-scale reform efforts in American education. In recent years, charter schools and voucher programs, in particular, have been a focus of policy makers and philanthropists. Mark Berends presents an overview of these two models, their prevalence, and what…

In an effort to estimate some of the components of the net social costs and benefits of rural-to-urban migration, 161 Lexington, Kentucky migrants (randomly selected via census data) who had migrated from the rural, economically depressed area of Eastern Kentucky were surveyed in 1971 to gather information re: their last year in Eastern Kentucky…

This study examines the consequences of alternative financing arrangements for secondary and elementary education. There is an analysis of the characteristics of the present system of State aid. The study evaluates the incidence of major State and local taxes and then determines the distributional consequences of shifting from local to State…

Data reports from South Carolina's 92 independent school districts during 1980-81 were used to calculate prevalence rates of mental retardation and learning disabilities. These prevalence rates were 41.66/1,000 children enrolled for mental retardation and 33.21/1,000 children enrolled for learning disabilities. Additional analysis showed that…

The purpose of this monograph is to stimulate discussion of vertical equity through an assessment of the funding systems in four states (California, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin) that ascertains how and to what extent at-risk factors are addressed. (In education, children defined as at risk of low academic achievement or of dropping out…

This report on young adolescents 10 to l5 years old, who are on their own from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. discusses after-school programs, barriers to providing a broader array of programs, and strategies for decision making about after-school opportunities for latchkey children. Explored are the nature and extent of the problem, its multiple causes and…