Delegate Assembly resolutions target NCLB, standards
By Lawrence Hardy
NSBA’s Delegate Assembly passed resolutions Friday that reaffirm the association’s opposition to school vouchers and tuition tax credits, and urge Congress to reauthorize No Child Left Behind with the improvements pushed by the association for the past two years.
The NCLB resolution also expresses support for a bill in Congress that would increase federal funding for the law’s mandates, provide districts with more flexibility in student assessment (including alternative assessments for English language learners and students with significant cognitive disabilities), and permit more flexibility in determining whether schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress.
“The design of NCLB should offer reward or incentives for schools and districts to innovate, rather than penalizing them for failing to perform,” states a supporting rationale for the resolution.
The Delegate Assembly also passed a resolution urging Congress to adequately fund the needs of English language learners. And it approved a resolution urging state legislatures to offer in-state college tuition to all high school graduates in their jurisdictions, regardless of immigration status. Between 50,000 and 60,000 undocumented students graduate from the nation’s high schools each year, “but the doors to higher education are effectively closed,” according to a statement supporting the resolution.
These resolutions are “our marching orders for advocacy,” said Anne M. Byrne, a Northeast Region director, referring to NSBA’s Advocacy Department, which presents the association’s positions to Congress.
Advocacy -- both legal and legislative -- is one of the prime missions of NSBA, said Executive Director Anne L. Bryant. She said the other top mission is serving and collaborating with state associations to improve -- and enhance public support for -- the public schools.
“You told us that this is the most important work that we do,” Bryant said. “And this work will continue.”
The resolution that drew the most discussion involved NSBA’s opposition to mandatory national standards and assessments. As first proposed, the NSBA’s Board of Directors would have been allowed to amend the resolution based on discussion of the issue at regional meetings this summer and fall. However, the delegates rejected that, and opted for a resolution that stated NSBA’s firm opposition to national standards.
Several delegates said that any discussion of national standards -- even voluntary ones -- could weaken NSBA’s strong opposition to what many consider a federal intrusion.
Noel Hammatt, of Louisiana, presented a hypothetical case in which a new governor wants to make a mark and suddenly moves to change the status of “voluntary” standards by saying, “We’re going to adopt these standards, and we’re going to adopt them by fiat.”
The Delegates struck down the provision allowing the Board of Directors to make latter amendments to the resolution, then defeated the entire resolution. When it was pointed out that this left NSBA with effectively no position on national standards, the delegates revisited the issue in the afternoon and passed a shortened resolution.
That resolution deleted a section urging “Congress to provide funding to a state or group of states to develop voluntary state academic standards or assessments.” As approved, it simply states NSBA’s opposition to federal legislation that “mandates or coerces” states to adopt specific national standards or assessments, or penalizes states that do not comply.
Earlier, the Delegates approved a policy urging Congress to support Native American language instruction. A similar proposal was defeated last year. Unlike last year, several delegates spoke in favor of the measure.
“There are places in my state where native Alaskan is the first language spoken, and this is critically important,” said Scott McAdams, of Sitka, Alaska.
Jeff Sanders, a member of the Wasco tribe of Oregon, said he spent his early primary school years in a Native American boarding school where students received corporal punishment for speaking their native languages. Now, many of those languages are dying out.
“It’s part of our religion, it’s part of our history,” said Sanders, a member of the Jefferson County School Board, in Madras, Ore. “It is part of who we are as a people of the United States.”
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