Federal Education Update

1. Federal Education Update Association of Education Service Agencies Colorado Springs, CO December 1, 2011

2. Overview • ESEA • Reauthorization • Waivers • Title I Formula Fairness • Appropriations • FY12 • Super Committee/Deficit Commission • IDEA Full Funding • Ed Tech • Child Nutrition • Rural Education • Other Topics • Advocacy Resources

3. Climates • Funding • Continued recession at state and local level • Cessation of ARRA/EduJobs • Actual and anticipated cuts from FY11 and FY12 • Anticipated cuts from Debt Ceiling Commission/Sequestration • Political • Partisan. Middle ground moderates are gone. • Gearing up to an election year • Federal • Gridlock between House and Senate • State • State legislatures were heavily impacted by last year’s elections • Strong push on education issues with grassroots implications

4. ESEA Reauthorization • Areas of Agreement • Measuring Growth • Disaggregation • Annual summative assessment • New higher standards • New better assessments • SES & Choice, less prescriptive • Area of Debate • Accountability framework - AYP or growth • Assessments –Quality/Type • Teacher evaluation – test weight/multiple measures/performance levels • Flexibility/transferability – how much/where • Charter schools – rules same or different • Comparability – the sleeper issue!!

5. ESEA Reauthorization: House H.R. 1891 "Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act" Full Committee Wednesday, May 25, 2011Ordered favorably reported, as amended, to the House by a vote of 23-16 H.R. 2218, "Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act"Full CommitteeWednesday, June 22, 2011Ordered favorably reported, as amended, to the House by a vote of 34-5. Voted out of full House 9/13 HR 2445 “State and Local Funding Flexibility Act” Wednesday July 14, 2011 Ordered favorable reported, as amended, to the House by a vote of 23-17

6. ESEA Reauthorization: Senate • Marathon Mark Up in late October • Bipartisan bill passed out of committee, 16-7 • 12 Ds and 4 Rs • 144 filed amendments • 24 adopted • 10 rejected • The balance were either withdrawn, not offered, ignored, and/or will be offered on the floor

7. ESEA Reauthorization: Senate • Improvements • Eliminates impossible goal of 100% • Eliminates AYP and AMOs • Eliminates 2 percent testing cap • Changes testing requirement for ELL from one year to two years • Permits shifting to measure growth while retaining status testing • Permit multiple measures • Includes computer adaptive assessment • Shifts control of accountability to the states • Requires adoption of more accurate assessments

8. ESEA Reauthorization: Senate • Accountability Changes • Requires continuous improvement towards C/CR • Maintains disaggregation • Ranks schools, focus on bottom 5% • Achievement Gaps and Persistently Low Achieving • Achievement based on test scores, graduation rates, state summative test scores, and % on track for C/CR. • Turn Around Models • Transformation, Strategic Staffing, Turnaround, Whole School Reform, Restart, Closure, State Flexibility and Rural Waiver

9. ESEA Reauthorization: Senate • Points of Concern • Comparability Changes • Reliance on One-Time testing • Treatment of Foster Kids • Codification of RttT and i3

10. ESEA: Regulatory Relief • Flexibility being offered in 11 specific areas • States have to adopt all three policy priorities: • Higher standards • Differentiated accountability system • Teacher/principal evaluation system based on growth • NCLB Waiver Watch: www.cep-dc.org • AASA position: we agree with the areas in which flexibility is being provided but are opposed to the conditional nature of the process.

11. ESEA: Regulatory Relief • Conditional, quid-pro-quo deal, with states having to adopt specific policy priorities I exchange for relief • To date, 39 states have expressed interest in the waivers • 11 states submitted applications in the first round: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee • Next Deadline for Applying: Mid-February

12. Title I Formula Fairness • www.formulafairness.com • Led by Rural School and Community Trust • Current statute uses two weighting brackets to determine an LEA’s Title I allocation • Unintended consequence is that some larger, less-poor schools can end up receiving more Title I dollars per-child than smaller, poorer districts

13. Title I Formula Fairness • All Children are Equal (ACE) Act (HR 2485) provides legislative fix • Turns down the volume on number weighting to ensure that Title I dollars are distributed to concentrations of poverty • 11 original co-sponsors: Representatives Glenn Thompson (R-PA), Ruben Hinojosa (D – TX), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Dan Boren (D-OK), Mike Ross (D-AR), Tom Petri (R-WI), Lou Barletta (R-PA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Todd Platts (R-PA), and Richard Hanna (R-NY). • Also joined by Reps. Roby (R-AL), Hartzler (R-MO), and Crawford (R-AR) • Urge your representative to sign on!

