ABSTRACT
Local officials often bristle over having to get state permission to do even the most routine activities and over the lack of state financial support. Most states routinely collect a great deal of financial information on local governments such as budgets, audits and financial reports but less than half of the states regularly monitor the fiscal health of localities looking for signs of financial distress. Several factors seem to be involved in the decision of state lawmakers in a majority of the states to stay away from getting actively involved in the financial affairs of local governments. State intervention in the affairs of local school districts, like intervention in the affairs of municipalities, has a long history. Actual takeovers of operationally or academically troubled school districts, however, are a relatively new phenomenon, dating back to the late 1980s when states began to take action to improve school performance.
