One of the unique aspects of education in Quebec is a strong private sector. It is well rooted in the province's history and tradition. This study offers a preliminary examination into the historical development of policies in the area of private education in Quebec. / The first two pieces of legislation governing private schools provided subsidies of 100% at par with the public sector. These early laws were repealed and replaced by the Act respecting Private Education. / In August 1991, the government proposed a new and comprehensive piece of legislation. Following the first reading of this Bill a parliamentary commission was established to study the proposed law. Over 15 groups expressed their reactions in briefs to this commission. The Bill was harshly criticized by those opposed to public funding of private schools. It was also criticized by those in favor of the private sector. Given the negative reactions from groups opposed and groups in favor, government ministers decided that the Bill must be changed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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Determining the costs of special education in public and nonpublic settings is an important undertaking necessary for policy formulation and implementation. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-112) and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142) require that all handicapped children receive a free, appropriate, publicly supported education. Further, P.L. 94-142 mandates: education in the least restrictive environment, a continuum of alternative placements, and that handicapped children in private schools be provided special education and related services at no cost to their parent(s) or guardian(s) provided that such children are referred or placed by the public agency. In the context of fiscal accountability, the issue of providing comparable services for the least amount of expenditure in special education has become a critical one. Local education agencies (LEAs) are continually faced with decisions of whether to pay for nonpublic placements of handicapped pupils or provide public placements often at the expense of starting new programs and services for a small number of pupils. To date, most LEAs have been unable to accurately analyze and compare these costs. This study developed a framework to be used for descriptive and comparative analysis of costs of public and nonpublic programs and services utilized for handicapped pupils. Borg's model of research and development procedures was used with modifications to include expert panel review at preliminary product development and product revision stages. The framework was tested in six LEAs within Virginia which represent county and city divisions in high, medium, and low population settings. Ten nonpublic day and residential programs utilized by the LEAs were selected for analysis. Analyzed public per-pupil costs by handicapping condition and environment were compared to the analyzed per-pupil costs to the LEA for nonpublic special education programs by handicapping condition and environment. The product of this study may assist LEAs in policy formulation and implementation concerning the placement of handicapped pupils. / Ed. D.

This study analyzed the performance of a sample of K-12 Assemblies of God Christian school principals on the Christian School Principal Preparation Assessment Questionnaire (CSPPAQ). The CSPPAQ, developed especially for this study, assesses knowledge in three areas: knowledge of the Bible, knowledge of private school law, and knowledge of business and finance. A sample size of 102 was determined using the sample size formula, based on a population of 611and a bound of 4 (+ 2). Numerous school closures over the course of this study caused the population size to drop to 490. This fact, coupled with a 45% survey return rate called for an adjustment of the bound to 6.4 (+ 3.2) for a sample size of 42. The scores in each of the three sub-areas as well as the composite score were then analyzed to determine if there was a statistically significant relationship between principals without a graduate degree and those with a graduate degree in Bible/theology, educational leadership and other (any other graduate degree). A single factor ANOVA procedure was used and determined that no statistically significant relationship exists for mean score in knowledge of the Bible (F=1.05, p > .05). Mean score for knowledge of private school law showed a marginally significant difference (F=2.8, p=.054). Mean score in knowledge of business and finance also showed no significant relationship (F=1.7, p > .05) with the same result for the composite score (F=2.18, p > .05). Mean scores in the areas of private school law and business and finance were low (18.7 and 16.2 respectively). Calculating a percentage score for these areas would compute to 53% (18.7/35) and 54% (16.2/30) respectively, indicating a low knowledge base for these areas. Percentage composite score was also low at 63% (55.2/88). iii The data showed that it did not seem to make a difference whether the respondents had attained a graduate degree in any of the tested fields; there was little or no significant difference in their score. This evidence suggests that no current study program adequately prepares an individual with the knowledge base needed to effectively lead a Christian school, especially in the areas of private school law and business and finance. Given that the review of literature showed that Christian schools most often fail due to financial reasons, this finding is particularly significant. It was suggested that universities look at the principal preparation programs to determine if they can add material which would help to better prepare the Christian school principal. This study indicates a knowledge deficit in the areas of business and finance and private school law, materials added in those areas might prove helpful to this group. Follow-on study was suggested in a larger population of Christian schools, perhaps in the Association of Christian Schools International, to more definitively determine if specially designed graduate programs need to be developed for this population of administrators.