Federal Education Policy Update

1. Federal Education Policy Update Noelle Ellerson American Association of School Administrators April 28, 2011

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

5. FY11 Long-Term CR

6. 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%

7. Obama Budget Proposal

8. 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)).

9. 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

10. 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

11. More Reauthorization Issues • Standardizing public education • Per pupil expenditures/Comparability • Teacher contracts/personnel decisions • Standards/curriculum • Instructional strategies/methods • Comparability • SES

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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 equity www.formulafairness.com

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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?

24. Other Legislative Issues • Foster Care • Medicaid • Bullying/Harassment • Seclusion/Restraint

25. 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!

26. Questions? Noelle Ellerson Assistant Director, Policy Analysis & Advocacy American Association of School Administrators (703) 875-0764nellerson@aasa.org