Selected State Reports

State Documents

■ "Got a Complaint? A Guide to Consumer Action," available (free) by sending self-addressed, stamped envelope to Office of Inter-Agency Cooperation, Rm. 2010, 160 N. LaSalle, Chicago 60601 (English or Spanish versions)

This pocket-sized consumer guide instructs citizens on whom and where to write or call and what to say when they are dissatisfied with a product or service.

Other Reports

■ '"Small Towns, Big Grants: Federal Aid and Nonmetropolitan Local Governments in Illinois," by Alvin D. Sokolow, Illinois Government Research (Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois, 1201 W. Nevada St., Urbana, 61801), no. 49 (November 1979), 6pp. (Available from institute free of charge.)

In recent years small Illinois cities and villages have become new or greatly expanded participants in federal grant programs. They do not, however, share equally in the funds. This study suggests that aggressive grantsmanship, usually on the part of a local volunteer, is necessary for obtaining large sums from such programs.

■ "The Election of Illinois Representatives: Should Our System be Changed?" and "You and Your Taxes: Should There be Limits?" both published by the League of Women Voters of Illinois, 67 East Madison St., Chicago 60603 (75 cents per copy)

"The Election of Illinois Representatives" presents a brief history of cumulative voting, describes how the system works and gives both pro and con arguments on it; there is also a brief section on single member vs. multi-member districts. "You and Your Taxes" focuses primarily on the property tax, but also discusses the sales and income taxes, limitations on them, and tax relief measures. The final section argues the pros and cons of limits.

■Conditional Wealth Neutrality as a School Finance Equity Criterion in Illinois, by David P. Schmink, Ronald S. Halinski, G. Alan Hickrod and Ben C. Hubbard, Center for the Study of Educational Finance, Illinois State University, Normal 61761 (October 1979), 65pp.

Looking only at the relationship between district wealth and revenues available for education, this study concludes that those elementary and unit districts using the resource equalizer are very close to achieving wealth neutrality. However, over time it is clear that 1976 and 1978 amendments to the original 1973 reform have diminished the neutrality effects so much that the state is in fact regressing from the original goal.

Items listed under State Documents have been received by the Documents Unit, Illinois State Library, Springfield, and are usually available from public libraries in the state through inter-library loan./ A.J.M.

May 1980/Illinois Issues/7