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Overview. Climates: Funding, Political, Federal and StateESEAReauthorizationRegulatory Relief (NOT waivers!)Title I Formula FairnessBudget and AppropriationsFY11, FY12Debt Ceiling SupercommitteeBalanced Budget AmendmentPresident's Job PackageIDEA Full FundingRural EducationEducation Tech
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1. Noelle Ellerson
FASFEPA
September 14, 2011 Federal Education Update
2. Overview Climates: Funding, Political, Federal and State
ESEA
Reauthorization
Regulatory Relief (NOT waivers!)
Title I Formula Fairness
Budget and Appropriations
FY11, FY12
Debt Ceiling Supercommittee
Balanced Budget Amendment
President’s Job Package
IDEA Full Funding
Rural Education
Education Technology
Child Nutrition
Choice: Charters and Vouchers
Advocacy and Grassroots
3. Climates Funding
Continued recession at state and local level
Cessation of ARRA/EduJobs
Actual and anticipated cuts from FY11 and FY12
Anticipated cuts from Debt Ceiling Commission
Political
Partisan. Middle ground moderates are gone.
Gearing up to an election year
Federal
Gridlock between House and Senate
State
State legislatures were heavily impacted by last year’s elections
Strong push on education issues with grassroots implications
4. ESEA Reauthorization It’s the gift that keeps on giving; unlikely before 2013
Who’s Who
Administration and Congress
Big 8: Sens. Harkin, Enzi, Alexander, and Bingaman; Reps. Kline, Miller, Kildee, and Hunter
Previous Architects of NCLB
Education Organizations
AASA, NSBA, NAESP, NASSP, NEA, AFT, CCSSO, etc…
Foundations and Think Tanks
EdTrust, Gates, Walton,
5. ESEA Reauthorization: Key Issues Mandated Standardization v. Focus on Poverty
Formula v. Competitive
Punitive Accountability v. Incentivizing Accountability
Assessment: One-Time v. Growth
Overly Prescriptive v. Flexibile
Charters: More v. Less
Assessing Special Learners
Early Childhood Education
Health/Wellness/Total Child
Turnaround Models/School Improvement
6. ESEA Reauthorization House has taken a piecemeal approach
Begs the question, ‘What is the piece? What is the meal?’
Has moved three pieces to date, anticipates two more by the end of the calendar year
Remaining two pieces expected to be related to teacher quality and accountability/assessment
Senate is (allegedly) taking a comprehensive approach
Wanted to move a comprehensive bill by Easter (2011, that is)
Have yet to introduce any legislation
Question bipartisan nature of efforts
Raises concerns over how comprehensive the bill will be, and if it is skeletal, concerns about the accompanying amendments
Activity this week?
7. ESEA Reauthorization H.R. 1891 "Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act" Full Committee Wednesday, May 25, 2011Ordered favorably reported, as amended, to the House by a vote of 23-16
H.R. 2218, "Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act"Full CommitteeWednesday, June 22, 2011Ordered favorably reported, as amended, to the House by a vote of 34-5.
Voted out of full House 9/13
HR 2445 “State and Local Funding Flexibility Act”
Wednesday July 14, 2011
Ordered favorable reported, as amended, to the House by a vote of 23-17
8. Waivers v. Regulatory Relief 80% of LEAs labeled as failing for 2011-12 school year
AASA/NSBA call to action for targeted, specific regulatory relief
More than 1,000 signatures from all 50 states
Secretary Duncan interest in quid-pro-quo approach to providing relief through conditional waivers
9. Waivers v. Regulatory Relief Tentative Details on Duncan’s ‘Relief’ Proposal
States would have to sign up for all three waivers….no picking and choosing
To receive waiver for 2014 deadline for 100% proficiency, states have to adopt CCR standards (think Common Core)
To receive waiver to freeze AYP/AMO sanctions, states have to propose their own differentiated accountability systems incorporating growth and establishing new performance targets. Would do away with SES, choice, and Title I set aside
To receive waiver for HQ teacher requirements and to get funding flexibility, states would have to adopt an evaluation system for teachers and principals based on growth
Remaining questions: With what resources? With what political capital? What role for SIG turn around models?