14. FY12 Appropriations • House: Education down over all, huge increases for Title I and IDEA, cuts for many other ed programs • Senate: overall increase for education, lack funding increases for Title I and IDEA • Current Dear Colleague in the House; Sign on by Friday! • FY12: Started October 1, without a budget • First CR thru 11/18; Current CR thru 12/16 • Differing House and Senate Edu Numbers • Role of final approps bills vs. CR vs. megabus

15. FY12 Appropriations • First CR Included $329 m in cuts to education programs • Title I: $163 million • IDEA part B: $129 million • Title II: $25 million • Perkins: $12 million • Reach out to your Senator and Representative to urge them to reinstate the funds.

16. FY12 Appropriations • Joint Deficit Commission • Super Committee Roster: • Senate: Murray (WA), Baucus (MT), Kerry (MA), Kyl (AZ), Portman (OH), and Toomey (PA) • House: Hensarling (TX), Becerra (CA), Camp (MI), Clyburn (SC), Upton (MI), and VanHollen (MD) • Has to identify $1.5 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years • Failed to announce plan by Thanksgiving and take vote by Christmas • Includes required vote on Balanced Budget Amendment • House failed to pass BBA

17. FY12 Appropriations • Potential Cuts in the Deficit Debacle • Sequestration triggered 1/1/12 • Cuts go in to effect 1/1/13 • CBO estimates sequestration will be a 7.8% across-the-board cut • Estimated Education Impact: • Title I: $1.1 billion • IDEA: 978 million • Perkins: $136 million • Head Start: $590 million

18. IDEA Full Funding • AASA’s #1 legislative priority • Senator Harkin has introduced the IDEA Full Funding Act (S 1403). We are waiting for the House partner bill. • Rep. Polis has a IDEA funding bill, but our focus is on the Harkin version • Urge your Senator to sign on the S 1403, and talk with your entire Congressional delegation about the funding pressures of IDEA and the importance of protecting and increasing IDEA funding in FY12 and debt ceiling conversations.

19. Education Technology: E-Rate • FCC program that provides discounts to help schools and libraries afford telecommunications services • Anti-Deficiency Act (S 297) • Raise the spending cap • Waiting for final action by the FCC on a host of rules/notices: • Gift rule • CIPA • Roll-over funds

20. Education Technology: Ed Tech • Title II Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology, E2T2 • Zero-funded by the administration, eliminated by the House in its ESEA eliminations bill • Not included in Senate Base Bill • Sen. Bingaman introduced the ATTAIN Act (S 1178), which allows for EETT-type program ($300 m trigger); Offered as amendment in Senate ESEA mark up

21. Child Nutrition • NSLP/SBP reauthorized last December • AASA, NSBA and Council opposed unfunded mandates within the law • Increased reimbursement, higher nutrition standards • Set paid lunch price • Set training and certification requirements • Review indirect cost process • Continue to work on the regulations, which affirm our suspicions • Hullabaloo in the FY12 agriculture appropriations bill related to language that limits the use of FY12 funds for implementing new language

22. Amendments to REAP • Changes to REAP in Senate version of ESEA • Transition to new locale codes (move from 7/8 to 33, 41, 42, 43) • Allow districts to choose between RLIS and SRSA funding • If appropriation for REAP is increased, base grant moves from 20 to 25, max grant goes from 60 to 80 • Changes not made to Senate Version of ESEA • Transition to FRLP as poverty measure from 20% census data

23. Office of Rural Education Policy Act • Bill introduced in May; Goal: Adding it to ESEA • Would establish an Office inside the Dept of Ed headed by a Director who would • Advise the Secretary on the needs of rural schools and ensure that all regulations issued by the Department of Education explicitly consideration the impact that the regulations will have on rural schools and communities • maintain a clearinghouse on best practices and research for rural schools, produce an annual report to Congress, coordinate efforts throughout federal agencies related to rural schools

24. Other Issues • Federal Mandates • RttT, I3, SIG • Foster Care • Bullying • Common Core/Testing Consortia • America’s Jobs Act

25. Get—and Stay—Involved! • Weigh in early, weigh in often • These decisions are made whether or not you weigh in. • 15 minutes per month is all it takes. • Get to know your Senator/Representative, and perhaps more importantly, their education staffer. • Invite the Representative/Senator and staffer to your ESA. Anecdotes and stories have a lot of sticking power with this Congress. Let the face of your ESA be the one that sticks in their mind!

26. AASA/AESA Advocacy Resources • AASA Website: www.aasa.org • AASA Blog: www.aasa.org/aasablog.aspx • AASA Twitter: @Noellerson • AASA Legislative Corps: Weekly Newsletter • Advocacy Network: Monthly Update

27. Questions? Noelle Ellerson Assistant Director, Policy Analysis & Advocacy nellerson@aasa.org