Washington Watch
By Leo Coco, TCTA’s Washington lobbyist
Education remains a top priority of the Obama Administration, and Congress has indicated it plans to move forward on significant legislation. President Barack Obama proposed increased funding in his new budget, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been up to Capitol Hill to defend the budget and push for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) this year.
Congress is looking closely at significant program consolidations proposed by Duncan which convert some programs previously funded directly by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to competitive grants funded at the state and local school district levels. The first phase of Race to the Top (RTTT) grants is moving toward completion, with winning states to be awarded federal dollars for developing models to help failing schools. And the Senate Education Committee is trying to complete its work on the overhaul of the student lending program. All these initiatives have the common thread of accountability – for schools, students, teachers, principals, grant recipients and student lending institutions.
In the midst of all of these federal initiatives, the spotlight turned to a recent decision by a Rhode Island school board to fire 93 teachers at a chronically failing school where only 7 percent of 11th graders passed state math tests. While the door has reopened for negotiations on the firings, this type of action, called “justifiable” by the president, signals the administration’s policy to expand accountability measures and tighten access to federal dollars to school districts that fail to turn around struggling schools.
The Rhode Island action was sharply criticized, yet Duncan expressed a pragmatic approach in dealing with the dire situation, “I will tell you what does not work: Doing nothing.” And this sentiment sums up the continued high-energy and action-driven work the administration is doing to bring about education reform and to set the stage for reauthorization of ESEA (also know as No Child Left Behind - NCLB). It goes well beyond just “doing something.” The USDE has been pushing education reform in a methodical and systemic way since Obama took office.
Proposed budget moves toward competitive funding, emphasizes innovation and reform
As was the case last year with the stimulus funding, the president’s 2011 budget for the USDE is a vehicle for education reform in addition to being a $49.7 billion
spending proposal representing an increase of over 6 percent from last year’s funding. This budget proposed a restructuring of 38 grant programs consolidated into 11 and the elimination of six programs deemed ineffective or duplicative. The proposed consolidations reflect the USDE’s main goals of teacher and principal effectiveness, improving standards and assessments, and expanding college access, affordability and readiness.
Many of the programs being consolidated would have their direct funding from USDE shifted to funding awarded on a competitive basis at the state or local school district level. There has been some strong opposition heard from congressional supporters of specific programs stating that the affected programs do not have the infrastructure in place to compete immediately in all 50 states and hundreds of school districts.
The proposed budget shows the aggressive move by USDE toward competitive funding and that new policy is accompanied by a $4 billion increase in K-12 education programs. Part of that amount, about $1.35 billion, will be used to extend the RTTT grants awarded to states for advancements in reform.
Recently the USDE announced 16 states as RTTT finalists (out of 41 applicants) who will enter a final competition. These states were determined to have the best plans for meeting the four criteria set forth in the stimulus package: advancing teacher quality, elevating standards and assessments, improving data collection systems and turning around low-performing schools. Winners will be announced some time in April. Those states who do not win will be eligible to resubmit applications for Phase 2 in June.
In addition, the increase would provide $500 million for the Investing in Innovation Fund for grants to school districts to support the development of innovative best practices. These two programs were a significant part of the economic stimulus package and the new funding proposed in the budget demonstrates how USDE laid
the groundwork for reform through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. According to the Congressional Budget Office, two million jobs were created or saved through the ARRA, including 300,000 teaching and education-related jobs.
Innovation and reform receive prominent attention in the new budget and the USDE’s preliminary plans for reauthorization of ESEA. A new policy proposal raising eyebrows has been the administration’s proposal to make Title I funding to states contingent on the adoption of standards in reading and math to assure college and career readiness for students. A state could meet this requirement in two ways: by adopting standards developed by a consortium of states or by verifying, in a process to be developed with state universities, that their existing standards are high enough. In contrast, Title I and special education funding administered through formula grants received small increases in the president’s budget.
ESEA reauthorization getting attention
In March, Duncan appeared before the House and Senate education committees to urge Congress to pass the reauthorization of ESEA. A main message was the USDE’s focus on providing flexibility to states and school districts if they demonstrate how their program funds are used to achieve results. He pointed to reauthorization as the next step to build on the progress made in the last year, namely helping states and districts through the financial crisis, reforming student aid programs, and spurring innovation in education.
Key objectives in restructuring ESEA are incentives and rewards for success, competition for federal program dollars, college and career readiness, turning around low-performing schools, and having effective teachers in every classroom and effective leaders in every school.
The congressional committees charged with rewriting ESEA have indicated they will pursue a bipartisan and transparent process and have already begun hearings. While the president has released only details about broad objectives, those proposals represent a major overhaul of the current law including new determinations about whether schools are succeeding and removal of the 2014 deadline where all students are required to be performing at proficient levels.
The administration plans to stay true to the major provisions of the current law, specifically closing achievement gaps and advancing teacher quality, and is committed to working closely with congressional leaders toward bipartisan solutions to the current law’s key problems.
Leo Coco is TCTA’s lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He is a senior policy advisor with the law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and his background includes extensive experience in the U.S. Department of Education.
