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Available in English or French, this reference guide summarizes the funding of Manitoba public schools for the 2000-2001 school year. School funding for operating and capital expenses is administered by the provincial government. Following a list of 2000-2001 revisions to the Schools Finance Program, the first section describes base support. The formula for calculating support for recognized expenditures is discussed. Manitoba has many small and rural schools, and the formula makes allowances for low enrollments, population sparsity, and rural and northern school divisions. Also discussed are funds for curricular materials, information technology, library services, Level I special needs, early behavior intervention, early identification, counseling and guidance, and professional development. The second section describes categorical support for transportation for urban and rural students and those with disabilities; room and board for students attending schools more than 80 kilometers away from home; special needs; technology and vocational education; English as a second language; English language enrichment for Native students; heritage language programs (for Native students); French language programs; small schools (having fewer than 21 elementary or 56 secondary students per grade level); students at risk; decreasing enrollment; remoteness allowance; new schools; and early literacy intervention. Formulas for supplementary support and capital support are described. Appendices contain information on the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine, school choice and transportation funding, adult learning centres, transportation funding rates, and bus depreciation. (SV)

The rapid expansion of charter schools would suggest that there is evidence of their effectiveness, but this is not the case. The lack of objective evidence of their success reinforces the claim that charter school reforms are political and ideological rather than educational reforms. The arguments in favor of charter schools have exploited some myths, and these myths have swayed some people whose goals are to strengthen the quality of public education. The following myths are addressed and countered: (1) there is a crisis in public education; (2) thecharter school movement invented school choice; (3) charter schools make choice equally available to all; (4) the competition of market forces improves the quality of education; (5) charter schools improve curriculum, instruction, and student achievement; (6) charter schools promote equity; (7) results from charter schools have been favorable; (8) charter schools break the "gridlock" of bureaucracy; (9) teachers support charter schools; and (10) charter schools are an innovative educational reform. (Contains 67 references) (SLD)

Three problems of New York City (New York) schools--overpopulation, low academic standards, violence--are examined, and an effort led by parent and teacher organizations to improve conditions is described. Threatened closings (schools under registration review, SURR) and a program of violence reduction (Straight Talk about Risks, STAR) are noted. (MSE)

Educational policy in Viet Nam has closely followed the revolutionary movement. In the essentially democratic period from 1945 to 1960, Viet Nam created a nationwide 10-grade school system and fought illiteracy on a large scale. By 1960, as socialism began to predominate, especially in the North, traditional educational methods and values began to give way before the new principle of combining productive work with teaching. In 1976 the Communist Party Congress provided the nation with a work-study plan based on the experience of pilot schools such as Hoa Binh, in which young veterans of the battle for liberation were brought together as early as 1958 to do productive work, learn at the middle and secondary levels, create a self-supporting economic enterprise, and become the new socialist workers of the immediate future. Other work-study schools have since been established in both urban and rural areas, often with difficulty and sometimes in affiliation with existing industry instead of autonomously. Currently, work-study students receive a generalized education, political instruction, and specific work experience in areas such as agriculture, fisheries, textile work, management techniques, road work, and building construction. (SB)