WASHINGTON UPDATENANCY REDER
DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NASDSE
Idaho Special EducationConference
March 4, 2013
WHAT THIS PRESENTATION WILL COVER Impact of election Washington update
WHAT IMPACT DID THE ELECTION HAVE ON EDUCATION?
IMPACT OF THE ELECTION New ranking member of Senate HELP
Committee 8 fewer Republicans in the House All the bills have to be reintroduced
=
ISSUES Sequestration/Budget/Appropriations ESEA reauthorization What’s new with IDEA implementation? Other education issues
Seclusion and restraint Office of Civil Rights document on extra-curriciular
activities Equity and Excellence Cmmission
Common Core issues Implementation issues Assessment issues
Virtual schools/online learning Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
STILL MORE ISSUES Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment
Act School choice (charter schools and vouchers) Early childhood Child welfare and students with disabilities
OVERALL ANALYSIS OF THE 112TH CONGRESS
Nothin
gNADABUBKYS
NIENTE
ZIP ZERO
NAUGHTZILCH
NOW TO THE DICEY STUFF….. SEQUESTRATION
SO WHAT’S THE FISCAL CLIFF?
DEFICIT REDUCTION SINCE 2010 $1.5 T primarily from discretionary funding $.6 T in increased revenues $.03T in interest savings
=$2.3 T in total deficit reduction Remainder needed to stabilize the debt:
$1.4 T ($1.2 T savings + $0.2 T in interest savings
WHAT CAN I TELL YOU ABOUT SEQUESTRATION? Where did it come from?
Why is the deficit so big and why does it matter? Projected deficits would rise to more than 100% of GDP in 2027
Budget Control Act of 2011 (August, 2011) Established Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction Established two separate mechanisms: (1) Sequestration and (2)
spending caps imposed on annual appropriations through FY 2021.
Sequestration is supposed to reduce spending already provided for in FY 2013 (more about FY appropriations in a minute)
Was supposed to kick in October 1 with 8.2% cut Modified by American Taxpayer Release Act (January 2, 2013) –
pushed sequestration to March 1st and reduced cut to approximately 5.1%
Cuts are uniform across-the-board and leave little room for adjustments
Projected cuts to IDEA -- $596 M $725 M in Title I cuts
MORE ON SEQUESTRATION So to figure amount of cuts, look at FY 13
funding levels and take 5.1% off that amount BUT….on March 27th, the Continuing
Resolution for FY 13 ends – if not extended, means there is NO funding for federal government at all.
What’s the impact of the spending caps? Don’t know yet. The aggregate funding for FY 2013 cannot exceed spending caps put into place by the Budget Control Act (of course, caps could be waived, increased, cut – but there is discretion on where to make cuts
WHEN DO CUTS KICK IN FOR IDEA? IDEA is forward funded – cuts don’t kick in
until July 1.
Are the sequestration warnings real? Go to: www.cef.org
LOCAL
Scenario One Scenario
Two
Cut staff& services Increase
LocalSpending
FAPE notmet
Due Process
&Lawsuits
Staff, Service& programsmaintained
MDEProblems
STATE
Scenario One
Scenario Two
$ for Services
Legislature Cut state
programs & services
Programs &Servicescontinue
MSFS
Programs &Services not
provided
FAPE not met for some
Progresshalted
Oversight diminished
State Determination
Problems
SolutionDon’t HaveSequestration
Impact of Sequestration
WHAT PROGRAMS ARE EXEMPT? Short list (not exhaustive)
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Some Pell grantsMedicaidSNAP (food stamps)Supplemental Security Income ProgramTANF
GOOD RESOURCES ON SEQUESTRATION White House fact sheets:
www.whitehouse.gov Dept of Education website:
www.education.gov AASA survey on sequestration:
http://www.aasa.org/uploadedFiles/Policy_and_Advocacy/files/AASA%20Sequestration%20July%202012.pdf
NEA fact sheet: http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/Disastrous_Impact_of_Sequestration_on_Education.pdf
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: www.cbpp.org
Report from Senator Harkin (www.senate.gov)
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS – HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO WORK President submits budget to Congress House passes budget resolution Senate passes budget resolution House and Senate pass 12 appropriations
bills Conference committees iron out differences House and Senate vote on conference
reports President signs into law
OTHER IMPORTANT STUFF President’s budget for FY 14 supposed to
come out March 25th
House Rs to introduce new CR March 11 – will keep basic funding levels (separate bill for Defense)
In the Senate -- Mikulski to introduce all 12 bills in a straight CR (same week)
ESEA REAUTHORIZATION – NEWS FLASH: GLACIERS MOVING BUT ESEA IS NOT
ESEA REAUTHORIZATION Last Congress, Education and Workforce
Committee introduced five ESEA bills – one passed (charter school bill)
Senate HELP Committee passed a bill – never made it to the Senate floor
