Publications

IN 1997 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, in passing the Excellent Schools Act, made significant changes in all aspects of public school employment: teacher prepara- tion and certification, performance evaluation, acquisi- tion of tenure, employee demotions and suspensions, dismissal procedures, and salaries. In 1998, through a hodgepodge of session laws and special provisions in the Appropriations Act,...

THE 1990S HAVE SEEN ENORMOUS CHANGES in public school law. The General Assembly has acted on a wide range of issues, including a statewide school accountability program, administrator contracts, teacher tenure and dismissal, student discipline, funds for facilities and technology, authority and flexibility for local school units and individual schools, and charter schools.

In 1998,...

The 1998 session of the General Assembly was a relatively quiet one in the field of criminal law and procedure, or at least in what traditionally has been considered part of that field. Few changes were made in areas such as the elements of criminal offenses or pretrial and trial procedure.

The General Assembly was far more active in less traditional areas, but ones that more and more...

Ever since the first wave of state-initiated educational reforms began to be felt in the early 1980s, state responsibility for education has increasingly impinged on the local control of schools. State legislatures from across the country have been building upon their traditional roles of regulating and funding education by adopting policies that raise standards, promote accountability, and...