Read here for brief updates on policy developments affecting music education around the United States. These news items are compiled periodically by Lynn Tuttle, NAfME Director of Content and Policy, and include federal, state, and local items that may be of interest to music educators.
Updates from the NAfME Policy Shop
NAfME analysis of Nominee DeVos’ confirmation hearing: http://www.nafme.org/devos-hearing/
NAfME blog on the pulling of “supplement not supplant rules”: http://www.nafme.org/ed-supplement-not-supplant-jan2017/
NAfME’s February 8th webinar announced: Post-Inauguration Federal Landscape. To learn more and register, go here: http://www.nafme.org/2017-post-inauguration-webinar/
Federal Transition
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DELAYS ESSA REGS
01/23/17 Politico
President Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, sent a memo to federal agencies on Friday, ordering an immediate freeze to new rulemaking and a 60-day postponement of finalized regulations that haven’t taken effect. Obama ordered a similar regulatory pause in 2009. Read morehere.
— At the Education Department, the directive will delay the Obama administration’s accountability rule under the Every Student Succeeds Act, which was finalized last November but not slated to take effect until Jan. 30. The Trump administration’s memo calls for postponing the effective date of such regulations until March 21. But it’s not clear what happens after that date.
Republicans delay DeVos committee vote by a week
Politico By Michael Stratford 01/20/2017 09:13 PM EDT
Sen. Lamar Alexander, chair of the Senate education committee, has delayed by a week a planned committee vote on Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Education secretary.
The vote, which was originally slated for this Tuesday, has been rescheduled until Jan. 31, Alexander announced Friday evening.
The delay comes as Democrats have argued that they haven’t had enough time to examine DeVos’ complicated financial holdings or ask her questions. Patty Murray , the top Democrat on the committee, has said she’s concerned that the committee was moving too fast with DeVos’ nomination.
Earlier today, the Office of Government Ethics released DeVos’ financial disclosure and ethics paperwork. Alexander had previously said that if those documents were finalized by the end of this week, he would hold a committee vote on her nomination next Tuesday.
Instead the committee vote is now set for the following Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 10 a.m.
Alexander’s office said that the delay was meant “to give each Senator time to review” DeVos’ government ethics paperwork that was released Friday.
DeVos has agreed to sever ties to several companies that provide services to schools and colleges, as well as a debt collection agency that collects student loans on behalf of the Education Department. The Michigan billionaire reached an agreement on Thursday with government ethics officials that will require her to divest from 102 of those assets that could potentially pose a conflict for her as Education secretary.
Democrats have pounced on DeVos following a somewhat bumpy confirmation hearing earlier this week. But Republicans have so far have stood united in support of her nomination.
Alexander has said she’s an “excellent” choice for education secretary and “has dedicated her life to helping children, especially low-income children, have the opportunity to attend a good school.”
An Alexander aide said that DeVos “has completed the committee’s paperwork, answered questions for 3½ hours at her confirmation hearing, met privately with the members of the committee and she will now spend the coming days answering senators’ written questions for the record.”
List details Trump Administration team at Education Department
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/24/2017 07:05 PM EDT
Jason Botel, executive director of the Maryland education advocacy group MarylandCAN, is joining the Trump administration as senior White House adviser for education.
Botel will work closely with Acting Education Secretary Phil Rosenfelt to lead a new team of individuals joining the Trump administration’s Education Department, according to information obtained by POLITICO.
That team includes Josh Venable , who is a top candidate for chief of staff, POLITICO reported today. And it includes Jim Manning, who worked at the Education Department during the Bush and Obama administrations and led the landing team at the Education Department throughout the transition.
Stanley Buchesky, formerly a managing partner at the venture capital firm The EdTech Fund, will be working on budget and finance issues.
Manning and other members of the new administration’s team were sworn in Friday and the responsibilities of individuals are still being finalized. Other names joining the team include:
— Derrick Bolen
— Debbie Cox-Roush
— Kevin Eck
— Holly Ham
— Ron Holden
— Amy Jones
— Andrew Kossack
— Cody J. Reynolds
— Patrick Shaheen
— Teresa UnRue
— Josh Venable
— Eric Ventimiglia
— Beatriz Ramos
— Jerry Ward
— Patrick Young
Trump raises familiar GOP education talking points in speech
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/20/2017 01:25 PM EDT
President Donald Trump said during his inauguration speech today that the U.S. education system is “flush with cash,” but “leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.”
The world “all” appeared to be ad-libbed, as it wasn’t part of his prepared remarks.
It’s a familiar GOP talking point, making the Republican Party’s platform last year. That platform noted that the federal government has spent $2 trillion on on elementary and secondary education with little to show for it.
But there’s evidence to the contrary.
Federal education funding has been flat. And the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported earlier this year that most states are providing less funding per student in elementary and secondary schools than before the Great Recession.
Meanwhile, the nation’s high school graduation rate is higher than ever before, at 83 percent in the 2014-2015 school year. It was the fifth year in a row that the nation’s high school graduation rate set a record.
U.S. students also made small but steady gains for more than two dozen years on the National Assessment of Education Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card. Scores slipped in 2015, marking the first time that scores declined significantly in math.
King names acting Education Secretary
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/18/2017 01:38 PM EDT
Phil Rosenfelt, deputy general counsel at the Education Department’s Office of the General Counsel, has been named acting education secretary until a new secretary is confirmed.
Outgoing Education Secretary John B. King Jr. alerted staff to the news in a farewell email.
King wrote that Rosenfelt “has many years of distinguished service to this department under multiple presidents and will lead you well while serving in this acting capacity.”
Rosenfelt has decades of experience at the Education Department, serving in multiple positions. He has worked on an extensive range of issues, from special education to ethics and civil rights.
According to his bio, he has worked as an “attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the Department of Education and its predecessor — the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare — since 1971.”
Alexander and Murray Battle over Betsy DeVos
Politico By Kimberly Hefling 01/24/2017 01:07 PM EDT
HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander and Sen. Patty Murray, the committee’s ranking Democrat, traded barbs today on the Senate floor over the nomination of Betsy DeVos — reinforcing just how contentious her confirmation process has become.
Alexander (R-Tenn.), accused Democrats of “grasping for straws” in their opposition to DeVos, an advocate for expanding charter schools and voucher programs. Washington state’s Murray, in turn, said that with Cabinet nominees, “it’s our job to ask them tough questions.”
Alexander, who has denied Murray’s request to hold a second confirmation hearing for DeVos, said one reason Democrats don’t like the education secretary nominee is because she’s a billionaire.
“Would they have been happier if she’d spent the last 30 years trying to deny low-income children the opportunity to go to a better school? No, she’s spent her money and her time trying to help children from low-income families go to a better” school, Alexander said.
He added, “Her opponents are really grasping for straws and I’m really disappointed in them.”
Murray said she respects Alexander, but she’s “hopeful that he does not simply jam this nominee through without allowing us to do our jobs.”
