Federal Education Policy Update
Noelle Ellerson
American Association of School Administrators
April 28, 2011
Economic Environment
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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 (2010-11/201112 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.
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.
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FY11 Long-Term CR
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$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
FY11 Long-Term CR
Eliminated
Cut
Striving Readers
School Improvement Grants (-$10m)
Even Start
Teacher Quality State Grants (-$475 m)
Literacy Through School Libraries
AP (-$2.5 m)
Education Technology State Grants
Transition to Teaching (-$2.5 m)
Javits Gifted and Talented
Math and Science Partnerships (-$5 m)
National Writing Project
El/Sec Counseling (-$2.5 m)
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards 21st Century Learning Centers (-$10 m)
Teach for America
State Assessments (-$20 m)
Close Up Fellowships
Comprehensive Centers (-$5m)
Reading is Fundamental
Teaching of Traditional American History (-$73m)
Arts in Education
Safe and Drug Free Schools National Programs (-$79
m)
Grants to Gulf Coasts' States LEAs
TRIO (-$25m)
Smaller Learning Communities
GEAR UP (-$20 m)
LEAP
Obama FY12 Budget Proposal
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FY12 budget proposal released Feb 14 (2012-13
school year)
Despite tight economic times, including nondefense 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%
Obama Budget Proposal
New Authority
Consolidated Programs
(change relative to consolidated programs cumulative total)
Effective Teachers and Leaders
- $447.7 m
Teacher and Leader Innovation Fund
+ 89.4 m
Teacher and Leader Pathways
+ $113.9 m
Effective Teaching and Learning: STEM
+ $25.5 m
Effective Teaching and Learning: Well Rounded Education
+ $20.1 m
College Pathways and Accelerated Learning
- $17.3 m
Successful, Safe and Healthy Students
Level Funded
Expanding Educational Options- $37.1 m
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Ready to Teach
Teacher Quality State Grants
Advanced Credentialing
Teacher Incentive Fund
School Leadership
Teach for America
Teacher Quality Partnership
Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow
Transition to Teaching
Mathematics and Science Partnership
Teaching American History
Academies for American History and Civics
Civic Education
Close-Up Fellowships
Excellence in Economic Education
Foreign Language Assistance
Arts in Education
Advanced Placement
High School Graduation Initiative
Javits Gifted and Talented Education
Alcohol Abuse Reduction
Elementary and Secondary School Counseling
Foundations for Learning
Mental Health integration in Schools
Physical Education
Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities National
Activities
Charter School Grants
Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities
Parental Information and Resource Centers
Smaller Learning Communities
Voluntary Public School Choice
FY12 Budget Plans
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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)).
112th Congress: What About ESEA?
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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
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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
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Big 8 Meetings
– Reps. Kline, Miller, Hunter, Kildee; Sens. Harkin, Enzi,
Bingaman, Alexander
ESEA Reauthorization Issues
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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
More Reauthorization Issues
Standardizing public education
 Per pupil expenditures/Comparability
 Teacher contracts/personnel decisions
 Standards/curriculum
 Instructional strategies/methods
 Comparability
 SES
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Key Reform Proposals Lacking Research
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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.
AASA Positions: Our Heaviest Lifts
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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
AASA Positions: Our Heaviest Lifts
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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.
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Assess English language learners in a language they
understand.
AASA Positions: Our Heaviest Lifts
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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.
Title I Funding Equity
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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
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Idea is to focus on concentrations of poverty
– Current law uses numbers or percentages
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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
Common Core Standards
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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.
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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
State Assessment Consortia
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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
SBAC
PARCC
BOTH
NEITHER
AL
MI
OR
AL
KY
PA
AL
NJ
AK
CO
MO
PA
AR
LA
RI
CO
OH
MN
CT
MT
SC
AZ
MA
SC
DE
OK
NE
DE
NV
SD
CA
MD
TN
GA
PA
TX
GA
NH
UT
CO
MS
KY
SC
VA
HI
NJ
VT
DC
ND
NH
ID
NM
WA
DE
NH
BOLD = both consortia
IA
NC
WV
FL
NJ
GREEN = RTTT winner
KS
ND
WI
GA
NY
KY
OH
IL
OH
ME
OK
IN
OK
WY
Full Funding IDEA
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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
Reauthorization of REAP
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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.
Child Nutrition/School Lunch Act
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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
E-Rate and Education Technology
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FCC’s October point of order adjusted $2.25
billion funding cap to inflation and added darkfiber 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
Vouchers
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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
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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?
Other Legislative Issues
Foster Care
 Medicaid
 Bullying/Harassment
 Seclusion/Restraint
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Next Steps: Time to Get Involved!
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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.
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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!
Questions?
Noelle Ellerson
Assistant Director, Policy Analysis & Advocacy
American Association of School Administrators
(703) 875-0764
nellerson@aasa.org