American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

1. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Current Federal Policy and LegislationReauthorizing ESEANHSAA/NHASBOSeptember 24, 2009 Bruce HunterAssociate Executive Director, Advocacy and Communications

2. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Goals of the Money: • Spend funds quickly to save/create jobs • Improve student achievement through school improvement and reform • Ensure transparency, reporting and accountability • Invest money thoughtfully to minimize funding cliff

3. Core SFSF AssurancesGovernors Must Make These Assurances • Making improvements in teacher effectiveness and ensuring that all schools have highly qualified teachers; • Making progress toward college and career-ready standards and rigorous assessments that will improve both teaching and learning; • Improving achievement in low-performing schools, by providing intensive support and effective interventions in schools that need them the most; • Gathering information to improve student learning, teacher performance, and college and career-readiness through enhanced data systems that track progress.

4. *Includes regular FY 09 appropriations

5. SEA and LEA Coordination Who Applies State District Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems State $250 million Teacher Incentive Fund $300 million Race to the Top Both Who Spends $4.35 billion Investing in Innovation Fund SFSFPhase Two School Improvement Grants District $650 million $3.5 billion Teacher Incentive Fund EdTech $650 million $12.6 billion $300 million

6. Planning Timelines Allows applicants to frame in overall reform context

7. ARRA Leverage Over StatesRace To The Top Grants $4.35 billion • “Second we propose that to be eligible under this program, a state must not have any legal, statutory or regulatory barriers to linking student achievement and student growth data to teachers for the purpose of teacher and principal evaluation”

10. RACE TO THE TOP (CHARTER SCHOOLS) ED Review (06/19/09) • Prefacing his speech on school turnarounds, the Secretary told reporters on a June 8 conference call that states must be open to charter schools. “States that do not have public charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schools will jeopardize their applications under the ‘Race to the Top’ Fund,” he declared. 

11. Federal Leverage Re: State and Local Decisions • SIG -School improvement Grants $3.5 billion for school turnarounds • Aimed at the 5000 lowest scoring schools-5% • Three tiers of eligibility – 1. The lowest scoring 5% of all Title I schools in punishment stages, 2. Equally low scoring middle and high schools that do not get Title I funding, 3. the rest of the schools in punishment stages

12. Federal Leverage Re: State and Local Decisions • SIG Grants -Four turnaround models • Restart Model-Turn the school into a charter school or over to a private educational company & fire the principal • Turnaround Model- Fire the principal and at least 50% of the teachers and implement changes • Closure Model - Close the school and disperse students to higher scoring schools & fire the principal • Transformational Model - Transform the school through PD, use of data, alignment and proven practices & fire the principal

13. Federal Leverage Re: State and Local Decisions • SIG conditions • Fire the principals • Use test scores to evaluate teachers • Agree to teacher placement decisions authority

14. IDEA Flexibility - Problems Emerge Sec. 613 (a)(C) Adjustment to local fiscal effort in certain fiscal years.— • Amounts in excess.--Notwithstanding clauses (ii) and (iii) of subparagraph (A), for any fiscal year for which the allocation received by a local educational agency under section 611(f) exceeds the amount the local educational agency received for the previous fiscal year, the local educational agency may reduce the level of expenditures otherwise required by subparagraph (A)(iii) by not more than 50 percent of the amount of such excess. (ii) Use of amounts to carry out activities under ESEA.--If a local educational agency exercises the authority under clause (i), the agency shall use an amount of local funds equal to the reduction in expenditures under clause (i) to carry out activities authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. (iii) State prohibition.--Notwithstanding clause (i), if a State educational agency determines that a local educational agency is unable to establish and maintain programs of free appropriate public education that meet the requirements of subsection (a) or the State educational agency has taken action against the local educational agency under section 616, the State educational agency shall prohibit the local educational agency from reducing the level of expenditures under clause (i) for that fiscal year. Budget and Appropriations Budget and Appropriations

15. Forty-Nine States and Territories Join Common Core State Standards Initiative • NGA Center, CCSSO Convene State-led Process to Develop Common English-language arts and Mathematics Standards • By signing on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, governors and state commissioners of education across the country are committing to joining a state-led process to develop a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K-12.

16. Common Core Standards • Increased Congressional support for common core (not national) standards. • CCSSO and NGA have joined together with 49 states and territories to develop them. • Partnership also with Achieve, ACT and the College Board. • 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. • Still unclear what Congress sees as their role in these discussions without leading to the development of national standards.

