59.71 59.14 Records where kept; public examination; rebinding; transcribing. Offices, where kept; when open (Penalty provision). Opinions, Cases and Law Journal Articles: State ex rel. Journal Co. v. County Court for Racine County, 43 Wisc. 2d 297, 168 N.W. 2d 836 (1969). Who may inspect records. General right to inspect. Board of School Dirs. of City of Milwaukee v. Wis. Employment Relations Comm., 42 Wisc. 2d 637, 168 N. W. 2d 92 (1969). List of newly-hired teachers is public. Beckon v. Emery, 36 Wisc. 2d 510, 153 N. W. 2d 501 (1967). Traffic citations are public. Discussion of scope of right to inspect. State ex rel. Youmans v. Owens, 28 Wisc. 2d 672, 139 N.W. 2d 241 (1966). Right to inspect is expanded beyond common law right. Opinions of the Attorney General: Op. Atty. Gen., July 16, 1969. Discussion of right to inspect. 20 Op. Atty. Gen., 493 (1931). Reports of school district clerk are public records. 38 Op. Atty. Gen., 22 (1949). Duties of municipal clerks. 68-412 O 72 pt. 16D-1 - 9 A PARTING WORD Like Tennyson's Brook, the struggle for equal justice goes on forever. It must be pressed on every hand by the governed as well as the governors, the professionals as well as the non-professionals, and the educated as well as the not-so-educated, by you and by me. Vital to justice is intelligence born out of information. We, therefore, throw down this book as a gauntlet to be used in the quest for that intelligence. Pick it up and use it now! Use it as a tool to enforce your right to know through litigation. There is no time in the future at which we can become informed. The challenge is in the moment, and the need for The Damned Information is always right now. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To the young law students and law graduates who volunteered much of their time in the preparation of this volume. To the parents in the several cities throughout the United States who contacted WIQE to relate their difficulties in acquiring information, particularly about their public schools, thus prompting the need for a publication like THE DAMNED INFORMATION. Finally to my wife, Tina, who volunteers much of her time to WIQE as an editor and rewriter. FROM CATHARINE BARRETT NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 Research Division September 1971 PRELIMINARY REPORT: TEACHER SUPPLY AND DEMAND IN PUBLIC THE SUPPLY OF PUBLIC-SCHOOL TEACHERS has surpassed the record level reported last year, and the demand for teachers to handle increased enrollments is at the lowest point in recent history. The improved supply this year has again reduced the extent that shortages are being reported, but shortages are continuing for qualified persons to fill positions in some assignments and in some localities. However, if schools were to increase their progress toward minimum standards of quality in educational staffing this year, the reports of shortages would be far more widespread. Enrollment growth will require the addition this year of about 19,000 teaching positions in public elementary and secondary schools. This increase is the lowest in at least 20 years. The alleviation of the general condition of teacher supply and demand this year is illustrated by the fact that the number of positions being added for fall 1971 is less than one-half of the number of new positions created during each year between 1954 and 1969 while the size of the graduating class prepared to enter teaching doubled between 1954 and 1964 and has been more than three times the 1954 levels since 1969. Record numbers of qualified potential teachers are expected to complete their preparation in time for entry into classrooms in fall 1971: 118,800 for elementaryschool assignments, 176,200 for secondary-school assignments, and 10,700 for assignments in special education at either level. At the elementary level this is an increase of 5.0 percent over last year; at the secondary level, 8.8 percent; and in special education, 16.1 percent. The supply and demand situation may be viewed from two perspectives: one based on immediate achievement of minimum standards of quality in educational staffing without reference to the obstacles to establishing and filling the positions which would be needed (Quality Criterion), and the other based on the number of positions which are likely to be available (Adjusted Trend Criterion). The first type of estimate is valuable for planning and viewing the long-term supply and demand situation and the second shows the status of teacher supply related to positions available as schools open this fall. Quality Criterion--Immediate achievement of minimum standards of quality in educational staffing would require a larger supply of beginning teachers than the number from the 1971 graduating class available for entry into classrooms. Based on these minimm standards and allowing for re-entry of qualified former teachers and entry into teaching by new graduates at the rates estimated for years when shortages were more widespread, the estimated shortage of qualified beginning teachers this fall is 301,600 in elementary schools and 199,200 in secondary schools--a total shortage of 500,800 qualified teachers. One year ago the shortage based on these same standards was 315,900 in elementary schools, 205,650 in secondary schools--a total of 521,550 qualified teachers. The standards of minimum quality include the estimated number of persons needed: *This preliminary report is based on the forthcoming report of the 24th annual national survey of teacher supply and demand in public elementary and secondary schools (Teacher Supply and Demand in Public Schools, 1971). |