NSBA Editorial
NSBA Editorial/Boards’s Eye View: President Obama’s bold education moves
By Michael A. Resnick
Fall '09 -- As a new school year begins, the Obama administration will be entering its eighth month in office. During that time, President Obama, through the economic stimulus package, has shown a strong priority for funding education. On matters of substance, the President, with his Department of Education, has advanced bold ideas to raise student achievement. Given the high impact the President is seeking to have on education, the stakes are raised for local school boards to be involved on federal issues to ensure that he and the Congress are headed in the right direction.
Looking at the record to date, in early February, Congress gave the President his economic stimulus package, which included nearly $80 billion in aid for K-12 and higher education to be spent over two years. It provides additional support by allowing bond holders to be compensated by receiving federal tax credits instead of interest payments from school districts on qualifying bonds. A good portion of the stimulus funds will help offset significant shortfalls in state and local revenues resulting from the current recession as well as support school improvement reforms. Over $25 billion was designated to be spent for Title I (aid for economically disadvantaged students) and IDEA (aid for special education) -- which, combined would provide roughly a 50 percent increase for these programs over the two-year period. That is the good news and the advocacy by school boards to support this unprecedented funding commitment made a difference.
Unfortunately, the stimulus package has lost some luster for local school officials because some states and local governments lowered their own expected funding for education in anticipation of the federal funds. School officials also have a need for more guidance in balancing the goals of saving jobs with education innovation as well as in spending a portion of their large IDEA funding increases not needed for special education for other allowable purposes. To maximize the effective use of stimulus funding, the administration needs to quickly address these problems and hearing from local school boards will help.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made it clear that this historic funding increase should not simply support the status quo but should lead to improvements in education -- especially for students and schools that are struggling academically. Toward that end, he has pinpointed four broad assurances in the stimulus program to drive states toward certain outcomes. Specifically, states will need to aim for standards and assessments that are at a level needed for their students to be college and workplace ready. Further, they will have to provide measures to demonstrate teacher effectiveness, have longitudinal data systems in place to track student and teacher progress over time, as well as have a commitment and an effective approach to ensuring that low-achieving schools will turn around. Taken together, we see the administration’s strategy taking shape for raising student achievement.
Down the road, we expect that these four elements will guide the administration’s direction on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) -- which will include a wide range of policy decisions, such as how to fix or scuttle the accountability requirements of the current No Child Left Behind Act. Additionally, Duncan, consistent with Obama’s platform, has proposed other ideas that may appear in the administration’s reauthorization proposal. Depending on the details, some could be controversial, such as the expanded use of charter schools and promoting new ways of evaluating teachers and tying their compensation to performance. Certainly the critical role of local school board governance in achieving improved school performance will need to be supported. The administration’s position on all of these issues isn’t likely to crystallize at least until fall.
So to date, despite stimulus implementation issues, we give the administration high grades on funding -- recognizing that its funding commitment will need to be revisited once the stimulus has run its course. More immediately, the next test will come with its proposal to reauthorize ESEA, which will significantly shape the direction of public education at the local level for years to come.
While the administration has been very open and willing to listen to NSBA, success on key points will depend on the advocacy and leadership of local school boards, working with their state associations and NSBA to ensure that the administration and their elected members of Congress make the right decisions.
NSBA Federal Relations Network members and National Affiliate Advocacy Network members can see how they can have an impact on these issues at www.NSBA.org/advocacy.
The U.S. Department of Education released a revised application form for states to apply for the remaining portion of State Fiscal Stabilization Funding that outlines these “education reform assurances” (in Part 2 and Appendix B), which is available online at www.nsba.org/economicstimulus.
Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2009, 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.