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Congress OKs Budget With Increase for Education

Congress last week approved a fiscal year 2010 spending measure that would provide level funding for key education programs, even as lawmakers and the Obama administration weighed the prospect of a jobs package that could include new education aid for cash-strapped states and localities.

A House-Senate conference committee Dec. 8 agreed to a bill that would finance programs in the U.S. Department of Education at about $63.7 billion, a 2 percent increase over fiscal 2009, but a 0.7 percent decrease over the president’s request of $64.2 billion.

The House of Representatives voted 221-202 on Dec. 9 to pass the bill. The Senate approved the measure on Dec. 13, 57-35.

Those figures don’t include up to $100 billion in education spending in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic-stimulus program, which covers fiscal 2009 and 2010.

The House-Senate compromise includes $14.5 billion for Title I grants to districts to help cover the cost of educating disadvantaged students, about the same level as fiscal 2009.

That’s a shift from both the president’s fiscal 2010 education budget request and the version of the fiscal 2010 spending bill that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee in July. ("Senate Panel Rejects Bid to Further Boost TIF," July 29, 2009.)

President Barack Obama’s budget would have cut Title I grants to districts by $1.5 billion and, instead, steered $1 billion to Title I School Improvement Grants. Those grants are aimed at helping states and districts turn around schools struggling to meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act, the 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

But lawmakers rejected that plan. Instead, the Title I grant program, which received $3 billion in fiscal 2010 through the stimulus, would be level-funded in the appropriations bill at $546 million.

“We are definitely excited and appreciative for the restoration of Title I,” said Mary E. Kusler, a lobbyist for the American Association of School Administrators in Arlington, Va.

Link to the full text of the article here

Plans Set for National Certification of Principals
By Lesli A. Maxwell
Washington

After years of talk and stalled efforts, the creation of a national certification program for principals is finally under way, with plans to launch the initiative formally sometime in 2011.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards—which is spearheading the effort that will mirror the now 20-year-old advanced-certification program it runs for teachers—announced this week that it has completed work to define what skills and characteristics school leaders need to be effective. It is in the final stages of crafting specific standards for principals.

The nonprofit organization has raised roughly $3 million to help pay for developing the certification program so far, including a $1 million appropriation from Congress and $1 million in funding from the Chicago Public Education Fund.

As is true for the teachers who pursue voluntary national certification, the NBPTS program for principals is intended for those with at least a few years of experience who can prove a high level of accomplishment.
If done right, said Joseph A. Aguerrebere, the executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based national board, “we will end up with broad professional consensus around standards for principals and can use the framework we create to talk about different ways to develop principals in the first place.

“We don’t want this to just be a yardstick,” he said, “but a tool to help educators get to where they need to be.”

Critical Time

In an era of high-stakes accountability and intense public scrutiny, especially for the most beleaguered schools and districts, there is widespread consensus that who runs an individual school can make or break it.

“I think many of our teachers support this effort and are saying, in so many words, ‘Give me a principal who gets it and I will go work for them anywhere,’ ” Mr. Aguerrebere said.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan endorsed the effort last week at a Washington event the national board hosted to announce its progress on developing the advanced certification. The secretary, who is overseeing the distribution of billions of dollars in economic-stimulus funds for public schools, said pouring money into fixing troubled schools will be futile if the principals running them aren’t effective.

“If we don’t have great leadership in our schools, we’re kidding ourselves,” Mr. Duncan said.

Link to the full article here http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/12/10/15principals_ep.h29.html?tkn=ZZZFkf4AH%2Bcg2wOX4uLNzyDJqj4I1r4T4c1f

Duncan Aims to Make Incentives Key Element of ESEA

By Alyson Klein

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Monday that he envisions a significant new emphasis on federal incentives for high-performing schools, districts, and states in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, expected to be taken up by Congress as early as next year.

Mr. Duncan said the Department of Education is considering proposals that would offer increased autonomy, recognition, and resources for states that commit to adopting college- and career-readiness standards, and for schools and districts that make significant progress in student achievement.

“Under [the No Child Left Behind Act] there are basically no incentives. There was nothing. There are 50 ways to fail, and if you succeeded there was nothing there for you,” the secretary said in a wide-ranging interview with Education Week reporters.

He said he’d like to change that when Congress and the administration move to revamp the ESEA, whose current version is the No Child Left Behind law. The law was originally slated for reauthorization in 2007.

“Whether it’s additional resources, whether it’s greater flexibility on additional resources, whether it’s shining a spotlight on them, … there’s a whole package of things” the next version of the law could include to reward excellence, Mr. Duncan said.

