School Administrators and Compliance: Public Aid to Parochial Education

Abstract

The study asks, “How do public school administrators respond when the state legislature breaks sharply with tradition and mandates that the resources of the state textbook fund be made available to private as well as public school students?” Two measures of compliance were devised that revealed a low level of service to parochial schools in general, and considerable variation in the service provided by the twenty-five districts studied. The author argues that the failure to achieve full compliance does not seem to be specific to the church/state issue, to the antagonistic position of the public school officials, or to the peculiarities of educational politics. Rather, implementation of this legislative mandate simply reflects, and is constrained by, the conditions that influence public policy implementation in all areas. To increase compliance with school laws, and in this case, public school service to the private sector, the author suggests that concerned and involved publics both recognize and apply political strategies that have proved effective in non-educational policy areas.