NSBA sets advocacy agenda
2/18/03 -- During NSBA's Federal Relations Network Conference earlier this month, more than 700 local school board members took NSBA's concerns on four major issues to Capitol Hill. These four issues -- funding, special education, vouchers, and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act are the cornerstones of NSBA's advocacy agenda for the coming year.
"We have a big agenda, a good agenda, and one that will make a big difference for schoolchildren all over America," NSBA Associate Executive Director Michael A. Resnick told the audience at the FRN meeting. "It is challenging, but with the commitment of the FRN members, it is absolutely achievable."
Federal funding
NSBA urges Congress to fully fund the federal share of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as a mandatory program. This would shield IDEA from the political pressures of discretionary funding, which result in continual underfunding.
Significant funding increases are needed for Title I to ensure that disadvantaged children can achieve at high levels, as mandated by NCLB.
IDEA reauthorization
In addition to full, mandatory funding for IDEA, NSBA also supports the following changes in the law:
• Eliminate unnecessary administrative process requirements that are overly burdensome on families and local school districts and have little, if any, direct relationship to improving education outcomes.
• Strengthen the quality and integrity of the due process provisions.
• Designate appropriate primary financial responsibility for non-education "related services" and reimbursements to local school districts.
• Create safe learning environments by allowing school districts to discipline students with disabilities to the same extent as students without disabilities.
• Create incentives to improve the recruitment and retention of highly qualified special education teachers.
• Clarify standards for determining private placements under the FAPE (free, appropriate public education) mandate. Also clarify the criteria for determining financial responsibility, and maintain the authority of local districts to participate in the student placement process.
• Clarify the definition of students eligible for special education services to eliminate the misidentification and disproportional representation by restructuring categories. Authorize access to portions of IDEA funds to support school readiness before a student is designated as a special education student.
No Child Left Behind
NCLB provides an inspiring goal and promising framework for raising the achievement of millions of students. But to be effective, it must evolve and respond to conditions and trends in the real world.
NSBA urges Congress to make the following improvements to NCLB:
• The current provisions involving adequate yearly progress need to be adjusted to set realistic measures for determining success.
School boards support efforts to monitor the progress of students and subgroups and hold districts accountable for student achievement. But the current system is likely to overidentify students and schools needing improvement, which could undermine the credibility of NCLB and the nation's public schools.
• Congress needs to fully fund the $5 billion increase authorized for NCLB for fiscal year 2003 and the $2.5 billion increase for 2004.
NCLB creates an expectation that American education will make dramatic strides in raising student achievement. But insufficient funding will hinder local districts from complying with the law's costly new mandates, including hiring and retaining highly qualified teachers and paraprofessionals.
If districts are to raise the achievement of low-achieving students, they will have to spend more money to reduce class sizes and provide more technology and instructional materials.
• The provisions on school choice and supplemental services need to be adjusted to ensure that they operate in a manner that can be educationally and financially justified.
• Congress needs to determine how NCLB, the Higher Education Act, and other federal laws can be designed and funded to make sure that provisions relating to "highly qualified teachers" will be achieved -- and to ensure that these provisions will lead to improved student achievement.
Vouchers/tuition subsidies
Vouchers and "voucher-like" proposals could resurface in Congress this year, including a voucher pilot program for the District of Columbia. The IDEA bill might include a program modeled after a voucher program in Florida for students with disabilities.
Other legislative proposals might involve tax credits or tax deductions for parents who pay private school tuition or to offset money donated by individuals or businesses to organizations that provide students with vouchers for private schools.
NSBA opposes vouchers because they:
• abandon neighborhood public schools and draw away critical dollars;
• leave behind many students, including those with the greatest needs;
• do not promote accountability in education;
• are opposed by the public;
• waste taxpayer money;
• do nothing to raise student achievement for all students; and
• give choices to private schools, not parents.
NSBA opposes tuition tax subsidies because they:
• are merely "backdoor vouchers";
• are not a good way to improve public education;
• drain money from public schools;
• disproportionately benefit wealthier families, not low-income students;
• do not prevent private schools from discriminating against certain students; and
• lack public oversight and are thus ripe for fraud.
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| Reproduced with permission from the Feb. 18, 2003, issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2003, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789. |