Fast Report

09/27/05 -- E-rate legislation clears Senate

• The Senate has approved an amendment to exempt the E-rate program from the accounting standards imposed by the Anti-Deficiency Act for another year. The E-rate provides discounts to schools and libraries for the purchase of telecommunications services and equipment.

When the Federal Communications Commission ruled last year that the E-rate is subject to the accounting practices in the Anti-Deficiency Act, the Universal Service Administrative Co. was unable to disburse E-rate funds to schools until it had the money in hand. That effectively shut down the program for several months.

To resolve the problem, Congress passed legislation allowing for the E-rate to be exempt from the Anti-Deficiency Act for one year. That measure expires in December.

While NSBA supports an additional one-year exemption, it is urging Congress to approve a permanent exemption.

Testing pressure not related to achievement

• The pressure associated with high-stakes testing has no real impact on student achievement, concludes a study released Sept. 20 by the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University and the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

According to the report, the findings invalidate the key purpose to the No Child Left Behind Act -- high-stakes testing will lead to high academic performance.

On the contrary, the study found that increases in testing pressure are related to high dropout rates and more students required to repeat a grade.

The authors found that states with the highest proportions of minority students implemented accountability systems that exerted the greatest pressure. Thus, the negative impact of high-stakes testing will disproportionately affect America’s minority students.

The study also failed to establish any consistent link between the pressure to score high in a particular state and the performance of students in that state on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Broad Prize goes to Norfolk, Va., schools

• The Broad Foundation announced Sept. 20 that the Norfolk, Va., school district is the winner of the 2005 Broad Prize for Urban Education.

The annual award honors an urban school district for demonstrating significant improvements in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high and low-income students.

Norfolk Public Schools is a participant in NSBA’s National Affiliate program.

The Norfolk school system will receive $500,000, to be used for college scholarships to high school seniors.

The four finalists -- the Aldine (Texas) Independent School District, Boston Public Schools, the New York City Department of Education, and the San Francisco Unified School District -- will each receive $125,000 for scholarships.

Legislation would improve NCLB

• Maine’s two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, introduced legislation Sept. 13 to give states, school districts, and schools greater flexibility in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act.

The bill (S.1690) allows the use of alternative assessments that are based on progress in closing the achievement gap.

The bill also would give special education students more flexibility in taking alternative assessments. And it would allow students who had been formerly in the English language learner subgroup and had acquired proficiency in English to remain in that subgroup for purposes of calculating adequate yearly progress.

In addition, the bill modifies the definition of highly qualified teachers so that secondary school teachers who teach multiple subjects can be considered highly qualified if they have a bachelor’s degree and have demonstrated a high level of competency in at least one of the subjects they teach.

The Snowe-Collins bill incorporates many of the changes sought by NSBA. Associate Executive Director Michael A. Resnick says the bill would “ensure that the performance of students, schools, and school districts would be fairly and accurately assessed.”

California bans junk food in schools

• Legislation signed into law by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Sept. 15 banning sodas1 sold in schools and raising nutritional standards is considered the toughest in the nation.  

A new law, aimed at curbing the childhood obesity epidemic, sets nutritional standards for the amount of fat, saturated fat, sugar, and calories for an individually sold snack in K-12 public schools. An individually sold entree may have no more than 400 calories and no more than four grams of fat per 100 calories. These standards take effect July 1, 2007.

A related measure extends to high schools the current restrictions on the types of beverages that can be sold in elementary and middle schools.

As of July 1, 2009, the only beverages that can be sold in schools during school hours are fruit and vegetable-based drinks that are at least 50 percent fruit juice without added sweeteners, drinking water without sweeteners, milk products, and electrolyte replacement beverages that contain no more than 43 grams of added sweetener per 20-ounce serving.