The committee is scheduled to vote Jan. 31 on DeVos’ nomination. She has widespread support among Republican senators and is expected to be confirmed.
Despite hailing from opposing parties, Alexander and Murray were able to work together in 2015 to pass the Every Student Succeeds Act in a divided Washington.
Alexander: DeVos’ views well within “the mainstream”
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/24/2017 10:25 AM EDT
Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander writes in a post on Medium this morning that Democrats are “desperately searching for a valid reason to oppose Betsy DeVos” and her support for vouchers is well within “the mainstream.”
Democrats, Alexander writes, are opposed to DeVos because “she supports charter schools.” But the senator praises charters as “public schools with fewer government and union rules so that teachers have more freedom to teach and parents have more freedom to choose the schools.”
In his post, Alexander notes that during her confirmation hearing, DeVos said she wouldn’t force states to adopt policies in support of “school choice” options such as charter schools and vouchers.
Alexander also counters the complaint from Democrats about not getting enough time to ask questions.
“Now she is answering 837 written follow up questions from Democratic committee members — 1,397 if you include all the questions within a question,” Alexander writes. “By comparison, Republicans asked President Obama’s first education secretary 53 written follow-up questions and his second education secretary 56 written follow-up questions, including questions within a question.”
“Even though they disagree with her, Democrats should also promptly confirm Betsy DeVos,” he writes. “Few Americans have done as much to help low-income students have a choice of better schools … Her critics may resent that, but this says more about them than it does about her.”
Murray says she has “serious concerns” after Devos confirmation hearing
Politico By Michael Stratford 01/18/2017 04:16 PM EDT
Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Education committee, said today that she has “serious concerns” about Betsy DeVos after last night’s confirmation hearing.
Speaking to a group of Detroit students, teachers and families rallying on Capitol Hill in opposition to DeVos, Murray said that President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary has an “anti-public education agenda.”
“I have very serious concerns about Mrs. DeVos’ record, her financial entanglements and her vision for our Department of Education,” Murray said, adding that she has “more questions than answers after last night’s hearing.”
But Murray said she was not ready to commit to voting against DeVos’ nomination.
“I have more questions I’m going to submit,” Murray told reporters. “I’m going to insist on answers. We need to have her financial disclosure work, which is not in yet. And we need an opportunity to take a look at that and then I will answer that question.”
Murray also said that she was “deeply disturbed” that DeVos “didn’t appear to understand IDEA as well as a number of other education policies that are critical to our public education and schools.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who also attended the rally, said he would not support DeVos’ nomination. Other Democrats, like Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) have also said they plan to vote against her.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chair of the Senate education committee, released a statement today praising DeVos’ performance at the confirmation hearing.
“Betsy DeVos was an articulate and passionate defender of improving opportunities for low-income children at our hearing last night,” he said.
DeVos review identifies 102 financial interests with potential conflicts
Politico By Michael Stratford 01/20/2017 12:36 PM EDT
Betsy DeVos has agreed to sever ties to several companies that provide services to schools and colleges, as well as a debt collection agency that collects student loans on behalf of the Education Department, according to government ethics paperwork released Friday.
DeVos, a Michigan billionaire with a complicated web of financial holdings, reached an agreement on Thursday with government ethics officials that will require her to divest from 102 of those assets that could potentially pose a conflict for her as Education secretary.
DeVos listed on her financial paperwork a holding company that invests in Performant Business Services, Inc., which the Education Department hires to collect defaulted federal student loans.
The holding company, from which DeVos has agreed to divest, also has investments in T2 Systems Inc., which provides parking payment services to colleges and universities, and in U.S. Retirement Partners, Inc., a financial services company that “specializes in public school and governmental employee benefit plans,” according to the disclosure statement.
DeVos listed an investment between $500,001 and $1 million in KinderCare Education, formerly Knowledge Universe Education, which is a provider of day care and early childhood education programs. She agreed to divest from the company.
In addition, DeVos has agreed to divest from an “early stage venture fund” that invests in Varsity News Network, Inc., a software developer for school athletics, and Flip Learning, which develops interactive digital textbooks for college students. She will also divest her interest, through a holding company, in N2Y, LLC, which “provides cloud-based learning services for special education,” and in a company, Caldwell and Gregory, Inc., which provides laundry equipment for colleges and universities and apartments.
DeVos’ financial disclosure statement also lists Dick DeVos as a co-borrower on a more than $1 million loan from PNC Financial Services Group for West Michigan Aviation Academy, the charter school that the DeVos’ founded and have funded.
The ethics agreement reached by DeVos and government ethics officials outlines the 102 entities from which she will divest within 90 days of her confirmation as Education secretary.
According to the agreement, the Education Department’s top ethics official determined that it wasn’t necessary for DeVos to divest from her remaining assets because of the “remote” chance she’ll have to make an official decision that affects them. “However,” DeVos wrote, “I will remain vigilant in identifying any particular matters involving the interests of these entities and their holdings …”
DeVos agreed to resign her position from her family’s investment firms, RDV Corporation and the Windquest Group, but will keep her financial interest in those companies.
The release Friday of the long-awaited documents meets a deadline set by Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) earlier this week. Alexander said he would hold a committee vote on DeVos’ nomination next Tuesday as long as her ethics paperwork was completed by the end of this week.
A spokesman for Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the committee, said Murray was still reviewing DeVos’ financial disclosure statement. The spokesman said Murray had not yet received answers to information she requested of DeVos about her confidential Senate financial questionnaire.
Among her hundreds of holdings, DeVos listed a stake in the embattled blood-testing company Theranos, valued at more than $1 million. Federal prosecutors launched a probe into the company last year about allegations it misled investors about its technology. The company has also drawn scrutiny from the FDA and CMS, and it has been the focus of multiple federal lawsuits over faulty blood tests.
DeVos lists the income from her stake in Theranos as none or less than $201.
DeVos also lists a stake in OSI Group, LLC, valued at $250,000 to $500,000. The company was fined $3.6 million by regulators in China last year for selling expired meat that was repackaged with newer expiration dates in a 2014 fast food safety scandal.
DeVos also lists the income in OSI Group, LLC, as none or less than $201.
DeVos opponents sound alarm after bumpy hearing
Politico By Kimberly Hefling, Caitlin Emma and Benjamin Wermund 01/18/2017 03:16 PM EDT
Betsy DeVos has gone viral — and not in a good way.
Following her bumpy confirmation hearing Tuesday night, President-elect Donald Trump’s Education secretary pick was a social media sensation Wednesday. Video snippets showed DeVos struggling to answer questions about the best way to measure student performance. Her suggestion that allowing states to permit guns in and around schools could help protect against grizzly bears was relentlessly mocked on Twitter. Perhaps most damaging was DeVos’ suggestion that states should handle enforcement of a federal law that protects the civil rights of children with disabilities.
Several special education advocates said her responses hardened their concerns about her — and showed her unfamiliarity with important topics in education.