10. Waivers v. Regulatory Relief LEAs should not have to adopt policy priorities (think Race to the Top or turnaround models), especially unfunded priorities, to get relief from a broken law
Regulations got is in to the mess, regulations (well, reversing them) can get us out
If the policies the administration wants were popular with policy makers or practitioners, they would be more widely adopted and implemented already.
Using waivers to force these priorities is not good policy
11. Waivers vs. Regulatory Relief Idaho and Montana have received relief without adopting administration priorities
Exercise statute provision that authorizes modification of state accountability workbook
NCLB Waiver Watch: www.cep-dc.org
12. Waivers vs. Regulatory Relief Urge your Representatives and Senators to, in the absence of complete reauthorization, support targeted regulatory relief.
Suggested options? Suspension of sanctions. This would freeze AMO/AYP at 2010-11 school year levels.
This maintains accountability, is not a blanket waiver, and provides LEAs with the relief they need while we wait for Congress to pass a bill 4 years past-due.
13. Title I Formula Fairness www.formulafairness.com
Led by Rural School and Community Trust
Current statute uses two weighting brackets to determine an LEA’s Title I allocation
Unintended consequence is that some larger, less-poor schools can end up receiving more Title I dollars per-child than smaller, poorer districts
14. Title I Formula Fairness All Children are Equal (ACE) Act (HR 2485) provides legislative fix
Turns down the volume on number weighting to ensure that Title I dollars are distributed to concentrations of poverty
11 original co-sponsors: Representatives Glenn Thompson (R-PA), Ruben Hinojosa (D – TX), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Dan Boren (D-OK), Mike Ross (D-AR), Tom Petri (R-WI), Lou Barletta (R-PA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Todd Platts (R-PA), and Richard Hanna (R-NY).
Also joined by Reps. Roby (R-AL), Hartzler (R-MO), and Crawford (R-AR)
Urge your representative to sign on!
15. Budget & Approps: FY11 and FY12 FY11 as an indicator, both in terms of cuts and process
FY12: hard to imagine any scenario where education doesn’t take a big hit
LEAs continue to weather the unfortunate ‘perfect storm’ when it comes to funding:
Ongoing effects of recession
Cessation of ARRA and EduJobs
Actual and anticipated cuts in annual federal appropriations for both FY11 and FY12
Districts and schools continue to make tough choices
Double dip recession?
16. FY11 It may be wrapping up, but the politics and policies of FY11 budget discussions have STRONG implications for FY12 discussions.
Think: DC vouchers
Record-setting series of 7 CRs, including precedent-setting CR cuts
$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 were ‘level funded ‘, which included the 0.2% cut
Administration priorities funded: Race to the Top receives $700 additional funding; Investing in Innovation receives $150 million, and Head Start receives $340 million
17. FY12 FY12 budget proposal released Feb 14 (2012-13 school year)
Despite tight economic times, including non-defense discretionary budget freeze, education receives historic increases
Proposal includes massive restructuring in ESEA reauthorization
Policy shift toward consolidation and competitive grants
Elimination?
Despite overall increases:
Title I receives $300 million
IDEA received a $200 million increase, falling to 16.5% instead of the promised 40%
18. FY12 House Chairman Ryan (R-WI) 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.
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)).
19. FY12 Full steam ahead. Sort of. Déjŕ vu?
House is moving along like trains on a schedule. They anticipate moving 9 of the 12 appropriations bills before the August recess.
LHHS WAS scheduled for markup July 26
The FY12 allocation for the LHHS is $18 (11.6%) billion below FY11 levels, $7 billion below HR 1 (3.9% below FY08 and roughly equal to the FY04 level). When adjusted for population and inflation, it’s even less than the FY04 allocation.
