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Article 3
Legislative Update
Congress headed home for the Easter recess after reaching an agreement with President Obama
on the spending bill for the current fiscal year, called the Continuing Resolution.
on the spending bill for the current fiscal year, called the Continuing Resolution.
By: Steve Pines, EIA Executive Director
Published: April 30, 2011
The Budget
The Continuing Resolution includes more than $38 billion in cuts to education and it eliminates a number of education programs, including:
Educational Technology State Grants—$100 million.
Literacy Through School Libraries—$19 million.
Byrd Honors Scholarship Program—$42 million.
And it includes cuts to other education programs. For instance:
ESEA Reauthorization
The House Education and Workforce committee still lags behind the Senate in getting its Members up to speed on education policy and defining their vision of the federal government’s role in local education. Many newcomers to the House committee are new to Congress and some campaigned for the abolition of the US Department of Education. Still, Chairman Kline (R-MN) and his subcommittee chair Duncan Hunter (R-CA) are pledging to work with Democrats on a series of bills to re-write NCLB. The first bill may push for more flexibility at the state/local levels to implement parts of ESEA. House staffers contacted by EIA say they haven’t gotten to the SES provisions yet but they are thinking through what kind of interventions make sense for the lowest performing schools. Here, like in the Senate, there will be a delicate balancing of some federal mandates for failing schools and allowing more local decision-making on how to fix themselves.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee still says they are on track to get an ESEA reauthorization bill out of Committee in May-June. The Senate has this head-start since they had much continuity in Committee make-up and staff from last year when the re-write started. Leading Senate committee Republicans have told our lobbyists that they will support a continuation of SES, and in fact are participating with EIA and Tutor Our Children in the drafting of an amendment to improve tutoring services in a re-authorized ESEA.
Despite seeing a flurry of legislative activities in both Chambers over the summer and into the Fall, the “good money” is betting that time will run out and Congress will not reach agreement. This means that NCLB continues to “live” another year or two, likely into 2013 when a newly-elected (or re-elected) President takes office. Then we start all over again.
Published: April 30, 2011
The Budget
The Continuing Resolution includes more than $38 billion in cuts to education and it eliminates a number of education programs, including:
Educational Technology State Grants—$100 million.
Literacy Through School Libraries—$19 million.
Byrd Honors Scholarship Program—$42 million.
And it includes cuts to other education programs. For instance:
- School Improvement Grants would be funded at $536 million, a $10 million cut.
- Teaching American History would be cut by $73 million.
- The GEARUP and TRIO college access programs also would be cut. GEARUP, which got $323 million in fiscal year 2010, would lose $20 million. And TRIO, which got $910 million last year, would lose $25 million.
- 21st Century Learning Centers are reported to have been cut by $12.3 million.
ESEA Reauthorization
The House Education and Workforce committee still lags behind the Senate in getting its Members up to speed on education policy and defining their vision of the federal government’s role in local education. Many newcomers to the House committee are new to Congress and some campaigned for the abolition of the US Department of Education. Still, Chairman Kline (R-MN) and his subcommittee chair Duncan Hunter (R-CA) are pledging to work with Democrats on a series of bills to re-write NCLB. The first bill may push for more flexibility at the state/local levels to implement parts of ESEA. House staffers contacted by EIA say they haven’t gotten to the SES provisions yet but they are thinking through what kind of interventions make sense for the lowest performing schools. Here, like in the Senate, there will be a delicate balancing of some federal mandates for failing schools and allowing more local decision-making on how to fix themselves.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee still says they are on track to get an ESEA reauthorization bill out of Committee in May-June. The Senate has this head-start since they had much continuity in Committee make-up and staff from last year when the re-write started. Leading Senate committee Republicans have told our lobbyists that they will support a continuation of SES, and in fact are participating with EIA and Tutor Our Children in the drafting of an amendment to improve tutoring services in a re-authorized ESEA.
Despite seeing a flurry of legislative activities in both Chambers over the summer and into the Fall, the “good money” is betting that time will run out and Congress will not reach agreement. This means that NCLB continues to “live” another year or two, likely into 2013 when a newly-elected (or re-elected) President takes office. Then we start all over again.
Waivers to NCLB this Summer?
Many mainstream school associations including the AASA (superintendents), NASB (school boards), NEA (teachers union), among other stakeholder groups, have asked Secretary Duncan to waive SES, and the march to 2014 proficiency, all in the name of giving local schools relief from costly federal mandates in the upcoming school year. This was confirmed when EIA met with senior Education Department officials in early April. They have been bombarded with inquiries from school districts for more flexibility, but no such guidelines or policies have been issued impacting SES, yet.
Under NCLB, the Education Secretary has broad authority that has been exercised by past and current Administrations—usually to trade more flexibility sought by school districts in exchange for some policy goal of the Administration. For example:
Secretary Spellings allowed LEAs to become SES providers in a series of pilots that in Nov. 2007 became more widespread through changes in NCLB Regulations and invited LEAs nationwide to seek provider status. Spellings also conducted pilots to reverse the order in which Choice and SES were offered to students.