17. Common Standards ≠ Federal StandardsEducation & Labor Republican Staff on September 21, 2009 • The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers today released a public draft of the groups’ proposed common standards in English-language arts and mathematics. The standards were developed as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative and are now open for review and comment. According to the groups’ press release, “These standards define the knowledge and skills students should have to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing, academic college courses and in workforce training programs.” • Today’s release of proposed common standards developed by state and school leaders is a perfect reminder that the federal government need not control every facet of education reform. In fact, positive steps are being taken in those areas where the federal government has deliberately refrained from involving itself. The progress being made seems like a good reason to keep it that way.

19. What will the common core standards look like? Fewer, clearer, and higher Articulate to parents, teachers, and the general public expectations for what students will know and be able to do, grade by grade, and when they graduate from high school Internationally benchmarked Research and evidence based Ready for states to adopt CCSSO

20. What happens after states adopt common core standards? The common core state standards are the first step in transforming our education system. For systemic change to occur: Educators must be given resources, tools, and time to adjust classroom practice. Instructional materials need to be developed that align to the standards. Assessmentswill be developed to measure student progress. Federal, state, and district policies will need to be re-examined to ensure they support alignment of the common core -- throughout the system -- with student achievement. CCSSO

21. NGA Press ReleaseSecretary Duncan Praises the Work of NGA and CCSSO • U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed state officials and education researchers. • "Thanks to [CCSSO] and NGA – your hard work and leadership is paying off... With higher standards that are common across states we can share best practices and collaborate on curricula." • Secretary Duncan cited internationally benchmarked standards as one of four education reforms in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

23. Reauthorization of ESEATwo Trains Are Leaving the Station • NCLB • George Miller & Edward Kennedy • Subject to some changes • Most influential groups will be think tanks • 50 standards and 50 tests • Hard to make national analyses • Rigid punitive design, high stakes summative tests, all or nothing accountability, but disaggregation has focused instruction • Test scores rising everywhere for all groups of students • Federal control of accountability drives standards, curriculum and sanctions based on test results • Common Core • NGA/46 Governors and CCSSO/46 Chiefs • New plan is still malleable • Easier for administrators to influence elements of plan at the state level • Common standards that are higher, clearer and fewer • Uniform assessment system that is more rigorous than current tests but both formative and summative aligned to standards • National analyses more possible • Plan for open source common instructional materials aligned to standards • Plan for professional development keyed to standards driven by results • No punishment plan build into design • Return of control over all facets of education to states

24. Reauthorization of ESEAThere is no consensus • Reform =‘s Charter schools/Privatization • Reform =‘s National standards and tests/Common core of standards and uniform assessments, & performance pay • Reform =‘s Vouchers, charters and virtual schools • Reform =‘s returning authority over all critical processes to states • Transformation =‘s Professional development, support for new teachers, better assessments, curriculum aligned to standards & vertically aligned assessments

27. Swine flu shots at school: Bracing for fall return • WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. swine flu vaccinations could begin in October with children among the first in line — at their local schools — the Obama administration said Thursday as the president and his Cabinet urged states to figure out now how they'll tackle the virus' all-but-certain resurgence. By LAURAN NEERGAARD July 10, 2009

28. IDEA Mandatory Funding • Congress has promised to provide 40% of the APPE for every child in special education. • They are currently at 17% (not counting ARRA). • Proposals in both the House and the Senate will be introduced to make the increases mandatory ensuring 40% within 6 years. • S 1652 - Senator Harkin (D-IA) and Roberts (R-KS) • Representatives Van Hollen (D-MD), Platts (R-PA) and Walz (D-MN) • How do we deal with the investment under ARRA?

29. Seclusion and Restraint Due to several high profile cases of wrongful death or injury due to seclusion and restraint, Congress is now getting involved. The House held a hearing several weeks ago. Chairman Miller (D-CA) plans to introduce a bill that would limit the ability of schools (both public and private) to use seclusion and restraint, except in emergency situations by well trained staff. Senator Dodd (D-CT) has also shown interest in this issue.

30. School-based Medicaid Claiming The final Bush-era rule to eliminate administrative and transportation claiming was published on December 28, 2007. The Obama administration has rescinded this regulation school-based administrative and transportation claiming. July 6 meeting with new CMS Director Cindy Mann - CMS agrees to work with us and US DOE

31. School Nutrition Up for reauthorization this Congress Senate Agriculture Committee House Education and Labor Committee Increased focused on nutritional standards & childhood obesity. HR 1324 – Rep. Woolsey (D-CA) S 934 – Sen. Harkin (D-IA) Need to ensure exception for school sponsored events Need to look at increasing reimbursement rates for schools in order to provide more nutritious meals.

33. Questions?Bruce Hunterbhunter@aasa.org