Federal Government Update

Sept. 2011

Membership Matters

FY12 Budget – Education Programs

In early August, Congress passed the Budget Control Act to raise the debt limit and reduce deficits. While the deal includes good news for the Pell Grant, devoting $17 billion over the next two years to preserve the maximum award, it also includes new caps on overall federal spending to reduce deficits by close to $2.5 trillion over 10 years. These caps will have significant implications for federal investments in education. Discretionary spending will be capped at $1.043 trillion in FY12, which is approximately $7 billion below current levels. A bipartisan debt-reduction committee in Congress will propose a second round of spending cuts. One option will be an across-the-board cut that could decrease funding for education programs other than Pell Grants by 6.7 percent, or $3 billion.

ESEA Reauthorization and State Waivers

The House and Senate are taking very different approaches to crafting legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by John Kline (R-MN), has passed three ESEA-related bills: the Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act; the Empowering Parents Through Quality Charter Schools Act; and the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act.

Under the leadership of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions is taking a more comprehensive approach to passing legislation, pledging to pass one bill proposed by the committee. While early reports were optimistic about legislation being presented this session, it has not yet been introduced. In response to the slow pace in Congress, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) will grant states waivers to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements in exchange for reform measures. The waiver guidelines will be issued in September, and states will have approximately two months to respond. The main target is the law’s centerpiece requirement that all students be proficient in reading and math by 2014.

The ED will present states with a range of waiver options to choose from in exchange for relief from the current requirements. To receive waivers on the 2014 deadline, the law’s system of sanctions or the highly qualified teacher requirement, states will need to adopt college and career ready standards, propose their own accountability systems, or use teacher evaluation systems based to some degree on student growth on state tests.

Many states are expected to propose their own accountability systems. Some state education chiefs envision state accountability systems that place more weight on student growth and possibly other factors, including high school graduation rates and participation in AP® courses, as ways to measure student achievement. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is encouraging states to take a leadership role in the waiver process and work in a coordinated effort. It has collaborated with 41 states to develop and implement improved state accountability systems.

Department of Education Initiatives

1) FY11 AP Incentive Program Grants Awarded

The U.S. Department of Education announced in August that 12 states and local school districts will receive Advanced Placement® Incentive Program grants to help low-income students have greater access to AP courses and to succeed in those courses. The ED will award a total of $6.6 million for 2011. These competitive grants are given to programs that will help increase student access to rigorous courses in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. The following states and districts received awards:

• Alabama State Department of Education
• Los Angeles Unified School District (CA)
• Lynwood Unified School District (CA)
• EASTCONN — Teaching and Learning (CT)
• The School District of Palm Beach County (FL)
• Hawaii Department of Education
• Maryland State Department of Education
• Board of Education of the City of St. Louis (MO)
• New York City Department of Education
• Charleston County Public Schools (SC)
• Black Hills Special Services Cooperative (SD)
• Milwaukee Public Schools (WI)

2) College Completion

In March, Vice President Joe Biden announced the release of the College Completion Tool Kit, produced by the Department of Education. In July, the ED followed up with details about the new College Completion Task Force. The task force will include working groups on data collection practices to support college completion; state outreach; internal program alignment; interagency college completion champions; institution outreach and support, including sharing best practices on college completion; and public communications, including a college completion website. As a part of this strategy, the ED will be posting a request for information (RFI) in the Federal Register in September, requesting stories of successful college access and completion programs from several types of organizations, including nonprofit and state-based organizations. Through state outreach efforts, the task force will encourage each state to set a college completion goal. The ED will create a data dashboard for its website, with data on each state’s progression toward their goal.

3) High School Graduation Rates

This summer, states began reporting high school graduation rates for the 2010-11 school year using a more rigorous four-year adjusted cohort, as developed by the nation’s governors in 2005. Since data reporting requirements were first implemented under No Child Left Behind, states have calculated graduation rates using varying methods, resulting in inconsistent data from state to state. The transition to a uniform high school graduation rate requires all states to report the number of students who graduate in four years with a standard high school diploma, divided by the number of students who entered high school four years earlier, accounting for student transfers into and out of high school.

States may also opt to use an extended-year adjusted cohort, allowing them to account for students who complete high school in more than four years. In a recent announcement, the ED stated that it anticipates the more rigorous method will result in lower reported graduation rates, but will reflect a more accurate calculation of how many students complete high school.

Would you like to join the Federal Update electronic discussion group?

If you are interested in receiving more frequent updates on federal legislation and initiatives, please send an email to Karen Lanning at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Participants will receive updates on relevant legislative developments and federal initiatives regarding education policies and practices.