Anticipate that Rep. Kline will introduce same five bills
Anticipate that Sen. Harkin will introduce comprehensive bill
ESEA CRITICAL ISSUES Impact of waivers on reauthorization Highly effective teachers vs. highly qualified
teachers What to replace AYP with? Use of PBIS/RtI/multi-tiered interventions/UDL Transferability of funds Graduation rate calculations Title I/IDEA working group recommendations
– paper available at www.nasdse.org
LET’S TALK ABOUT HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS OR HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEACHERS What does the current law say? ED’s position permeates all policies
Race to the Top Waivers Regulations
How did the CR change the definition of HQT?Those in alt cert programs are considered
highly qualified; CR asked for data collection on this
What will a new ESEA bill do? How to reconcile with language in IDEA? No
one seems to be thinking about this
ESEA FLEXIBILITY 35 states have been granted waivers (ID approved
on 10/18/12) 47 states have requested waivers: TX, PA and WY
recently applied for waivers States not applying for waivers: MT, NE, VT CA wants a do-it-yourself model; Documents posted at
http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility Waiver is good for two years – could be an
extension Local district flexibility? Question: how will states move from waivers to
new ESEA (if there ever is one)?
WHAT’S NEW WITH IDEA IMPLEMENTATION Results-Driven Accountability (RDA)
Shift focus to improving outcomes and reduce emphasis on compliance
Part B Medicaid regulation Full funding legislation
Going absolutely nowhere
Still not talking about IDEA reauthorization
OTHER EDUCATION ISSUES Seclusion and restraint
Office of Civil Rights – Announcement about extra-curricular activities and students with disabilities: http://www.education.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-clarifies-schools-obligation-provide-equal-opportunity-s
New PROMISE grants: http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/promise/index.html (input due March 17)
OTHER EDUCATION ISSUES (CONTINUED) Equity and Excellence Commission – new
report
Here’s a link to the report: http://www.ed.gov/blog/2013/02/equity-and-excellence-commission-delivers-report-to-secretary-duncan/
COMMON CORE ISSUES Implementation issues
Training on how to deliver Common Core to students with disabilities
Assessments Accommodations (go to www.nasdse.org to see
our letters) Broadband accessibility
VIRTUAL SCHOOLS/ONLINE LEARNING
NASDSE’s Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities
Issues: access for students with disabilities Delivering related services
UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING (UDL) NASDSE participates in UDL Task Force and
works closely with CAST Is NOT a special education issue We want language in ESEA
Best resource is CAST’s National Center for Universal Design for Learning: www.udlcenter.org/
WHAT MOVES SLOWER THAN ESEA REAUTHORIZATION?
REAUTHORIZATION OF WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT WIA to be marked up this week in the House
Education and Workforce Committee (same bill as last Congress) Probably won’t make it to the House floor Dems have their own bill – not going anywhere
Possibility that Vocational Rehabilitation will be pulled out into a separate bill
SCHOOL CHOICE (CHARTER SCHOOLS AND VOUCHERS) Release last June of GAO report on charter
schools and students with disabilities Charter School ‘Summit’ at the Dept of Ed
held last September Critical issues
Enrollment of students with disabilities in charter schools
Capacity of charter schools to serve students with disabilities
Training for charter school authorizers and operators
Vouchers more active at state level
EARLY CHILDHOOD
EARLY CHILDHOOD President’s initiative for pre-school for all
For information, go to: www.whitehouse.gov and
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ecd/news/what-the-presidents-early-learning-initiative-means-for-acf-programs
Funding??
Connection to Part C and Section 619?
CHILD WELFARE AND STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIESTwo key pieces of legislation: Fostering Connections Act
Critical issue: who makes decisions about school placements for students in foster care – the IEP team of the child welfare worker who has responsibility under the Fostering Connections Act to keep child in home school or as close to home school as possible
Uninterrupted Scholars Act (passed at the very end of the last Congress It amends FERPA to give child welfare workers
access to school records Good fact sheet at:
http://www.fostercareandeducation.org/portals/0/dmx/2013/02/file_20130211_145758_xjnFqt_0.pdf
WHERE TO GO FOR MORE INFORMATION Alliance for Excellent Education:
www.all4ed.org Center on Education Policy: www.cep-dc.org
(materials on waivers) Common core standards:
www.corestandards.org Center for American Progress:
www.americanprogress.org