01/04/05 -- Local and state officials in Illinois are trying to convince the U.S. Department of Education to reconsider its decision barring Chicago and nine other school systems from using federal money to provide free tutoring.
State officials are concerned that, if the decision is enforced, tutoring services provided to tens of thousands of students could be disrupted, says Becky Watts, spokesperson for the Illinois state board of education.
Officials would at least like the federal government to allow tutoring to continue for the rest of the school year, she says. “We’re working on them about how to continue serving kids . . . about how we can make this happen, so that kids continue to be served.”
In a letter to Illinois state education officials Dec. 2, Deputy Education Secretary Eugene Hickok wrote that Chicago and other identified Illinois school systems could use Title I money only for tutoring programs operated by a variety of private providers. Federal moneys could not be used for city-run tutoring.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, students are entitled to free supplemental education services if they attend a school that continually fails to meet state test score goals. But school districts that fail to meet these goals for two years in a row cannot serve as a federally funded provider of supplemental services.
There were originally 11 school systems targeted by the federal department, but one subsequently achieved its annual yearly progress (AYP) goals and is no longer affected by the ruling.
The ruling not only threatens the tutoring services of the affected school systems, but it raises concerns about how the U.S. Education Department will respond to other school systems across the nation that also are struggling to meet AYP goals. In October, the department asked the Prince George’s County, Md., school district to stop using Title I funds for its tutoring program.
At many of the smaller Illinois school districts affected by the ruling, officials were cautious in their responses. But Chicago officials reacted more aggressively, vowing to challenge the decision “through every means possible.”
“This is a ludicrous decision -- a slap in the face to our school system, our teachers, and our students,” Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan said at a Dec. 9 press conference. “If this is what the law calls for, then the law should be changed.”
Chicago officials estimate that nearly 80,000 of its students are enrolled in tutoring programs this year -- half taught by the district, half taught by private providers. The school system spends $53 million in federal funds for this tutoring.
Paying for the tutoring program itself would be difficult for the school system. But officials say turning over all tutoring to private providers would be more costly. Chicago public schools spend about $400 to tutor a child; private providers charge about $1,500.
Paying those fees would leave the district able to afford tutoring for only about 24,000 students, officials say. What’s more, private providers lack the capacity to quickly serve so many children, and school officials argue they would have to stop all tutoring while they determine which students are most in need and should receive priority.
“This decision puts at risk tutoring for 80,000 kids in the middle of the year,” Duncan says. “I can’t believe that is the intent of the law -- to deny tutoring to struggling low-income, minority students half-way through the year.”
Chicago school officials vow to fight the ruling and threaten to sue the Education Department if necessary to keep the tutoring program alive.
“We’re not backing down because this tutoring program is so important to our kids,” Duncan says. “We hope we can sit down and talk with them and that cooler heads will prevail.”