Read the full text of the article here

U.S. Department of Education Opens Race to the Top Competition

U.S. Department of Education —Thursday, November 12, 2009

U.S. Department of Education Opens Race to the Top Competition

Washington, DC -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today released the final application for more than $4 billion from the Race to the Top Fund, which will reward states that have raised student performance in the past and have the capacity to accelerate achievement gains with innovative reforms.

"The president said last week that Race to the Top will require states to take an all-hands-on-deck approach," Duncan said. "We will award grants to the states that have led the way in reform and will show the way for the rest of the country to follow."

The U.S. Department of Education is asking states to build comprehensive and coherent plans built around the four areas of reform outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The application requires states to document their past success and outline their plans to extend their reforms by using college- and career-ready standards and assessments, building a workforce of highly effective educators, creating educational data systems to support student achievement, and turning around their lowest-performing schools.

The $4.35 billion for the Race to the Top Fund is an unprecedented federal investment in reform. Duncan will reserve up to $350 million to help states create assessments aligned to common sets of standards. The remaining $4 billion will be awarded in a national competition.

To qualify, states must have no legal barriers to linking student growth and achievement data to teachers and principals for the purposes of evaluation. They also must have the department's approval for their plans for both phases of the Recovery Act's State Fiscal Stabilization Fund prior to being awarded a grant.

The final application released today includes significant changes to the proposal released by the U.S. Department of Education in July. After reviewing responses to the draft proposals from 1,161 people, who submitted thousands of unique comments, ranging from one paragraph to 67 pages, the U.S. Department of Education restructured the application and changed it to reflect the ideas of the public.

"The public's input on this application was invaluable to us," Duncan said. "The comments helped us clarify that we want states to think through how they will create a comprehensive agenda to drive reform forward."

The final application also clarifies that states should use multiple measures to evaluate teachers and principals, including a strong emphasis on the growth in achievement of their students. But it also reinforces that successful applicants will need to have rigorous teacher and principal evaluation programs and use the results of teacher evaluations to inform what happens in the schools.

In Race to the Top, the department will hold two rounds of competition for the grants. For the first round, it will accept states' applications until the middle of January, 2010. Peer reviewers will evaluate the applications and the department will announce the winners of the first round of funding next spring.

Applications for the second round will be due June 1, 2010, with the announcement of all the winners by Sept. 30, 2010.

Contact: Justin Hamilton, (202) 401-1576

New Study Finds School Districts Struggling in Response to Economic Downturn, Bracing For More Cuts

American Association of School Administrators —Tuesday, October 27, 2009

New Study Finds School Districts Struggling in Response to Economic Downturn, Bracing For More Cuts

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The economic downturn continues to threaten the capacity of school districts nationwide, even in light of federal stimulus funds, according to a study released today by the American Association of School Administrators. “One Year Later: How the Economic Downturn Continues to Impact School Districts,” is the sixth in a series of studies conducted by AASA. The study is based on a survey of 875 school administrators conducted in September and October 2009 and finds that while funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have provided some relief, districts in every part of the nation are being forced to make cuts that directly impact student learning. The data also suggest a “shell game” in which state budgets were cut after it was known that ARRA included money for education.

Full survey: http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=8152.

Survey Highlights

• Two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents reported having to eliminate personnel positions for the 2009-10 school year, and 83 percent anticipate having to eliminate further positions in 2010-11.
• While ARRA funds have allowed districts so save some of the positions slated for elimination, many still had to make cuts. One-quarter (26 percent) of respondents were able to save all of the core-subject teaching positions slated for elimination in their district. One-third (33 percent) were able to save some, though not all, of the core subject positions slated for elimination. An additional third (35 percent) were unable to save any of the core-subject teaching positions slated for elimination.
• The trend reaches beyond instructional positions. Roughly 59 percent of respondents were unable to save any of the central-office or administrative positions; maintenance, cafeteria or transportation staff positions; school librarian positions; or school nursing positions slated for elimination in their district.
• When asked how ARRA dollars impacted their state and local revenues, 83 percent reported that ARRA dollars did not represent a funding increase.
• The percentage of districts increasing class size, eliminating field trips and cutting bus transportation routes increased from 2008-09 to 2010-11.

"Federal stimulus funds have helped schools, but not as much as hoped," said Mark Bielang, AASA president and superintendent in Paw Paw, Mich. "It is critical that Congress and the U.S. Department of Education continue to work to ensure schools have the flexible resources they need to fuel economic recovery and growth."

“This year is bad, but next year could be worse,” said Daniel A. Domenech, AASA executive director. “School districts are bracing themselves for a ‘one-two punch’ as they budget for the 2010-11 school year and anticipate the end of ARRA funds.”

About AASA
The American Association of School Administrators, founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 13,000 educational leaders across the United States. AASA’s mission is to support and develop effective school system leaders who are dedicated to the highest quality public education for all children.

Contact: AASA, Amy Vogt, 703-875-0723, avogt@aasa.org