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| a geographic subdivision of state government |
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| : political jurisdictions, such as, cities, towns, incorporated under state law to a defined geographic area. More compact and more densely populated than counties |
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| local government unites crated for a single purpose, such as water distribution |
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| a form of county governance in which executive, legislative, and administrative powers are vested in elected commissioners |
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| a form of county governance where legislative powers are vested in a county commission and executive powers are vested in an independently elected executive |
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| Commission-Administrator System |
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Definition
| a form of county governance where executive and legislative powers reside with an elected commission, which hires a professional executive to manage the day-to-day operations of a government |
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| incorporated political jurisdiction formed to provide self-governance to a locality |
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| a common type of government whose powers, governance structure, and legal status vary considerably from state to state. In some states townships function as general purpose municipalities, in others they are geographic subdivisions of counties with few responsibilities and little power |
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| the elected chief executive of a municipality |
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| a municipality’s legislature |
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| an official appointed to be the chief administrator of a municipality |
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| : a form of municipal governance in which there is an elected executive and an elected legislature |
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| mayor with the power to perform the executive functions of government |
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| a mayor who lacks true executive powers, such as the ability to veto council decisions or appoint department heads |
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| divisions of municipalities, usually representing electoral districts of the city council |
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| a form of municipal governance in which the day-to-day administration of government is carried out by a professional administrator |
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| a form of municipal governance in which executive, legislative, and administrative powers are vested in elected city commissioners |
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| Town Meeting Form of Government |
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| a form of governance where legislative powers are held by local citizens |
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| the legal principle that says local governments can exercise only the powers granted to them by the state government |
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| the right of localities to self-government, usually granted through a charter |
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| a document that outlines the powers, organization, and responsibilities of a local government |
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| charters that grant powers, such as home rule, to all municipal governments within a state |
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| charters that grant powers, such as home rule, to a single municipal government |
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| Ward or District Elections |
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| elections in which voters in a municipal ward vote for a candidate to represent them on a council or commission |
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| : elections in which city or county voters vote for council or commission members |
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| a populous region typically compromised of a city and surrounding communities having a high degree of social and economic integration |
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| Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA): |
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| an area with a city of fifty thousand or more people, together with adjacent urban communities that have strong ties to the central city |
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| urban area made up of several large cities and their surrounding urban areas |
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| office and retail complexes without clear boundaries |
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| the rapid growth of a metropolitan area, typically as a result of specific types of zoning and development |
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| regulations that control how land can be used |
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| development practices that spread (rather than concentrate) populations across the land |
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| developments that jump- or leapfrog- over established developments, leaving undeveloped or underdeveloped land between developments |
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| : fees that municipalities charge builders of new housing or commercial developments to help offset the costs of extending services |
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| an outcome of low-density development, when owning a car for transportation becomes a necessity |
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| a demographic trend in which the middle and upper classes leave central cities for predominantly white suburbs |
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| municipalities in rural areas that ring suburbs. They typically serve as bedroom communities for the prosperous, providing rural homes with easy access to urban areas |
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| an approach to filling gaps in service and reducing redundancies in local governments that calls for regional-level solutions |
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| Urban Growth Boundary (UGB): |
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| the border established around urban areas that is intended to control the density and type of development |
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| A planning and advisory organization whose members include multiple local governments. Region councils often are used to administer state and federal programs that are regionally targeted |
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| Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO): |
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| a regional organization that decides how federal transportation funds are allocated within a regional area |
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| : environmentally friendly development practices, particularly those that emphasize more efficient infrastructure and less dependence on automobiles |
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| City-County Consolidation |
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| the merger of separate local government in an effort to reduce bureaucratic redundancy and service inefficiencies |
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| legal incorporation of one jurisdiction or territory into another |
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| : the physical rehabilitation of urban areas, which attracts investment from developers and drives up property values |
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| a model of politics that views governments and public services in market terms; governments are seen as producers of public services and citizens are seen as consumers |
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| a model of local government based on market principles wherein a metro area is made up of a series of micropolitical jurisdictions that, on the basis of their services and costs, attract or repel certain citizens |
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| the movement of rural youth and middle classes to more urban areas |
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| the money governments bring in, mainly from taxes |
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| a measurement of taxes paid |
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| when the money coming into the government falls below the money being spent |
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| system in which the tax rate paid reflects the ability to pay |
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| a reaction to high taxes that often results in ballot initiatives to cap tax growth |
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| charges levied by governments in exchange for services; a type of hidden tax |
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| taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and other similar products that are designed to raise revenues and reduce usage |
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| taxes levied on a person’s estate or total holdings after that person’s death |
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| taxes imposed on money transfers made during an individual lifetime |
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| : taxes levied by the state and local governments on purchases |
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| : taxes that do not alter spending habits or behavior patterns and therefore do not distort the distribution of resources |
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| : taxes levied on all taxpayers, regardless of income or ability to pay; they tend to place proportionally more of a burden on those with lower incomes |
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| taxes on natural resources |
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| money collected from contributions, assessments, insurance premiums, or payroll taxes |
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| Intergovernmental Transfers |
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Definition
| funds provided by the federal government to state governments and by state governments to local governments |
