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Federal Education Policy Update Noelle Ellerson American Association of School Administrators April 28, 2011
Federal Education Policy Update
Noelle Ellerson
American Association of School Administrators
April 28, 2011
Economic Environment
FY11 Budget, FY12 Budget, Budget/Deficit Caps State/local economies struggling to experience
the stability and recovery starting to take hold at the federal level.
Confluence of the end of ARRA (2010-11/2011-12 school years) and the delayed economic recovery represent very real obstacle to schools as they try to balance increased emphasis on innovation with ever slimmer operating budgets.
Federal Budget
FY11 started Oct. 1, 2010 We had 7 CRs Faced with a govt shutdown, Congress
chose one final short-term CR and is expecting to vote on a long-term CR.
FY11 Long-Term CR
$38 billion below FY10 levels; includes $12 billion in reductions from previous CRs
Labor, HHS section cut by $5.5 billion (3.36%) Includes 0.2% across-the-board cut Title I, IDEA, and REAP are level funded Race to the Top receives $700 additional
funding; Investing in Innovation receives $150 million, and Head Start receives $340 million
FY11 Long-Term CREliminated Cut
Striving Readers School Improvement Grants (-$10m)
Even Start Teacher Quality State Grants (-$475 m)
Literacy Through School Libraries AP (-$2.5 m)
Education Technology State Grants Transition to Teaching (-$2.5 m)
Javits Gifted and Talented Math and Science Partnerships (-$5 m)
National Writing Project El/Sec Counseling (-$2.5 m)
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards 21st Century Learning Centers (-$10 m)
Teach for America State Assessments (-$20 m)
Close Up Fellowships Comprehensive Centers (-$5m)
Reading is Fundamental Teaching of Traditional American History (-$73m)
Arts in EducationSafe and Drug Free Schools National Programs (-$79 m)
Grants to Gulf Coasts' States LEAs TRIO (-$25m)
Smaller Learning Communities GEAR UP (-$20 m)
LEAP
Obama FY12 Budget Proposal FY12 budget proposal released Feb 14 (2012-13
school year) Despite tight economic times, including non-
defense discretionary budget freeze, education receives historic increases
Proposal includes massive restructuring in ESEA reauthorization
Policy shift toward competitive grants Despite overall increases:
– Title I receives $300 million – IDEA received a $200 million increase, falling to 16.5%
instead of the promised 40%
Obama Budget ProposalNew Authority
(change relative to consolidated programs cumulative total)Consolidated Programs
Effective Teachers and Leaders- $447.7 m
Ready to Teach Teacher Quality State Grants
Teacher and Leader Innovation Fund+ 89.4 m
Advanced Credentialing Teacher Incentive Fund
Teacher and Leader Pathways+ $113.9 m
School LeadershipTeach for America
Teacher Quality Partnership Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow Transition to Teaching
Effective Teaching and Learning: STEM+ $25.5 m
Mathematics and Science Partnership
Effective Teaching and Learning: Well Rounded Education+ $20.1 m
Teaching American History Academies for American History and Civics Civic Education Close-Up Fellowships Excellence in Economic Education Foreign Language Assistance Arts in Education
College Pathways and Accelerated Learning- $17.3 m
Advanced Placement High School Graduation Initiative Javits Gifted and Talented Education
Successful, Safe and Healthy StudentsLevel Funded
Alcohol Abuse Reduction Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Foundations for Learning Mental Health integration in Schools Physical Education Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities National
ActivitiesExpanding Educational Options- $37.1 m Charter School Grants
Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Parental Information and Resource Centers Smaller Learning Communities Voluntary Public School Choice
FY12 Budget Plans House Chairman Ryan introduced his Plan for Prosperity Cuts the overall budget by $5.8 trillion over ten years. Non-security discretionary spending is but to pre-FY08 levels and would be frozen at that
level for five years. Essentially, all of the 10-year reduction comes from cutting non-security discretionary
spending. Specific details on cuts to education remain to be finalized. That said, I can give an
unofficial summary of the Function 500 (education) issues within the resolution: Cuts discretionary funding for function 500 to the pre-2008 level of $80 billion for every
year through 2020. For 2011, it cuts funding by $15.7 billion (16.7 percent). The cut deepens to 25 percent after 2011 and will translate into a cut of roughly $30 billion
per year. It does not mention any specific education programs other than Pell and the DC
Opportunity Scholarship (voucher) Program. Pell Grants would be returned to pre-stimulus levels and the voucher program would be expanded.
Passed the House 235-193. While Democrats offered several alternatives, all were voted down. All Democrats opposed, as did four Republicans (Jones (NC), McKinley (WV), Paul (TX), and Rehberg (MT)).
112th Congress: What About ESEA? With Republicans in control of the House, ESEA can
be finished in 2011 --- IF– CONSENSUS among and between Democrats and
Republicans, House and Senate, Congress and Administration Many new members may not be inclined to
compromise especially if it involves expanding the federal role
The House committee will be dominated numerically by new members who– Will take a while to know the issues– May not be very interested in federal education policy making
Big 8 Meetings– Reps. Kline, Miller, Hunter, Kildee; Sens. Harkin, Enzi,
Bingaman, Alexander
ESEA Reauthorization Issues Mandated Standardization v. Focus on Poverty Formula v. Competitive Punitive Accountability v. Incentivizing
Accountability Assessment: One-Time v. Growth Overly Prescriptive v. Flexibility Charters: More v. Less Assessing Special Learners Early Childhood Education Turnaround Models/School Improvement
More Reauthorization Issues
Standardizing public education Per pupil expenditures/Comparability Teacher contracts/personnel decisions Standards/curriculum Instructional strategies/methods Comparability SES
Key Reform Proposals Lacking Research
Performance pay improves instruction and therefore student outcomes.
