Monday, January 11, 2010

A Busy Year for Education in 2010 - January 11 Legislative Update

The Cowen Institute is pleased to share with you the latest in K-12 education policy at the local, state and federal levels. Don't forget to join our Facebook page and to follow us on Twitter.

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Thank You, Senator Gray Evans

The Cowen Institute would like to take this opportunity to thank Senator Cheryl Gray Evans for her service in the Louisiana State Senate . She provided invaluable leadership to us on many issues, but in particular with her work helping children and families and the public education system. Most recently, she worked tirelessly on public school facilities issues, including introducing legislation to create the Louisiana Statewide Educational Facilities Authority, which would have helped our local school districts to build the facilities our children deserve. Her steadfast effort is the reason this legislation passed the Legislature, and though it did not become a reality for Louisiana, she moved the issue forward and brought to it more support than ever before. Her work to shine the spotlight on our children’s educational needs, including her leadership on two statewide school facilities tours, was instrumental in leading our state in the right direction. Senator Gray Evans is an honorable public servant and leader (and Tulane University alumna), and we wish her all the best.

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Defining the Role of City Hall in K-12 Public Education in New Orleans

With a mayoral election on the horizon, New Orleans is looking ahead to its next political chapter and a new stage in its recovery and development. Public education remains a critical element of our progress, yet the system is still deeply in flux and in need of sustainable, transformative leadership. The system of public schools operates independently of the mayor’s office; instead it is run collectively by the Orleans Parish School Board , the Recovery School District, individual charter boards, and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The Cowen Institute is often asked what role and authority the Mayor of New Orleans actually wields in our city’s public education landscape. Through the mayor’s various official powers as well as his/her political influence, he or she can actually do quite a lot to impact education and foster positive development for our city’s children, families, and communities. The mayor has authority in several areas that directly affect our children, including crime prevention, social services, playgrounds, and economic development. The mayor can also use his/her political capital to serve as a champion for our youth and advocate for their best interests while being impartial among the various school governing bodies.

Specifically, the Mayor of New Orleans can do the following:

• Coordinate the New Orleans Master Plan with the School Facilities Master Plan
• Enforce truancy laws to get school-aged children off the streets and back into schools
• Support the recommendations made by the Afterschool Partnership to support youth

To read detailed information on each recommendation click here.

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Governor Jindal Proposes Linking Teacher Evaluations to Student Performance

Governor Jindal recently announced that he would pursue legislation to include value-added student performance measurements in teacher evaluations. Value-added measurements leverage the state’s longitudinal data system by factoring student performance over time, special needs, and other variables into a comprehensive evaluation of a student. Using student performance as a component of teacher evaluations is meant to increase teacher accountability, and thus performance, and is a central part of the state’s bid for Race To The Top (R2T) funding . Jindal’s proposal would enact this system statewide, regardless of the outcome of the R2T competition. The Governor proposes incorporating value-added student performance measurements into school evaluations as well, including them in the School Performance Score formula.

To read the related Times Picayune article, click here.

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School Districts Weigh Joining State’s Race to the Top Bid

Today marks the deadline set by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) for local school districts to officially join the state’s Race to the Top (R2T) application. At presstime, 23 districts had signed up, representing 43% of Louisiana’s public school student population, according to the LDE. This meets with State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek’s goal to “directly impact 25-50 percent of our public student enrollment." There was some uncertainty in recent weeks as to just how many, and which, school districts would join the plan. Some districts, such as St. Tammany , were skeptical of the plan’s requirements and expected benefits and declined to participate, while others were eager to vie for a share of the award. The Orleans Parish School Board is scheduled to meet today to determine whether it will participate.  After tonight’s midnight deadline for all Partnership Agreements to be signed, the LDE will finalize its Race to the Top application and aims to submit it to the U.S. Department of Education on January 14. All R2T applications are due by January 19, and winners of the competition are to be announced in April.

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President Obama Signs Appropriations Bill

In its January 8 email update, the U.S. Department of Education announced the following:

On December 16, the President signed into law an omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 3288), Division D of which provides funding for the U.S. Department of Education. Overall, the bill includes $63.7 billion in discretionary spending for the agency’s education programs, about a 2% increase over Fiscal Year 2009, excluding the $100 billion in education funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which covers both FY 2009 and FY 2010. Specifically, the bill includes:
• $14.5 billion for Title I grants to local education agencies;
• $11.5 billion for special education state grants;
• $2.95 billion to help states improve the quality of their teachers and leaders;
• $250 million for an expanded (PK-12) Striving Readers program; and
• $17.5 billion in Pell Grants for low- and middle-income college undergraduates.
Among the key new items, there is $50 million for the High School Graduation Initiative; $10 million for the Promise Neighborhood initiative; and a technical change, sought by the Department, to expand school district eligibility for the $650 million Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund created under the ARRA. For more information, please click here. 

Dropped from the final bill was a provision for a new grant program that would provide up to $700 million for school facilities. As an alternative, Congress may add the program, or similar facilities money, to another bill under consideration, HR 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. Read more about the appropriations bill here.

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Federal Legislation to Watch

As the second session of the 111th Congress begins, there are a number of public education-related bills to keep an eye on. The bill that has made the most progress to date is H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, which passed the House last September and now awaits action in the Senate. This large bill, while principally addressing student loans and the accessibility of secondary and early education, contains provisions for K-12 education as well. One such provision is for grants for public school facilities improvements, including a Louisiana-specific provision for grants “for the purpose of modernizing, renovating, repairing, or constructing public school facilities, (including early learning facilities, as appropriate), based on the need for such improvements or construction, to ensure that public school facilities are safe, healthy, high-performing, and technologically up-to-date.” (Title III, Chapter 2, Section 321). The Cowen Institute is committed to ensuring that our students have adequate and safe facilities, and we look forward to the Senate’s action on and final passage of H.R. 3221.

Another bill to watch is S. 2740, the Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation Act, or “LEARN Act.” It would authorize $2.35 billion in grants to state and local programs to improve K-12 reading and writing. It has a companion bill in the House, H.R. 4037, and at present each bill awaits action in committee. Depending on the progress of these bills and other Department of Education priorities, it is possible that the legislation will be rolled into the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind, is the main federal law regarding K-12 education. It includes, among other things, “Title I,” the major provision for assistance to students from low-income families. The law was initially enacted in 1965 and has been reauthorized and amended roughly every five years since then. The most recent reauthorization came in the form of 2001’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). For its upcoming reauthorization, the Obama Administration has relabeled the program with its original title, ESEA.

With the ESEA now due for reauthorization, the Department of Education is working on a draft, which it intends to submit to Congress for further drafting and legislating early in 2010. Indications are that it will focus on much of same policies and goals as Race to the Top, namely:
• Strengthened standards and assessments
• Robust student-performance data systems to support instruction
• Improving teacher and principal quality
• Turning around the lowest-achieving schools

To read more on ESEA reauthorization, click here.

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