“At this point, we are definitely sounding the alarm of concern,” said Denise Marshall, executive Director of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. “It’s clear she has no clue about the requirements under the law. That’s a dangerous thing.”
Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disabilities Rights Network, said that what DeVos struggled to answer “seems to be a basic piece of information that anybody in the education community would have.”
Despite the negative buzz, DeVos has widespread backing among Republicans. It’s unlikely her performance will threaten her ability to get confirmed by the education committee and later the full Senate.
But the performance did appear to harden the opposition from some previously uncommitted Senate Democrats. Shortly after midnight Wednesday, Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a past supporter of school vouchers, issued a statement saying her testimony raised “a number of concerns.”
Missouri’s Claire McCaskill, a red state Democrat, retweeted some of DeVos’ exchanges with Senate Democrats. “After watching my colleagues question DeVos it is now crystal clear why the Chairman limited questioning,” McCaskill tweeted, suggesting that Lamar Alexander’s decision to curb lawmakers’ time to one round of questions protected her from more embarrassing exchanges.
Even before the hearing, DeVos was a top target of Democrats. And many special education advocates have long been concerned about DeVos’ views on special education, in part because she’s such a strong proponent of charter schools and voucher programs.
Charter schools enroll a smaller percentage of special education students than traditional public schools, and there have been complaints that some push out special need students because they are more difficult to serve. In turn, in many states where school vouchers exist, students who attend a private school give up many of their rights under federal education law, Marshall said.
During the hearing, one exchange on special education law prompted some gasps from spectators in an overflowed room. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) had followed up to an earlier question by stressing to DeVos that “federal law must be followed where federal dollars are in play.”
“Were you unaware that it is federal law?” Hassan asked.
“I may have confused it,” DeVos said.
Earlier, Tim Kaine had asked DeVos whether all schools that receive taxpayer funding should be required to meet the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
“I think that is a matter better left to the states,” DeVos responded.
The grizzly bear comment came in response to questions from Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) about gun control in schools. DeVos said decisions on gun access should be made by local and state governments. She then referred to a small rural school in Wapiti, Wyo., where earlier in the hearing, Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) had said the school had to ward off grizzly bears.
“I would imagine that there is probably a gun in the schools to protect from potential grizzlies,” DeVos said.
The exchange on testing came in response to a question from Al Franken (D-Minn.) on the issue of student growth and proficiency when it comes to standardized testing.
Franken asked for her thoughts on using tests to measure whether students are making progress, as opposed to focusing on whether students meet a particular proficiency standard.
“I think if I am understanding your question correctly around proficiency, I would correlate it to competency and mastery, so that each student is measured according to the advancements that they’re making in each subject area,” DeVos said.
“Well that’s growth. That’s not proficiency,” Franken shot back. He added, “This is a subject that has been debated in the education community for years. … It surprises me that you don’t know this issue.”
The criticism online of DeVos’ performance was at times blistering — even among some Republicans.
“Ppl I respect, think highly of Betsy Devos. But clips of her confirmation hearing made me want to cover my eyes. Not prepared for hard q’s,” Republican strategist Ana Navarro tweeted.
DeVos’ supporters dismissed the criticism of her performance and said the hearing was dominated by political theatre.
“It was clear that the goal of the Democrats was to not allow her to answer the questions and then criticize her for a lack of answer or what they saw as an incorrect answer,” said Gary Naeyaert, executive director of Great Lakes Education Project, a “school choice” advocacy organization founded by DeVos and her husband. “There was definitely a ‘gotcha’ mindset.”
Naeyaert had a simple explanation for DeVos’ much-criticized answer on special education laws: “I think she misheard a portion of the question and she clearly corrected herself.”
Ed Patru, a spokesman for a group of allies supporting DeVos’ confirmation, said Wednesday that DeVos “absolutely believes states must adhere to federal law as it pertains to students with special needs.”
Patru said that DeVos is also “deeply sympathetic” to “the many parents of kids with special needs kids for whom [federal law] is not working correctly because of the uneven way in which it is being implemented.”
Alexander has said he wants the Senate’s education committee to vote on DeVos’ confirmation next Tuesday. But he’s said it won’t hold the vote if a review by the Office of Government Ethics related to DeVos’ financial holdings isn’t complete by Friday — Trump’s swearing-in day.
Following the hearing, Alexander said DeVos handled herself with “great pleasantness” and is well qualified.
“I believe she will be confirmed,” Alexander told reporters.
That’s not good news to Christina Mills, a board member on the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund who is physically disabled.
DeVos’ answers on special education confirmed Mills’ suspicions about her — and she said Wednesday she planned to write senators telling them to oppose her nomination.
“It certainly made it more solid. It solidified what she was all about. That’s for sure,” Mills said of her opposition to DeVos.
Rubio, Lee critical of child-care deduction favored by Ivanka Trump
Politico By Katy O’Donnell 01/18/2017 01:08 PM EDT
Two Republican senators are pushing back against the child-care deduction championed by Ivanka Trump, in another indication of the divisions between the incoming administration and congressional Republicans over tax reform.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) warned against any measure that would “privilege wealthier families” and touted their 2016 child tax credit proposal — expanding the credit from $1,000 to $2,500 per child — in a letter to top tax writers in the House and Senate today.
“We believe the solution should benefit as many parents as possible, and especially that it not privilege wealthier families, or discriminate against moms and dads who choose to stay at home to care for their children full time,” they write in the letter obtained by POLITICO.
Transition officials are pushing legislators to include a provision that would allow parents to write off some child care costs in an upcoming tax reform bill. Ivanka Trump is widely seen as being behind the proposal. Critics have pointed out that low-income families — who are less likely to itemize and have lower tax bills to deduct against — could see little benefit.
President-elect Donald Trump panned a key element of the House GOP tax reform plan last week, dismissing border adjustability as “too complicated.”
Federal Update
Foxx taps House Education and Workforce subcommittee chairs
Politico By Michael Stratford 01/13/2017 04:45 PM EDT
Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, today announced new GOP members of the panel and the leaders of its four subcommittees.
Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) will be the new chair of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development panel. Foxx previously led that panel and has now tweaked its name to include “development” as opposed to “training.”
Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) will be the new leader of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) will retain his position as head of the subcommittee overseeing early childhood, elementary and secondary education. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) will also keep his gavel as chair of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions.
The House Education and Workforce Committee also announced the addition of six new Republican members:
— Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.)
— Tom Garrett (R-Va.)
— Jason Lewis, (R-Minn.)
— Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.)
— Francis Rooney (R-Fla.)
— Lloyd Smucker (R-Penn.)
“We have assembled a strong team to advance the commonsense solutions our nation’s workers, students, families, and small businesses urgently need,” Foxx said in a statement. “This committee will play a central role in Congress’s broader efforts to grow the economy, advance patient-centered health care, and promote greater prosperity for all Americans.”
