In terms of the future, this is difficult to foresee. Nonetheless, a feature which gains more and more popularity is the possibility for the No Child Left Behind Act to further increase the bargaining powers of the teacher and their unions. In such a context then, the policy making process would be more influenced by the teachers' unions.

At the same level of impasses which need resolution, Joan E. Pynes and Joan M. Lafferty take a more distant approach. Unlike Paul Manna, who emphasizes on the specifics of the NCLB act, Pynes and Lafferty take a more objective stand to the problems in the public sector and create a list of the means to be used in resolving impasses; their approach is more distant and more education, without revealing opinions or implications.

According to Paynes and Lafferty, the more common means to resolving impasses in the public sector are represented by mediation, fact finding...

In the case of mediation, the conflicting parties solicit the consultancy of an impartial mediator who listens to the problem and proposes a solution; the adoption of the solution is conditioned by the approval of both conflicting parties. Fact finding is similar to mediation, with the difference that it is more based on evidence. Finally, arbitration is also a professional effort aimed at resolving a dispute through the intervention of a third party, with the difference that the decision of the arbitrator is binding to the conflicting parties.