Federal Update 2014 Advocacy Conference

1. Federal Update2014 Advocacy Conference 2014 Advocacy Conference Briefing Noelle Ellerson Sasha Pudelski

2. Climates Funding • State and local budgets have yet to reach pre-recession levels • Cumulative impact of recent federal funding trends: actual cuts in FY11, FY12, FY13 and only partial restoration of cuts in FY14 Political • Partisan. Middle ground moderates are gone. It’s an election year. Federal • Gridlock between House and Senate • Our friends at the agencies: Regulation, regulation, regulation. State • Trend toward coordinated approach to moving legislation that threatens public education • Strong push on education issues with grassroots implications

3. What is (not) Going On? • Happening (More or Less) • Regulations • (Re) Authorizations • Budget/Appropriations • Hearings/Mark Ups • Congressional To Do List • Annual appropriations process • ESEA • IDEA • Education Science Research Act • Higher Education • Early Ed: Head Start and CCDBG • Workforce Investment • Perkins/Career Tech

4. ESEA: Reauthorization & Waivers • Reauthorization: It’s a matter of willingness vs. capacity (aka politics) • Administration that dislikes both House and Senate bill • Reality: 41 states in some phase of waiver implementation • No real incentive for Admin to change course; slowing of waivers is step in right direction, but not enough • Equitable distribution of teachers? • Evaluating state assessments?

5. ESEA Reauth: Elevator Speech • Standards, Accountability and Assessment • School Improvement/Turn Around • Funding Portability/School Choice • Maintenance of Effort • Comparability • Funding Flexibility • Class Size Reduction • Ed Tech • RttT and i3 • Moot? HQT/Teacher Eval

7. Share of Federal $$ in District Budgets

8. Appropriations: FY14 • We had a shutdown. The deal to end the shutdown required: • Dec 13: Budget Conference Report Due • Jan 15 CR Expired • Feb 7 Debt Ceiling Extension Expired • The final FY14 appropriations package restored roughly 80% of all sequester cuts. USED received an amount that covered roughly 65% of its cuts. • Impact Aid: fully restored • Title I and IDEA have most of cuts restored (~90%) • REAP left at post-sequester level

9. Appropriations: FY15 • President Obama’s budget prioritizes education • $68.6 billion, a $1.3 billion (1.9%) increase over FY14 levels • Proposal is within parameters of Murray/Ryan budget deal • Secondary proposal includes priorities above/beyond funding caps • Prioritizes early ed, STEM, post-secondary access, and safe environments • The reality is that level funding is a good year and even a nominal increase (Title I or IDEA) is a huge success. • Just because this is the reality does not mean we have to ‘like’ it, or that we should applaud Congress for level funding.

10. FY15 Budget & Approps

11. FY15 Budget & Approps

12. E-Rate Environment • E-Rate awareness: Does your Congressional delegation and general community know what E-Rate is an how it benefits your schools? • Confluence of positive momentum: • It is outside of Congress • FCC leading effort to modernize E-Rate • President Obama’s ConnectEd initiative, as well as focus on ed tech in State of the Union • Dan is on the USAC Board • Full set of FCC Commissioners, including an E-Rate Champion and a committed Chairman

13. E-Rate Modernization • Efforts to modernize E-Rate MUST be two fold, including a permanent increase in the E-Rate funding cap as well as programmatic adjustments • E-Rate is funded at $2.34 b, only slight above the 1996 level of $2.25. • Proposed structural changes include streamlining application and renewal process, supporting broadband for schools, improve process for consortia applications, and more. • Recent Public Notice details changes to P2, question the intent of addressing funding

14. E-Rate Order: July 11 • Elimination of legacy services (pagers/phones) • Focus on Wi-Fi • Cap funding for P2 at $100-150/ child over five years • Suppress discount matrix for upper decile • $2 billion in found funding, claims of $3 additional billion • Call for a ‘leap of faith’ and ‘this isn’t the same old FCC’ • AASA has deep concerns about a proposal that includes permanent structural changes without simultaneous action related to permanent additional funding

15. ESEA Issues: Background Checks “ESEA bills” that could move this Congress: background checks • Protecting Children from Violent and Sexual Predators Act passed the House in Fall 2013 • Senators Toomey and Manchin are desperate to see passage in Senate • Problems with the bill: • Requires district to conduct FBI, state criminal registry, state child abuse registry and national sex offender registry on all employees currently employed and seeking employment in the district whose job duty results in supervised access to students (this includes contractors!) • Checks must be done “periodically” • Districts must handle appeals of checks • NO $ to the checks, but may use Title I Administrative Funds

16. ESEA: Background Checks Cont. “ESEA bills” that could move this Congress: background checks • Require states to designate a state entity to conduct school employee background checks, report the results of checks to school employees and districts, and manage and investigate appeals of erroneous background checks. • Any new federal background check legislation should apply to prospective school employees only • Define school contractors more narrowly • Eliminate state child abuse registry check • Specify districts are not on the hook for the cost

17. “ESEA bills” that could move this Congress: seclusion/restraint Keeping all Students Safe: 42 House Sponsors (Rs & Ds) and 4 Senate Sponsors (all Ds); Harkin & Miller, sponsors, are retiring • No federal law necessary; 1/2 of 1% of kids are secluded and restrained (high estimate) • 45 states have statute, regulations or guidance on the use of seclusion & restraint • AASA data shows schools use interventions appropriately– media highlights child abuse in guise of S&R • More $ for PBIS and School Climate Will Help, Not Prescriptive Federal Policy

18. Let’s dismantle our public schools by voucherizing all our federal ed $ funds • Two bills to undermine public schools: Scholarships for Kids Act and CHOICE Act • Scholarships: 63% of fed $ (the bulk of which is Title I) can be used for $2,100 vouchers • CHOICE: Allows IDEA $ to be voucherized (average IDEA $ per child is $220) and added $ to state voucher for SWD if state has voucher plan. Creates IMPACT Aid voucher pilot. Expands DC voucher program. • GOP Senate and House leadership are sponsors of these bills (McConnell, Alexander, McMorris Rodgers, Rokita) and legislation could have traction next year in all R Senate

19. Perkins CTE Reauthorization Perkins CTE Reauthorization In June, 150+ national business & education groups sent letter urging Congress to reauthorize AASA’s reauthorization priorities: • More funding • Less reporting and less cumbersome local plan • Incentivize robust business involvement in CTE • Keep post-secondary and secondary $ separate • Maintain MOE and Basic State Grant

20. IDEA Reauthorization IDEA Reauthorization • 3 years overdue • Top AASA Priorities: • Local IDEA MOE Flexibility • Improved Due Process System • Simplified IEP

21. Other Topics • IDEA Full Funding • Early Education • Charters • School Nutrition: Food Service Personnel Regs & School Marketing • School Nutrition: Community Eligibility • PCBs in Light Ballasts • Health Care: Medicaid claiming and supporting

22. Questions? Comments? Want more frequent federal policy updates? AASA Blog: www.aasa.org/aasablog.aspx AASA Connect: www.aasaconnect.com Weekly Update: Legislative Corps Monthly Update: Advocacy Alert Policy Insider Legislative Trends Noelle Ellerson nellerson@aasa.org @Noellerson Sasha Pudelski spudelski@aasa.org @Spudelski Leslie Finnan lfinnan@aasa.org @LeslieFinnan Francesca Duffy fduffy@aasa.org @fm_duffy