Republicans announce membership of education appropriations subcommittee
Politico By Michael Stratford 01/11/2017 06:36 PM EDT
House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen today announced which GOP lawmakers will oversee education funding in the new Congress.
The Republican membership of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education subcommittee will largely remain the same as the previous two years. But Republicans added two new members to the panel: Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) and John Moolenaar (R-Mich.).
Here’s the full Republican membership of the subcommittee:
- Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chairman
- Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Ind.)
- Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.)
- Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.)
- Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)
- Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.)
- Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.)
- Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.)
Lessons sought from failure of School Improvement Grants to boost outcomes
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/19/2017 03:47 PM EDT
The Education Department plans to identify lessons learned from a study that shows that billions in federal funding spent to turn around the nation’s worst schools didn’t boost student outcomes.
The Obama administration spent more than $7 billion on School Improvement Grants. POLITICO previously reported that the money has failed to produce dramatic results for a variety of reasons, including schools’ lack of readiness to use the sudden infusion of money. In some cases, schools got worse.
The study, produced by the Education Department’s independent research arm, looks at the 2010-11 school year through the 2012-13 school year. At the time, SIG grants required schools to choose from one of four approved models for turning around schools.
The grants didn’t cause schools to use more practices pushed by the SIG program than schools that didn’t get grants, such as increasing learning time for students, the study shows. There’s also no evidence that SIG grants boosted math or reading test scores, high school graduation or college enrollment for students.
Congress ordered changes to the SIG program in 2014 to increase flexibility for schools, school districts and states. It was later consolidated into a bigger pot of Title I funding for poor students after passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015.
Outgoing Education Department spokeswoman Dorie Nolt said the agency “will review the study closely for lessons learned.”
“This outcome reminds us that turning around our lowest-performing schools is some of the hardest, most complex work in education and that we don’t yet have solid evidence on effective, replicable, comprehensive school improvement strategies as identified in SIG programs,” she said.
Federal report recommends enhancing 8 key early childhood programs
Politico By Kimberly Hefling 01/13/2017 11:46 AM EDT
Federal investments in early learning are not meeting families’ needs, concludes a new report by the Obama administration. It suggests focusing on eight core programs to strengthen the nation’s early childhood programs.
The Education and Health and Human Services departments did the review at Congress’s urging. Lawmakers sought it in response to a 2012 Government Accountability Office report that found evidence of overlap and fragmentation in federal programs that serve young children. Congressional Republicans have argued that such inefficiencies should be addressed before federal early childhood programs are bolstered.
The Obama administration says in the new report that steps have been taken to streamline programs and eliminate others.
It suggests enhancing these eight programs: The Child Care and Development Fund that funds childcare for low-income families; Head Start; Early Head Start; Preschool Development Grants; the Department of Defense Child Development Program; Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act focused on infants and toddlers with disabilities; Part B, section 619 of the IDEA focused on preschoolers with disabilities; and the Family and Child Education program within the Bureau of Indian Education.
“These early learning programs receive far less funding than is needed to serve all, or even a fraction of eligible children, or provide the level of resources needed to support and sustain high quality services,” the report says.
President-elect Donald Trump pledged during the presidential campaign to lower childcare costs for families, but hasn’t made clear where he stands on the federal role in supporting early childhood education programs.
Education Department pulls contested Title I spending rule
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/18/2017 06:35 PM EDT
The Education Department on Wednesday withdrew a hotly-contested draft rule under the Every Student Succeeds Act — essentially cementing the spending flexibility that Republicans, teachers unions and state leaders have wanted.
The draft Title I spending rule, known as “supplement, not supplant,” was meant to ensure that poor and minority students get their fair share of state and local education funding.
But critics like Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander have slammed the Education Department’s proposal as executive overreach. Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Education secretary, appears to agree with Alexander’s position. DeVos has stressed that she’ll implement the Every Student Succeeds Act as Congress intended, if confirmed.
“I am glad the Education Department has listened to Congress and has chosen not to move forward with its proposed ‘supplement-not-supplant’ regulation,” Alexander said in a statement Wednesday. “This proposal would have dictated from Washington how states and school districts should spend nearly all state and local tax dollars on schools in order to receive federal Title I dollars — which are only about 3 percent of total national spending on K-12 schools. A regulation like this is not authorized by law; in fact, it is specifically prohibited by law.”
Education Department spokeswoman Dorie Nolt said the Obama administration simply ran out of time to issue a final rule.
“While we worked tirelessly to put forward a regulation that implements that simple requirement and to incorporate the extensive feedback we received, we ultimately did not have time to publish a strong final regulation that lives up to the promise of the law,” she said. “We urge supporters of public education across the country and the political spectrum to continue the fight for equitable access to resources both within and across school districts.”
Alexander and other critics have said that the proposed rule, which essentially forces school districts to equalize funding across schools, could pose an enormous burden on school districts. For example, they say it could force school districts to monitor the salaries of thousands of teachers and shuffle teachers around in order to equalize personnel expenditures — blowing up collective bargaining agreements in the process.
The Education Department’s decision to pull the regulation represents a blow to civil rights groups, who wanted to see a strong final rule from the Obama administration.
“Of course we’re disappointed that we weren’t able to get all the way to a final regulation on this issue, but we always knew that time wasn’t on our side,” said Liz King of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, who was one of the members of the negotiated rulemaking committee on the issue last spring. “This administration has been a champion for the civil rights of all students and raising this issue on equitable school funding is a key example.”
The Council of Chief State School Officers, the group representing state education chiefs across the country, lauded the move.
“We appreciate the U.S. Department of Education’s recognition that the draft of the supplement not supplant provision would not draw resources to kids who need them the most,” said CCSSO Executive Director Chris Minnich. “State chiefs are focused on creating an equitable education system that provides opportunities to all kids. As states transition to the Every Student Succeeds Act, we need stability in the federal policy environment in order to create strong plans. We look forward to working with the new administration to create that stability.”
CCSSO proposed its own plan for supplement, not supplant in November. Nora Gordon, an associate professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, said any rulemaking effort taken on by the Trump administration could look a lot like that plan, which was a clear departure from the one pushed by the Obama administration — although it’s unclear if the Trump administration will want to regulate on the issue.
ESSA’s “supplement, not supplant” provision is meant to ensure that school districts aren’t using federal Title I dollars for poor students to fill gaps in state and local education funding. The law requires districts to come up with a way to show they’re compliant. The Education Department’s draft rule, released in August, gave districts four options.
Those options were: Districts could distribute state and local funds by a weighted student funding formula or by a formula based on staffing and supplies. States could also develop their own model — with some restrictions. Or districts could show that per-student state and local spending in Title I schools is at least as much as the average spent per student in other schools.
The plan pushed by CCSSO scrapped those four options, and focused mostly on transparency.
Under that proposal, districts would have to distribute state and local funds using a method that doesn’t take Title I participation into account. Districts would also have to publish that method, show they’re following through with it and show how that method affects the lowest-performing schools.
