Selected State Reports

• Financing Local Services in Illinois, by Norman Walzer for Cooperative Extension Service, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1979), 222pp.

This extensive study, based on the 1977 5-year Census of Governments, attempts to clarify the highly complex system of local government finance in this state. After presenting an overview of the project and a profile of Illinois, the author discusses county, township and municipal governments as well as special districts. There is also a separate section on the property tax as a revenue source since most local governments rely heavily on this tax.

• Pioneer's Progress: Illinois College, 1829-1979, by Charles E. Frank, Southern Illinois University Press (1979), 409pp. ($17.50)

Written in celebration of the sesquicentennial of the oldest college in the state, this book traces the history of Illinois College in Jacksonville from the autumn of 1825 when a New England missionary determined a need for a seminary in this area of the burgeoning Middle West. Today the college has 800 students and has a heavy emphasis on teaching and a strong commitment to college-community relations.

• Illinois Constitutional Law, by Ann Lousin. Available from The John Marshall Law School Bookstore, 315 S. Plymouth Ct., Chicago 60604. ($8.75)

The materials presented in this volume were used in a course on Illinois Constitutional Law at the John Marshall Law School, based on the 1970 Constitution and litigation arising from it. Divided into eight parts and 30 chapters, the materials deal with such topics as home rule, education, property taxes and basic constitutional principles. Each chapter presents relevant court decisions and raises a number of questions for discussion.

• Teacher Benefits: How to Compute Costs, Compare and Evaluate, Illinois Association of School Boards, 330 Iles Park Place, Springfield 62718 (March 1980), 51pp. ($5.00)

Illinois school boards spend $450 million a year for employee benefits. A typical teacher earning $16,000 receives an additional 25 percent — $4,000 — in fringe benefits. This booklet provides a systematic method for computing these benefit costs, comparative data, criteria for evaluating programs, and suggestions for controlling costs and negotiating benefits.

• Resource Guide for Community Arts Development, by Donne Bartholomew and Christina Tannen, for Illinois Arts Council (1979), 59pp. Available from the council at 111 N. Wabash, Chicago 60602.

This guide is designed to assist arts administrators, whether in urban or rural areas, in finding such sources as books, periodicals and service organizations. It includes sections on profiling a community, developing a program, promoting the program, finding support, and questions about laws and regulations./A.J.M.

16/December 1980/Illinois Issues