STATE EDUCATIONAL POLICY MAKING -- AN ANALYSIS: THE FORMULATION OF THE POLICY GOVERNING THE ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE EDUCATION AGENCY\u27S FUNDS AUTHORIZED BY THE EDUCATION CONSOLIDATION AND IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1981

The purpose of this research was to conduct a field study of the formulation of a state educational funding policy. A review of the literature indicated that research which focused on state educational policy making was survey based and concentrated on the character of interest groups, the properties of state governmental agencies and the relationships between educators and policy makers. Research which explored the exercise of power and treated the making of actual policies tended to be community based. There was relatively little research about the exercise of power at the state level in educational policy formulation. Charles Lindblom\u27s Play of Power was used as the theoretical construct which guided this research. The methodology used for the study was that of participant observer. Data were collected through observations, interviews and document analysis. The study (A) Explored the formal rules which constrained and guided the actors. (B) Examined the predispositions that constrained and guided the actors and actor groups. (C) Looked at the power strategies available to the actors, what power strategies they employed and how the strategies played off between and among the actors. An analysis of the incidents, the actors and the formal and informal rules which constrained and guided them substantiates the following conclusions. (1) Policy makers choose power strategies which, over time, close out the use of other strategies and gradually constrict the policy-making arena. (2) Policy is the sum of the efforts of many people specialized by tasks and powers. (3) Policy makers will delegate and concede their powers. (4) Policy makers will seek policies that do not threaten the policy-making process, their organization or the government in general. (5) Policy actors who do not have the power to decide must consider the values of those whom they hope to persuade. (6) Policy makers are incapacitated if they seek policies which address issues rather than values. (7) Policy making is in response to a stimulus, the purpose of which is to achieve stasis