Advocates rush to save Obama education data
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/20/2017 02:40 PM EDT
Policy experts and advocates are poring over the Education Department’s website, downloading and copying anything they feel might get erased or buried by the new Trump administration.
Advocates feel the incoming administration has been hostile toward a number of key Obama education policies — and they say Betsy DeVos’ performance at her confirmation hearing this week didn’t inspire confidence.
They anticipate the Trump administration will dial back on enforcement and oversight. And they worry about transparency, about students and parents losing resources, and they’re ready to cry foul if needed.
The same anxiety has been felt across other policy sectors, with researchers downloading Obamacare data and scientists scrambling to save data on climate change.
As soon as President Donald Trump took office Friday, mentions of climate change, the Affordable Care Act and civil rights disappeared from the White House website.
“This is something that we’re really worried about,” said Liz King, director of education policy for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Everything feels unpredictable right now and hiding information is a tactic that’s likely to come up.”
A spokeswoman for the Trump transition team could not immediately be reached for comment.
Laura Jimenez, director of standards and accountability at the liberal Center for American Progress, has been downloading dozens of materials from the Education Department’s website and has requested copies of a massive trove of federal civil rights data.
The documents span a wide range of issues, including the Education Department’s enforcement of Title IX to combat campus sexual violence and protect the civil rights of transgender students. Jimenez is also downloading materials on the Every Student Succeeds Act.
States are now working to design their plans under that law. The Center for American Progress had always planned to stay on top of those plans, but Jimenez said the anticipation of less stringent oversight under the Trump administration is adding “to the urgency.”
“There might be a role for us to play in holding the Trump administration accountable while also providing support to states,” she said.
The Center for American Progress has spoken with Obama education officials about “what’s going to be important moving forward,” particularly when it comes to implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, Jimenez said.
“Our goal is to become the foremost experts in state plans,” she explained. “We’re thinking about how we can be a partner and where we can have some impact in states … and we’ll be pushing on the Education Department to monitor states.”
Anne Hyslop, a former senior policy adviser at the Education Department, advised on Twitter Friday the downloading of documents on the Every Student Succeeds Act and data from the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and other key Republican education leaders vowed last year to ensure the Every Student Succeeds Act is implemented as Congress intended, casting the Obama administration’s regulatory efforts as executive overreach.
DeVos, Trump’s nominee for Education secretary, appears to be on the same page. She has said she’ll ensure the law is implemented the way Congress intended. And during her confirmation hearing this week, she was noncommittal on major issues like the Education Department’s enforcement of Title IX, which was enough to worry some advocacy groups.
“Those of us who were building archives probably felt more urgency after she declined to make any commitment on Title IX enforcement,” said Lisa Maatz, a top policy adviser for the American Association of University Women.
Maatz said she’s downloading a number of Obama-era directives on Title IX and resolution agreements that she feels offer best practices for colleges and universities when it comes to addressing issues of campus sexual violence and harassment, among other issues.
“If they really want to get off on the wrong foot, they’ll start messing with one of the most popular civil rights laws ever — Title IX,” she said
Supreme Court hears oral arguments in major special education case
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/11/2017 03:15 PM EDT
The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard one of the most significant special education cases in decades — a case that poses the question of whether schools should meet a higher bar in educating students with disabilities.
As attorneys on both sides presented oral arguments, the justices heard details about the history of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the “level of educational benefit” that school districts must provide to students with disabilities under the law. The case, Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District , involves a Colorado student diagnosed with autism. Endrew’s parents feel his public school district and individualized education program failed him.
Federal law requires public schools to provide students with disabilities a “free appropriate public education” — known as the FAPE requirement. But lower courts have split on what that means.
Jeffrey Fisher, an attorney representing Endrew and his parents, argued Wednesday that the district only offered enough support to manage Endrew’s behavior. Since the Supreme Court last ruled on this issue, Congress has amended IDEA — and schools and districts need to meet a higher bar to comply, Fisher said. That notion has been endorsed by the Obama administration, more than 100 current and former Democratic members of Congress and a host of special education advocates.
But requiring school districts to do more could increase the cost of serving students with disabilities, and defining the new standard of learning isn’t easy.
“What’s frustrating about this case and the statute is that we’ve had a blizzard of words,” said Justice Samuel Alito. “Everyone seems to be looking for the word with the right nuance.”
Fisher said a higher standard might ensure that students with disabilities are getting everything they need to perform at grade-level and advance from grade to grade.
“It seems to me that you have a lot of ways to describe the standard, but there’s really nothing concrete there,” said Chief Justice John Roberts.
Neal Katyal, the attorney representing Douglas County School District, argued that the system now in place works. He cautioned against thrusting the “courts into the business of deciding what philosophy is appropriate.” If the court imposes a higher standard, it could open up a host of litigation across the country, Katyal said, adding that the issue is best left to Congress.
Attorneys for Endrew and his parents have argued that the current bar is too low, allowing a student’s IEP to satisfy federal requirements as long as it provides students with a “just-above-trivial educational benefit.” The Tenth Circuit has long held that a child must merely receive “more than de minimis benefit” — essentially more than a minimal benefit. Other courts have said that educational benefit should be more meaningful.
The Supreme Court previously upheld a lower standard in the 1982 case of first grade student Amy Rowley. Rowley used a hearing aid and her IEP provided tutoring services and a speech therapist. But her parents argued that she also needed a sign language interpreter in her classes. The justices ruled that Amy was receiving enough supportive services to benefit from her classes, meaning she was receiving a free appropriate public education.
In Endrew’s case, his parents enrolled him in private school for fifth grade after they felt his behavioral problems were getting worse in public school. He was banging his head on walls, “he regularly had to be removed from the classroom” and he ran away from school at least twice, according to the parents’ petition asking the high court to take up the case.
They told the Douglas County School District in Colorado they were withdrawing him from public school for a private school that specializes in teaching children with autism, and they’d be seeking tuition reimbursement. But the school district has argued that because Endrew made some progress under his IEP — the goals of which they noted were broad and continued to change as he improved — he received a free appropriate public education.
Justice Elena Kagan appeared skeptical that the 10th Circuit’s “de minimis benefit” was strong enough.
She told Katyal, the school district attorney, “If I told you to write a standard with bite, I doubt you’d come up with something that’s more than merely de minimis.”
When it comes to cost, Roberts and Alito both asked about the financial burden that a higher bar might place on schools and districts. Fisher assured that instances in which great costs accumulate, like when districts pay for private school tuition, would be a rarity.
Francisco Negrón, chief legal officer at the National School Boards Association, said he was “heartened” to hear the justices ask about cost.
“Special education is very expensive for school districts to provide,” he said. If the court sets a higher bar, “districts would have to potentially look at every student’s individual plan and modify it.”
Despite questions from the justices about cost and tricky language, Fisher said after the hearing that he was “happy to see they were skeptical of the district’s proposal that just doing a little more than nothing is enough.”