Senate is a bit slow, but numbers are ready.
Have yet to officially release a budget.
Conrad released some of his details: $8 billion increase overall. Within that, Security takes $7 billion cut and non-security increases by $17 billion. The House-passed budget is a cut of $30 billion below FY 11, with defense going up $18 billion and non-security being cut $48 billion.
Coalition letter to appropriations chairs to put as much money as possible into the 302(b) allocations so LHHS is protected against cuts.
20. FY12 House Appropriations Subcmte was to mark up the week of September 5
House Appropriations Committee is expected to unveil its CR 9/14 so it is ready for floor action the week of 9/19. The CR is expected to run through 11/18 and provide funding for disaster assistance. According to CQ: “House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., on Monday reiterated his view that the CR will conform to the $1.043 trillion cap in the debt agreement, or only $7 billion below the fiscal 2011 level. Earlier this year, Republicans had hoped to cap fiscal 2012 discretionary spending at $1.019 trillion.”
Senate Appropriations Subcmte to mark up the week of September 19 (Sept 20, to be exact!)
Weigh in and let them know the importance of investing in and protecting education funding
21. Debt Ceiling House and Senate each skipped a recess to finalize
Raised the debt ceiling and established annual spending caps for the next ten years, includes an immediate reduction of $7 billion in FY12
Creates 12 member ‘Super Committee’ tasked with identifying an additional $1.5 trillion in cuts over the next ten years
If they fail to identify the full $1.5 trillion, we go in to sequestration (across-the-board cuts), which could translate into 6.7 % (or $3 billion) for USED.T This would be in addition to the $1.25 billion cut USED took in the FY11 appropriations process
While the debt ceiling discussions have wrapped up, the Super Committee and spending caps will continue to shape the annual appropriations processes for at least the next ten years.
Super Committee Roster:
Senate: Murray (WA), Baucus (MT), Kerry (MA), Kyl (AZ), Portman (OH), and Toomey (PA)
House: Hensarling (TX), Becerra (CA), Camp (MI), Clyburn (SC), Upton (MI), and VanHollen (MD)
22. Balanced Budget Amendment Calls for balanced budget as soon as FY 2018
Hard, fast cap on spending
Would freeze spending at 18% of GDP
We are currently at 24%, and the last time we were at 18% was 1966
That predates ESEA, IDEA, and Medicare
Super majority to raise any taxes
Urge your members of Congress to oppose any constitutional amendment to balance the budget.
23. President’s Job Package President Obama announced his Jobs Package, The American Jobs Act, last week
It is focused on infrastructure, including funds for school modernization and renovation, as well as funds for saving/reinstating/creating educator jobs
Education provisions are located on pages 13-26
Education provisions are broken into two categories: teacher stabilization and school modernization
24. President’s Job Package Teacher Stabilization
$30 billion
ED allocates funds to states in manner similar to SFSF and EduJobs (60% on share of school aged population, 40% on overall population)
MOE language allegedly stronger
Up to 10% of State allocation can be set aside for state-funded early-learning programs
LEAs have until 9/30/13 to obligate funds
25. President’s Job Package School Modernization
$25 billion
ED allocates funds to state a la Title I share
40% of funds are directly allocated by ED to 100 LEAs with the largest number of children in poverty (NOT including Hawaii, DC, or Puerto Rico)
State allocation reduced by aggregate amount of funds directly received by LEAs in that state in the ‘Top 100’ list
Of remaining state funds, at least 50% must be distributed based on LEAs relative share of Title I, with minimum award of $10,000
Remaining funds allocated through awards (competition?!) with priority for rural
Funds can NOT be used for new construction, routine maintenance or stadiums
LEAs have 36 months to obligate funds
26. IDEA Full Funding AASA’s #1 legislative priority
Senator Harkin has introduced the IDEA Full Funding Act (S 1403). We are waiting for the House partner bill.
