1.) What phenomena explain the dramatic decrease in the number of school districts from 1952 to 2002? (Figure 1.1, page 247)
A large part of the consolidation of school districts has to do (perhaps unsurprisingly) with budgetary concerns. Just like corporations have tried to adopt "do more with less" approaches in times of austerity, so to have school districts attempted to consolidate in many cases and fold over resources while eliminating redundancy (a euphemistic term that translates to: fire people who hold duplicate positions as other people). This actually ties nicely into...
A large part of the consolidation of school districts has to do (perhaps unsurprisingly) with budgetary concerns. Just like corporations have tried to adopt "do more with less" approaches in times of austerity, so to have school districts attempted to consolidate in many cases and fold over resources while eliminating redundancy (a euphemistic term that translates to: fire people who hold duplicate positions as other people). This actually ties nicely into...
2.) What phenomena explain the dramatic increase in the number of special districts from 1952 to 2002? (Figure 1.1, page 247)
Which is at least partly explained by the answer to question 1. Special districts (also known as "special-purpose districts") are legal bodies created by local governments that are effectively independent from those government in certain ways when it comes to finances, administration, etc. I like the name special purpose district better, because it accurately describes why it is usually created. In this case probably to allow for the dynamic changes we've seen when it comes to things like the consolidation of school districts.
Which is at least partly explained by the answer to question 1. Special districts (also known as "special-purpose districts") are legal bodies created by local governments that are effectively independent from those government in certain ways when it comes to finances, administration, etc. I like the name special purpose district better, because it accurately describes why it is usually created. In this case probably to allow for the dynamic changes we've seen when it comes to things like the consolidation of school districts.
3.) What are the advantages for the citizens of weak-mayor forms of local government?
We talked a little about this in class but to quickly summarize: it basically seemed reasonable that when it came to large cities (think San Francisco) which can often be fairly diverse and geographically distant, to have a mayor who has much larger power than in smaller cities. In those smaller cities a weak mayor form of government works because it is relatively easy for the people of Belmont to form a city council and decide to have trash pickup come Thursdays instead of Wednesdays. Try doing that in San Francisco through a democratic process involving members of each community, and you might have new-found appreciation for weak-mayor forms of government.
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We talked a little about this in class but to quickly summarize: it basically seemed reasonable that when it came to large cities (think San Francisco) which can often be fairly diverse and geographically distant, to have a mayor who has much larger power than in smaller cities. In those smaller cities a weak mayor form of government works because it is relatively easy for the people of Belmont to form a city council and decide to have trash pickup come Thursdays instead of Wednesdays. Try doing that in San Francisco through a democratic process involving members of each community, and you might have new-found appreciation for weak-mayor forms of government.
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