Nia Davis, senior manager for policy and legal research at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, agreed.
“Healthy skepticism within the questioning can only be beneficial,” she said. “It seems like the justices had a clear understanding that all students deserve a great education. And a barely more than de minimis standard kind of laughs in the face of that.”
Obama vows to publicly oppose any efforts to deport undocumented students
Politico By Benjamin Wermund 01/18/2017 03:32 PM EDT
President Barack Obama said today that efforts to “round up” and deport undocumented students would put America’s “core values at stake” and would merit him speaking out after leaving office.
President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly vowed on the campaign trail to repeal Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which allows some children of undocumented immigrants to receive two-year work permits and exemption from deportation.
But Obama said today that any effort to do away with the program and deport those students is among a list of “certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake.”
“I would put in that category efforts to round up kids who have grown up here and for all practical purposes are American kids and send them some place else when they love this country, they are our kids’ friends and classmates and are now entering into community colleges or some cases serving in our military,” Obama said during his final press conference today. “The notion that we would just arbitrarily or because of politics punish those kids when they didn’t do anything wrong themselves, I think would be something that would merit me speaking out.”
Advocates estimate there could be as many as 1.4 million people in the U.S. who could be covered by the program, which applies to children of undocumented immigrants who arrived after 2007 at age 16 or younger. As of June, the federal government had approved more than 840,000 DACA applications.
State Update
POLITICO Florida: Supreme Court declines to hear union’s voucher lawsuit
By Jessica Bakeman 01/18/2017 12:55 PM EDT TALLAHASSEE
Florida’s highest court on Wednesday declined to hear a legal challenge to a voucher-like private school scholarship program, dealing a blow to the state’s teachers’ union.
Four of the Supreme Court’s five justices agreed not to entertain oral arguments on the politically charged lawsuit challenging the Jeb Bush-era policy, which has been in place for 16 years and allows corporations to receive 100 percent tax credits for donating toward scholarships that allow poor students to attend private schools.
The amount of tax credits the state will offer this fiscal year is capped at about $560 million, and nearly 98,000 students currently attend private schools using the scholarships.
The Florida Education Association has argued the program creates an unconstitutional parallel and inferior system of public education, siphons resources from the traditional public schools that serve the most disadvantaged students and violates the separation of church and state.
The union and its co-plaintiffs, including the Florida chapter of the NAACP, have struggled to get the opportunity to argue the case in court, though. Both trial and appeals courts have deemed the plaintiffs lack standing as taxpayers to challenge the law, because would-be revenue forfeited through a tax credit is never collected or appropriated by the state.
FEA president Joanne McCall, who is personally named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, did not immediately return a call to her cell phone. Spokespeople for the union also did not yet return calls and emails Wednesday morning.
Proponents of the program celebrated in statements, declaring the fight over the scholarships finished.
“The court has spoken, and now is the time for us all to come together to work for the best interests of these children,” tweeted Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up for Students, a nonprofit organization authorized by the state to administer the tax-credit scholarships as well as other voucher programs for students with disabilities.
Some of the loudest proponents of the scholarships — and critics of the union for pursuing the lawsuit — have been black and Hispanic clergy, some of whom run religious schools that benefit from the program. The religious leaders have argued the program provides opportunities for high-quality education to predominantly minority children who wouldn’t get it otherwise.
They have participated in an expensive campaign to convince the union to drop the lawsuit, including by speaking at a massive $1 million rally in Tallahassee last year that was paid for by the American Federation for Children, then-chaired by likely next Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
“I commend the state Supreme Court on their wise application of the law. We look forward to working together with all parties to improve the educational outcomes of low-income children in our state,” Rev. R.B. Holmes of Tallahassee’s Bethel Missionary Baptist Church said in a statement. Holmes’ church operates schools whose students are recipients of the scholarships. He also founded one of the state’s first charter schools, which has since closed.
Throughout the legal process, FEA and its allies have made themselves targets for the ire of conservative politicians in a right-to-work state already hostile to labor causes. New House speaker Richard Corcoran, a Land O’Lakes Republican and avid voucher proponent, called the union’s efforts to derail the scholarship program “downright evil” during his first speech after being elected to the leadership position. Corcoran hopes to change the state constitution to allow for the further growth of voucher programs.
The Florida School Boards Association, which was initially a co-plaintiff but later dropped out of the lawsuit, has also suffered retaliation from lawmakers. The Legislature last year enacted laws allowing individual school board members to send their dues to an association of their choosing, a move that has cost the group money and empowered its conservative competitor. The Florida PTA also recently chose to leave the lawsuit.
In the August appeals court decision , judges wrote in an opinion that the union’s fight against vouchers should be at the polls, not in the courts. In fact, FEA spent nearly twice as much as voucher proponents in the 2016 elections but suffered stinging losses.
New Jersey: Christie names nominees for education commissioner, State Board of Education
Politico By Linh Tat 01/23/2017 05:18 PM EDT
Gov. Chris Christie filed nominations Monday to appoint a permanent education commissioner and two members to the state Board of Education.
He nominated Kimberley Harrington, the current acting education commissioner, to the position permanently. He also nominated Nina L. Washington, of Galloway, and Joseph L. Ricca Jr., of Morristown, to the Board of Education.
Washington was first nominated in early December, but her name was withdrawn 10 days later. The governor’s office has yet to explain what happened. The office also did not immediately respond to an email Monday inquiring why she was renominated this week.
Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the current board president, Mark Biedron, and vice president, Joseph Fisicaro, are not being considered for new terms. Both men have expressed surprise over the matter.
The nominees must be confirmed by the state Senate.
Arizona: Civil rights lawsuit alleges wrongdoing in federally run Native American school
Politico By Kimberly Hefling 01/12/2017 01:17 PM EDT
A lawsuit filed Thursday alleges a host of problems at a Native American school in the Grand Canyon — ranging from a child sexually assaulted on the playground to students not being taught subjects beyond reading and math.
The civil rights suit against the federal government — filed on behalf of nine Havasupai students — comes in the waning days of the Obama administration, which has faced complications in its efforts to restructure and improve the long-troubled Bureau of Indian Education, which is run by the Interior Department.
They seek improvements at Havasupai Elementary School and throughout the BIE system.
The student plaintiffs are current or former students of Havasupai Elementary School, which is a federally run BIE school with about 70 students. Their reservation is on remote tribal land along the western corner of the Grand Canyon’s South Rim in Arizona.
The complaint says the school is woefully inadequate in meeting basic legal requirements — it doesn’t offer subjects like history and science and non-certified staff such as the school janitor or secretary fill in to teach.
Despite roughly half of its student body having special needs, the school also doesn’t provide a full day of public education to students with disabilities and has no system to provide special education, the complaint says.
The suit’s allegations include: An 11-year-old boy with attention-deficit problems repeatedly “pushed out of school” (and getting just one hour of education a week in recent months), and a 6-year-old girl sexually assaulted on the playground by another student. The girl’s parents weren’t informed of the incident.