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| measurement of the ability to pay taxes |
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| a measure of taxes paid relative to the ability to pay taxes |
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| a payment made to stockholders, or in Alaska’s case, residents, from the interest generated off an investment |
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| certificates that are evidence of a debt on which the issuer promises to pay the holder a specified amount of interest for a specified length of time and to repay the loans on their maturity |
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| investments in infrastructure, such as roads |
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| investments secured by the taxing power of the jurisdiction that issues them |
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| : investments secured by the revenue generated by a state or municipal project |
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| bonds issued by states, counties, cities, and towns to fund large projects as well as operating budgets. They are exempt from federal taxes and from state and local taxes for the investors who live in the state where they are issued |
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| the procedure by which state and local governments assess revenues and set budgets |
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| the accounting period used by a government |
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| A budget in which current expenditures are equal to or less than the income |
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| money spent by government |
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| spending controlled in annual appropriations acts |
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| the system by which federal grants are used to fund programs and services provided by state and local governments |
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| No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): |
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Definition
| federal law enacted in January 2002 that introduced new accountability measures for elementary and secondary schools in all states that wish to receive federal aid |
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Definition
| in a democratic society, a school in which children of all income levels attend at taxpayer expense |
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| : top policymaking body in each of the fifty states, usually consisting of appointees selected by governors |
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| a movement against modern education “fads” and a return to an emphasis on traditional core subjects such as reading, writing, and arithmetic |
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Definition
| fixed criteria for learning that students are expected to reach in specific subjects by specific grade years |
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| High-Stakes Standardized Testing |
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Definition
| : testing of elementary and secondary students in which poor results can mean either that the student fails to get promoted or that the school loses its accreditation |
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Definition
| elected or appointed bodies that determine major policies and budgets for each of the nation’s school districts |
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Definition
| state-level agencies responsible for over-seeing public education |
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| Teacher Licensure Procedures |
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Definition
| the academic degrees, work experience, and performance on adult standardized tests a state requires before a teacher candidate can be certified to work in a school district |
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Definition
| certification process in which outside experts visit and evaluate a school or college to vouch for minimum quality standards |
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Term
| Local Education Agencies (LEAS): |
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Definition
| school districts, some of which may be cities, or counties, or subsets thereof |
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Definition
| local administrative jurisdictions that hire staff and report to school boards on management of area public schools |
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| a category of school funding that focuses on long term improvement to physical assets |
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Definition
| education model that uses observed spending levels in the highest performing schools as models from which to calculate necessary spending in other, lower performing schools |
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| Criterion Referenced Tests |
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Definition
| standardized tests designed to gauge a student’s level of mastery of a given set of materials |
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Definition
| standardized tests designed to determine how a student’s mastery of a set of materials compares with that of a specifically designed sampling of students determined to be the national “norm” for their age group |
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| National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): |
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Definition
| known as the “nation’s report card.” This is the only regularly conducted independent survey of what a nationally representative sample of students in grades four, eight, and twelve known and can do in various subjects |
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| Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS): |
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Definition
| launched by the United States in 1995, it is a regularly updated study that compares performance in science and mathematics of students from forty-six countries |
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| General Equivalency Degree (GED) Program |
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Definition
| a series of tests that can be taken to qualify for a high school equivalency certificate or diploma |
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Definition
| movement to increase freedom for building administration such as school principals to determine how district funds are spent at a given school |
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Definition
| effort to create benchmarks of adequate learning in each subject for each grade level so that students and teachers can be evaluated on mastery of this predetermined material |
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| the Educate America Act, signed into law in March 1994, that provided resources to states and communities to ensure that all students reached their full potential |
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| Kentucky Education Reform Act |
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Definition
| the 1990 law passed in response to court findings of unacceptable disparities among schools and considered the most comprehensive state school reform act to date |
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| Elementary and Secondary Education Act |
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Definition
| : federal law passed in 1965 as part of President Johnson’s Great Society initiative; steered federal funds to improve local schools, particularly those attended primarily by low income and minority students |
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| public schools often with unique themes, managed by teachers, principals, social workers, or nonprofit groups. The movement was launched in the early 1990s |
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Definition
| movement dating to the 1950s to allow taxpayer dollars to be given to families to use at whatever public, private, or parochial school they choose |
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| the education of children in the home; a movement to grant waivers from state truancy laws to permit parents to teach their own children |
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| primarily the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers both headquartered in Washington, D.C. |
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| : founded in 1897 this umbrella organization of state-based and school-based parent-teacher associations consists of volunteers who work to improve and support schools |
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| the theory that certain features of the universe and living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as evolution |
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| supervised punishment in the community |
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| law composed of judges’ legal opinions that reflects community practices and evolves over time |
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| a jury’s finding in a trial |
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| : a theory advanced by criminologists that harsh penalties will deter people from committing crimes |
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| Professional Model Policing |
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| : an approach to policing that emphasizes professional relations with citizens, police independence, police in cars, and rapid responses to calls for service |
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| an approach that emphasizes relationships with neighborhoods and collaborative problem solving |
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| policing that emphasizes maintaining public order |
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| ultra-violent youths whom experts predicted would further drive up the nation’s crime rate |
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| Supermax Security Prisons |
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| high-security prisons designed for violent criminals |
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| an alternative forum for sentencing nonviolent drug offenders |
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| Community, or Restorative, Justice Movement |
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Definition
| a movement that emphasizes nontraditional punishment |
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