Charter schools lead to improved student outcomes .
Test Scores as effective primary tools to evaluate teachers and principals.
Firing teachers improves student outcomes persistently low scoring schools.
Firing principals in every low scoring school is essential to improve student outcomes.
AASA Positions: Our Heaviest Lifts
Limit the federal oversight to children served with federal funds – in the case of school wide programs –schools served by Title I funds
Separate Accountability and Assessment for learning– Accountability assessments focus on growth (value
added if desired) by sampling & including multiple measures
– Instructional assessment includes a variety of methods of measuring growth, formative, adaptive, embedded teacher developed, etc., that provide immediate feedback to teachers and administrators
AASA Positions: Our Heaviest Lifts
Improve the clarity and accuracy of accountability measures.
Less intrusive and less costly testing – e.g., sampling Measure student progress by growth. Use multiple sources of information to measure learning
for instructional guidance. Measure special education students consistent with the
Individualized Education Program – No arbitrary percentage caps.
Assess English language learners in a language they understand.
AASA Positions: Our Heaviest Lifts
Focus the federal government on serving students in poverty.
Services should meet not only their academic needs but also provide a continuum of services from mental health to afterschool enrichment.
Shift away from a punitive system to one that rewards achieving and maintaining success.
Assessments should be aligned to high standards but truly measure individual students where they are.
Fight the shift to competitive grants away from more traditional formula grants as they lead to inequality.
Title I Funding Equity
There will be a formula fight within ESEA reauthorization.
Title I allocations are made up of four formulas:– Basic Grant, Concentration Grant, Targeted Grant,
Education Finance Incentive Grant Idea is to focus on concentrations of poverty
– Current law uses numbers or percentages Since NCLB, all new money in Title I has been split
between the Targeted Grant and the Education Finance Incentive Grant.
Focus on percentages of poverty for equitywww.formulafairness.com
Common Core Standards
Increased Congressional support for common core (not national) standards.– CCSSO and NGA have joined together with 48 states and
territories to develop them.– States may choose to include additional standards beyond
the common core as long as the common core represents at least 85 percent of the state’s standards in English language arts and mathematics.
What if Congress requires adoption of common core in order to receive Title I?– Still unclear what Congress sees as their role in this.– Certain competitive grants will give priority to Common Core
states
State Assessment Consortia Two consortia, representing 44 states and DC. Eleven states belong to both, 6 to neither Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) hosts 31 states and
received $160 million Partnership for Assessment of College and Career Readiness
(PARCC) hosts 26 states and received $170 million
SBAC PARCC BOTH NEITHER
AL MI OR AL KY PA AL NJ AK
CO MO PA AR LA RI CO OH MN
CT MT SC AZ MA SC DE OK NE
DE NV SD CA MD TN GA PA TX
GA NH UT CO MS KY SC VA
HI NJ VT DC ND NH WY
ID NM WA DE NH BOLD = both consortia
IA NC WV FL NJ GREEN = RTTT winner
KS ND WI GA NY
KY OH IL OH
ME OK IN OK
Full Funding IDEA
AASA is active in coalition to push for IDEA full funding
Expect bills from Sen. Harkin and Rep. VanHollen
Chrmn. Kline is long supporter of IDEA funding, though shies away from mandatory
FY12 proposal includes $200 m increase
Reauthorization of REAP Some changes need to be made to
improve REAP. Specifically, a number of districts are
no longer receiving a financial benefit from the program despite qualifying.– Allow districts to choose which
program to apply under.– Raise the sliding scale from
$20,000 - $60,000 to $25,000 - $70,000.
For the Rural & Low-income program, use free and reduced lunch instead of census.
Update Locale codes. Support the REAP Reauthorization
Act: S567, House Version Coming Soon!
Urge your Senators and Representative to join their respective Rural Education Caucus.
Child Nutrition/School Lunch Act
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was signed in to law in December 2010
AASA is actively engaged in the regulatory process to make implementation as smooth as possible
Unfunded mandates of the law place funding pressure on local budgets and limit flexibility in school district budgeting– Education/training/certification requirements for food
service personnel– Adoption/implementation of new standards– Increased reimbursement of 6 cents…..– Calculation of indirect costs– National calculation of school lunch price– Competitive food restrictions– Fines for non-compliance
E-Rate and Education Technology
FCC’s October point of order adjusted $2.25 billion funding cap to inflation and added dark-fiber to the eligible services list.
Continue to push for an increase for the cap, given ever increasing demand and rising costs
FY11 CR eliminates Enhancing Education Through Technology
Pres. FY12 budget proposal calls for Education Technology Office in Department. – Skeptical of what the office would actually mean at the
local level
Vouchers
FY11 CR reinstated and expanded DC Voucher Program Both the House and Senate have the votes to support
voucher provisions, and each chamber has introduced a bill to reinstate and expand the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program– 5 consecutive government reports document the lack of reliable,
valid academic progress We expect to be fighting vouchers on a regular basis in this
Congress. Related Item: Supreme Court decision on AZ Tuition Tax
Credit Vouchers for military families with students with special
needs?
Other Legislative Issues
Foster Care Medicaid Bullying/Harassment Seclusion/Restraint
Next Steps: Time to Get Involved!
These decisions are made whether or not you weigh in. Make sure your voice is heard!!– School administrators, principals, school board members and
teachers have a unique expertise when it come to the ins and outs of educating children.
The timeline for action will be quick: weigh in early and often. Think marathon training: this is interval training!
Take the time to educate your senators and representatives of the good work being done in schools to improve student achievement.
15 minutes per month!
Questions?
Noelle EllersonAssistant Director, Policy Analysis & AdvocacyAmerican Association of School Administrators
(703) [email protected]