Secretary Duncan, as the result of a doubling of Title I funding through the stimulus bill, ARRA, invited states to seek waivers to avoid having to apply the 20% SES set-aside to these new stimulus funds. This process, that may be repeated this summer, usually starts with a notice in the Federal Register and 30-45 day comment period (pro forma), with the Department setting waiver criteria to be used by States. States then solicit applications from LEAs and States grant applications following federal criteria—essentially a delegation of waiver authority from Feds to States.
Secretary Duncan’s public comments have been to focus on ESEA reauthorization now. President Obama also wants to rewrite NCLB now, in time for next school year. Of course, even if a new law were to pass now, there is a delay while new regulations are written. With a new ESEA, there will be a transition timetable from NCLB to new ESEA that would more likely kick in for the 2012-13 school year.
The politics of waivers: The Administration is unlikely to issue waivers in the midst of active Congressional action on ESEA, as they are worried about thwarting Congressional prerogatives and get blow-back from both parties. Thus, they are really stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If there are delays in getting reauthorization completed, then the Administration might feel it has the “right” to use waivers to obtain some of its education policy agenda in a “trade” with States and Districts who want more flexibility anyway. This will certainly put SES on the endangered species list.
The timing of waivers: States and Districts need more lead time to deal with the most comprehensive of waivers (freezing AYP school improvement status of schools or halting the march to 2014 proficiency) to avoid major disruptions in operations. These would likely have to come out no later than June. On the other hand, waivers to SES could possibly occur late July or before student notification/recruitment starts, even if LEAs began internal planning-since the “prize” by districts would be more funds without strings. Never mind the start-up costs invested by providers—they would be thrown under the bus along with the hundreds of thousands of students who could have been served in 2011-2012.
EIA is working closely with Tutor Our Children (www.tutorourchildren.org) on multiple strategies to counter the waiver threat and save and improve SES during ESEA reauthorization. This is discussed in my executive director’s column in this newsletter.
Many mainstream school associations including the AASA (superintendents), NASB (school boards), NEA (teachers union), among other stakeholder groups, have asked Secretary Duncan to waive SES, and the march to 2014 proficiency, all in the name of giving local schools relief from costly federal mandates in the upcoming school year. This was confirmed when EIA met with senior Education Department officials in early April. They have been bombarded with inquiries from school districts for more flexibility, but no such guidelines or policies have been issued impacting SES, yet.
Under NCLB, the Education Secretary has broad authority that has been exercised by past and current Administrations—usually to trade more flexibility sought by school districts in exchange for some policy goal of the Administration. For example:
Secretary Spellings allowed LEAs to become SES providers in a series of pilots that in Nov. 2007 became more widespread through changes in NCLB Regulations and invited LEAs nationwide to seek provider status. Spellings also conducted pilots to reverse the order in which Choice and SES were offered to students.
Secretary Duncan, as the result of a doubling of Title I funding through the stimulus bill, ARRA, invited states to seek waivers to avoid having to apply the 20% SES set-aside to these new stimulus funds. This process, that may be repeated this summer, usually starts with a notice in the Federal Register and 30-45 day comment period (pro forma), with the Department setting waiver criteria to be used by States. States then solicit applications from LEAs and States grant applications following federal criteria—essentially a delegation of waiver authority from Feds to States.
Secretary Duncan’s public comments have been to focus on ESEA reauthorization now. President Obama also wants to rewrite NCLB now, in time for next school year. Of course, even if a new law were to pass now, there is a delay while new regulations are written. With a new ESEA, there will be a transition timetable from NCLB to new ESEA that would more likely kick in for the 2012-13 school year.
The politics of waivers: The Administration is unlikely to issue waivers in the midst of active Congressional action on ESEA, as they are worried about thwarting Congressional prerogatives and get blow-back from both parties. Thus, they are really stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If there are delays in getting reauthorization completed, then the Administration might feel it has the “right” to use waivers to obtain some of its education policy agenda in a “trade” with States and Districts who want more flexibility anyway. This will certainly put SES on the endangered species list.
The timing of waivers: States and Districts need more lead time to deal with the most comprehensive of waivers (freezing AYP school improvement status of schools or halting the march to 2014 proficiency) to avoid major disruptions in operations. These would likely have to come out no later than June. On the other hand, waivers to SES could possibly occur late July or before student notification/recruitment starts, even if LEAs began internal planning-since the “prize” by districts would be more funds without strings. Never mind the start-up costs invested by providers—they would be thrown under the bus along with the hundreds of thousands of students who could have been served in 2011-2012.
EIA is working closely with Tutor Our Children (www.tutorourchildren.org) on multiple strategies to counter the waiver threat and save and improve SES during ESEA reauthorization. This is discussed in my executive director’s column in this newsletter.