Foreign languages

Lesson 11. LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF THE USA

Americans are citizens of both nation and state; but they also come under the jurisdiction of various local government units. These units include municipal
governments, the governments of cities and towns. Municipalities, in turn, are located in counties, which are administered by county governments. In addition, most Americans also live in a school districts, which is responsible for administering local elementary and secondary educational programs. They also may be served by one or more special districts, government units created to perform particular functions, often when those functions are best performed across jurisdictional boundaries. Examples of special districts include the Port Authority of New York, the Chicago Sanitary District, and the South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority. These local governments are created by state governments either in their constitutions or through legislation. This means their organizations, powers, responsibilities, and effectiveness vary considerably from state to state. The function of national, state, city, and county governments and of schools and special districts often overlap.


E x e r c i s e 1. Make up sentences with the following words and expressions.

various local government, in turn, units, to locate, South East Pennsylvania, counties, municipal governments, to administer, Transit Authority, municipality, school districts, responsible, vary, to creat, jurisdictional legislation, boundaries, local elementary and secondary educational programs, Port Authority of organization, New York, Chicago Sanitary powers, district.

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