Rep. Polis has a IDEA funding bill, but our focus is on the Harkin version
Urge your Senator to sign on the S 1403, and talk with your entire Congressional delegation about the funding pressures of IDEA and the importance of protecting and increasing IDEA funding in FY12 and debt ceiling conversations.
27. IDEA Maintenance of Effort AASA is working to seek a MOE waiver around IDEA
If feds can cut their effort, and SEAs can receive waivers, where is the relief for LEAs?
Could be similar to ARRA approach
OSEP letter interpretation and subsequent pushback
28. Rural Education: REAP Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP)
S 567, no House version yet!
Transition to new locale codes
Allow districts to choose between RLIS and SRSA funding
Switch the eligibility poverty measure
Shift in the sliding formula from $20,000 to $25,000 and $60,000 to $80,000.
29. Rural Education Office of Rural Education Policy (S 946)
Creates office, within USED, leveraged to evaluate and provide analysis on USED policies and how they would impact rural areas
Urge your Senators and Representatives to join their respective chamber’s Rural Education Caucus
30. Education Technology: E-Rate FCC program that provides discounts to help schools and libraries afford telecommunications services
Anti-Deficiency Act (S 297)
Raise the spending cap
Waiting for final action by the FCC on a host of rules/notices:
Gift rule
CIPA
Roll-over funds
31. Education Technology: Ed Tech Title II Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology, E2T2
Zero-funded by the administration, eliminated by the House in its ESEA eliminations bill
Sen. Bingaman introduced the ATTAIN Act (S 1178), which allows for EETT-type program ($300 m trigger); Rep. Roybal-Allard to introduce partner bill
32. Child Nutrition NSLP/SBP reauthorized last December
AASA, NSBA and Council opposed unfunded mandates within the law
Increased reimbursement, higher nutrition standards
Set paid lunch price
Set training and certification requirements
Review indirect cost process
Continue to work on the regulations, which affirm our suspicions
33. Choice: Vouchers & Charters Vouchers have been the go-to topic in state legislatures
Vouchers played out in FY11 CR debate, and DC Voucher was reinvigorated
Two subsequent House efforts around special education vouchers for military families were defeated
Expect another push
Charters are a priority in the administration and we see support in both chambers
AASA supports public dollars for public schools, and public school choice, which includes public charters.
Latest PDK poll gives vouchers their lowest level of public support in ten years
34. Boil it Down to Three Bullets, Noelle! Funding: Education funding is and must be an absolute priority. Education took a disproportionate hit in the FY11 funding cycle, and our nation and it’s future economic success cannot afford to continue these cuts. Invest first in IDEA and Title I!
ESEA: We want reauthorization, but we know politics will delay it. Provide immediate, targeted regulatory relief by allowing all states to freeze accountability at the 2010-11 level.
Balance: Recognizing the likelihood of cuts, it is prudent to examine the regulations and reporting requirements. As federal support declines, so should federal requirements.
35. Your Advocacy What can you do? Weigh in early, weigh in often.
These decisions get made whether you weigh in or not, and your voice carries a lot of weight.
Get to know your Representative/Senator, and especially their education staffer.
Build a regular dialogue.
36. Your Advocacy Five minutes a week- schedule an outlook appointment!
Invite the Representative/Senator and staffer to your district. Anecdotes and stories have a lot of sticking power with this Congress. Let the face of your school be the one that sticks in their mind!
37. Your Advocacy AASA Blog: www.aasa.org/aasablog.aspx
AASA Weekly Update
AASA Advocacy Network
Use your professional organizations, at the state and local level. We are membership organizations and you are the members!
38. Questions?
Noelle Ellerson
Assistant Director, Policy Analysis & Advocacy
AASA
nellerson@aasa.org
Yes, the slide show will be available.