The suit was filed in federal court in the District of Arizona. It names the BIE and the Interior Department, but also officials such as Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Principal Jeff Williamson — in the capacity of their positions. Citing the pending litigation, an Interior Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the case.
The defendants “have knowingly failed to provide basic general education, a system of special education, and necessary wellness and mental health support to Havasupai students, resulting in indefensible deficits in academic achievement and educational attainment,” the complaint says.
Beyond the students, a plaintiff in the suit is the Native American Disability Law Center. The group has partnered with the Public Counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and other law firms.
The BIE oversees more than 180 schools — located mostly on remote reservations. The system’s problems date to the 19th century, when families were forced to send their children to remote boarding schools. The schools overall have some of the nation’s lowest high school graduation rates and standardized test scores, and struggle with issues such as poverty and teacher shortages.
The Obama administration has worked to enhance the BIE system, but has faced challenges such as having to go months last year without a permanent director after Charles “Monty” Roessel stepped down following an inspector general report that found he helped steer agency jobs to both a relative and a woman he was romantically involved with.
The BIE director job isn’t politically appointed. The new director named in November, Tony Dearman, is expected to stay into the Trump administration. Dearman was promoted from within the agency.
Attorneys involved in the new civil rights suit say the case is about the federal government’s centurieslong failure to provide education in these schools — and the issues, they say, remain unresolved as Obama hands over the reins of the presidency.
“Defendants’ failure to provide education to students in Havasupai is consistent with Defendants’ long history of failing to provide meaningful education to Native students,” the complaint says.
WV – State Board of Education Considers Replacing Smarter Balanced Tests
The West Virginia Board of Education is considering a plan that would replace Smarter Balanced assessments for high school students with end-of-course exams that would be connected to a student’s final grade. (MetroNews, Jan. 11)
California State Board finalizes state’s accountability system
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/12/2017 01:27 PM EDT
The California state board has taken steps to finalize its new accountability system, while working through two issues that have drawn a lot of debate.
Those issues include a new method of measuring student and school progress in math and English. The state plans to look at how close student test scores are to the point of proficiency and whether they improve or decline over the course of three years.
The second hot-button issue: the board adopted a policy that counts the test scores of former English-language learners in the English-language learner group of the state’s accountability system for up to four years after those students have been reclassified, EdSource reports.
The state’s accountability system, called the “California School Dashboard,” is expected to be unveiled to the public in late February or March.
“This completes the final pieces of a groundbreaking system to help the public better understand what is going on in our schools,” said California State Board of Education President Mike Kirst in a statement. “I look forward to the launch of the California School Dashboard later this year, but this is just the beginning. We plan to make significant improvements in future years.”
State AGs seek to intervene in for-profit accreditor battle with Education Department
Politico By Michael Stratford 01/24/2017 12:40 PM EDT
Attorneys general from five states and the District of Columbia are seeking to intervene in a for-profit college accreditor’s legal battle with the Education Department.
The group of attorneys general today asked a federal judge to let them join in the defense of the Obama administration’s decision last year to terminate the accreditor’s federal recognition — a rare move that amounts to a “death penalty” for the accrediting organization.
The accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Universities, is currently suing the department to block that decision. A federal judge last month declined to issue an emergency order halting the termination but the court is still considering the case.
The attorneys general, all Democrats, argue that they should be allowed to join the case “in order to defend important state interests.” They argue that ACICS approves for-profit schools in each of their respective states.
The motion was filed by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Illinois, Maine, New York, Maryland and the District of Columbia — all of whom previously signed a letter last year urging the Obama administration to terminate recognition of ACICS.
The move by the attorneys general could prove significant if the Trump administration decides not to continue defending the Obama administration’s decision in court. It’s not yet clear how Trump’s Education Department plans to proceed on the matter.
Attorneys for ACICS and the Education Department are due in court for a hearing in the case on Feb. 1
Appeals court rules funding for certain Louisiana charter schools unconstitutional
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/10/2017 02:15 PM EDT
A Louisiana appeals court panel ruled that public funding for certain charter schools authorized by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is unconstitutional — overturning a lower court’s ruling last year.
In a 3-2 decision, the judges on Monday found that the schools, known as “Type 2” charter schools, don’t meet the state constitution’s definition of public schools, The Advocate reports. The statewide teachers union and Iberville Parish School Board both sued the state over the issue, and their cases were later consolidated.
Louisiana Association of Educators President Debbie Meaux said the ruling is “a significant victory in defending the right of every child in Louisiana to attend a quality public school. It is crucial for the state to adequately fund the institutions where the vast majority of Louisiana’s students learn, and a majority of Louisiana’s students learn in public school classrooms.”
State Superintendent John White predicted that the legal battle isn’t over. White told The Advocate that the case “has always been headed” to the state Supreme Court.
“This lawsuit is only about money,” he said. “It disregards the rights of parents to choose the schools that are best for their unique children. We look forward to presenting the matter at the next level.”
One CO District Moving Toward Later High School Start Times — Maybe — While Another Shelves the Idea
Of the two large Colorado school districts that were actively exploring later high school start times for the 2017-18 school year, one is moving ahead and one has dropped the idea for now. (Chalkbeat, Jan. 19)
Ten years later, St. Louis school district regains accreditation
Politico By Kimberly Hefling 01/10/2017 02:28 PM EDT
The Missouri Board of Education voted unanimously today to fully accredit St. Louis Public Schools — ten years after the predominantly African-American school district had its accreditation stripped away.
“This is an opportunity to celebrate really great things in the district,” said State Board President Charlie Shields. “Today’s decision should be viewed as a major success for St. Louis, the state of Missouri and the Department.”
A decade ago, the roughly 24,000-student district was graduating 56 percent of its students — today that number is 72 percent. A budget deficit of $24 million has been turned into a $19.2 million surplus. And the district boasts a 95 percent attendance rate, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The district has been provisionally accredited since 2012. The state previously installed the Transitional School District of St. Louis with a special administrative board, which remains in place.
New Law Aimed at Reducing Illinois’ Teacher Shortage
The new law will make it easier for teachers who move to Illinois to transfer a teaching license, provided the state they move from has comparable licensing requirements. The bill unanimously passed both chambers of the General Assembly in November. (Associated Press, Jan. 6)
Florida: Supreme Court declines to hear union’s voucher lawsuit
Politico By Jessica Bakeman 01/18/2017 12:55 PM EDT
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s highest court on Wednesday declined to hear a legal challenge to a voucher-like private school scholarship program, dealing a blow to the state’s teachers’ union.
Four of the Supreme Court’s five justices agreed not to entertain oral arguments on the politically charged lawsuit challenging the Jeb Bush-era policy, which has been in place for 16 years and allows corporations to receive 100 percent tax credits for donating toward scholarships that allow poor students to attend private schools.
The amount of tax credits the state will offer this fiscal year is capped at about $560 million, and nearly 98,000 students currently attend private schools using the scholarships.
The Florida Education Association has argued the program creates an unconstitutional parallel and inferior system of public education, siphons resources from the traditional public schools that serve the most disadvantaged students and violates the separation of church and state.
The union and its co-plaintiffs, including the Florida chapter of the NAACP, have struggled to get the opportunity to argue the case in court, though. Both trial and appeals courts have deemed the plaintiffs lack standing as taxpayers to challenge the law, because would-be revenue forfeited through a tax credit is never collected or appropriated by the state.
FEA president Joanne McCall, who is personally named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, did not immediately return a call to her cell phone. Spokespeople for the union also did not yet return calls and emails Wednesday morning.
Proponents of the program celebrated in statements, declaring the fight over the scholarships finished.
“The court has spoken, and now is the time for us all to come together to work for the best interests of these children,” tweeted Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up for Students, a nonprofit organization authorized by the state to administer the tax-credit scholarships as well as other voucher programs for students with disabilities.
Some of the loudest proponents of the scholarships — and critics of the union for pursuing the lawsuit — have been black and Hispanic clergy, some of whom run religious schools that benefit from the program. The religious leaders have argued the program provides opportunities for high-quality education to predominantly minority children who wouldn’t get it otherwise.
They have participated in an expensive campaign to convince the union to drop the lawsuit, including by speaking at a massive $1 million rally in Tallahassee last year that was paid for by the American Federation for Children, then-chaired by likely next Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
“I commend the state Supreme Court on their wise application of the law. We look forward to working together with all parties to improve the educational outcomes of low-income children in our state,” Rev. R.B. Holmes of Tallahassee’s Bethel Missionary Baptist Church said in a statement. Holmes’ church operates schools whose students are recipients of the scholarships. He also founded one of the state’s first charter schools, which has since closed.
Throughout the legal process, FEA and its allies have made themselves targets for the ire of conservative politicians in a right-to-work state already hostile to labor causes. New House speaker Richard Corcoran, a Land O’Lakes Republican and avid voucher proponent, called the union’s efforts to derail the scholarship program “downright evil” during his first speech after being elected to the leadership position. Corcoran hopes to change the state constitution to allow for the further growth of voucher programs.
The Florida School Boards Association, which was initially a co-plaintiff but later dropped out of the lawsuit, has also suffered retaliation from lawmakers. The Legislature last year enacted laws allowing individual school board members to send their dues to an association of their choosing, a move that has cost the group money and empowered its conservative competitor. The Florida PTA also recently chose to leave the lawsuit.
In the August appeals court decision , judges wrote in an opinion that the union’s fight against vouchers should be at the polls, not in the courts. In fact, FEA spent nearly twice as much as voucher proponents in the 2016 elections but suffered stinging losses.
UT – State School Board Member Seeks School Attendance Waiver for Emergency School Days
In the wake of recent severe winter storms that forced administrators in some Utah school districts to cancel classes, one State School Board member will ask the full board to consider granting affected districts one-time waivers of the state’s school attendance rule. (Deseret News, Jan. 12)
NY- Cuomo’s Budget Proposal Includes Perks for New York City Charter Schools, Including Lifting the City’s Cap
When Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his executive budget proposal last week, New York’s charter school advocates were quick to offer support. The pro-charter group StudentsFirstNY said the plan reaffirms Cuomo’s belief in the “critical role” of charter schools. (Chalkbeat, Jan. 23)
Research and other articles of interest
S&P Global Ratings downgrades Pearson outlook from “stable” to “negative”
Politico By Caitlin Emma 01/23/2017 02:28 PM EDT
S&P Global Ratings has downgraded its outlook for Pearson from “stable” to “negative” — signaling that the world’s largest education company may have a tough road ahead as it faces major market challenges.
“This, in turn, will lead to a deterioration of the group’s credit metrics for longer than expected, absent any significant reduction in net debt and tighter financial policy; the latter at this point remains uncertain,” S&P Global Ratings said today.
Pearson has been struggling for a while, particularly when it comes to the North American higher education market.
Last year, Pearson announced that it was restructuring and cutting 10 percent of its workforce. That effort “has been delivered in full and the financial benefits are a little higher than planned,” the company said in a statement last week.
In that statement, Pearson also announced that its 2017 operating profit is expected to be below what was forecasted, and “we no longer expect to reach our prior operating profit goal for 2018.” Shares in the British company then plunged 30 percent.
In response to its challenges, Pearson recently said it would be lowering the cost of e-book rentals and adding a print rental pilot program as college students move away from buying textbooks and look for cheaper, digital alternatives.
HBCU group gets $26 million Koch gift
Politico By Benjamin Wermund 01/12/2017 12:11 PM EDT
Billionaire Republican donor Charles Koch has given a group of historically black colleges and universities more than $25 million to fund research at those schools.
The money, donated through Koch’s foundation, will help the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which represents the nation’s 47 public and publicly supported HBCUs. The donation will establish a D.C.-based “Center for Advancing Opportunity.” The center will dole out grants to member schools to do research on education, criminal justice and other issues “impacting opportunity in fragile communities,” according to a press release about the project. The center will also work with Gallup to gauge the sentiments of people living in those communities.
The Koch brothers’ gifts to colleges and universities have drawn controversy in the past. In 2007, the foundation was set to give to Florida State University’s economics department — but only if it had a say in the faculty they hired and as long as the curriculum aligned with the Koch’s libertarian ideology, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
In the case of this newest gift, TMCF spokesman Paris Dennard said, “There are no strings attached to the gift at all.”
Johnny Taylor Jr., who heads the HBCU group, said in an interview with HBCU Digest that he believes there’s a “disconnect” between what the Kochs believe and the public’s perception of them. Taylor approached Charles Koch about the partnership after he heard Koch talking about criminal justice reform in a TV interview, Taylor said.
“I was so shocked because there’s a narrative about what the Koch brothers, whoever they are, are, and what Mr. Charles Koch believes, and then there was this guy who I’m listening to … and I was just like, ‘Wow, there is a disconnect,'” Taylor said. “So I wrote him.”
The money will also help fund scholarships for HBCU students pursuing careers in education, sociology, economics and criminal justice. It will also help support HBCU courses to help students learn how to remove barriers and advance opportunity, according to the press release.
More Teachers Seek National Certification
There’s been an uptick in teachers pursuing advanced certification through a leaner, simpler process. In 2013, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards announced a series of changes to make the certification process cheaper and more streamlined. (Education Week, Jan. 10)
Open Enrollment: Overview and 2016 legislative update
In conjunction with School Choice Week, taking place Jan. 22-28, 2017, Education Commission of the States is releasing the new policy analysis, Open Enrollment: Overview and 2016 legislative update. This analysis provides an overview of open-enrollment policies across the country, as well as a 2016 state-by-state legislative update.
We have also updated a supporting 50-State Comparison that dives into how every state approaches open-enrollment policies.