JM Community Briefing TWO

How Does ESEA Reauthorization Affect Communities of Color?

Part Two:

Thursday, February 24th 2011

Special Thanks to Our Partner:

A Center for Regional, National, & International Movement-Building

www.thestrategycenter.org

Agenda

1. Fierce Urgency of Reform 2. The Budget Breakdown 3. Race, Win or Lose 4. Roads to Reauthorization 5. Question & Answer

Presenter: Jack Loveridge Policy Analyst at Justice Matters

Leaving NCLB Behind

Community Briefing Series

• Just 50% of the nation’s students of color graduate from high school on time

• In California, 37% and 27% of Black and Latino students, respectively, are pushed out each year

• No Child Left Behind’s (NCLB) high stakes accountability systems provide incentive to push out low-performing students to boost test scores

• NCLB is the most recent version of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Past due for Congressional reauthorization.

New Politics, Old Realities • Congress has authorized ESEA seven times since 1965

• The current 112th Congress is a deeply divided one

• GOP House, Filibuster-prone Democratic Senate

• Nixon, Reagan, and G.H.W. Bush signed legislation co-authored with Democrats

• No Democratic President has ever reauthorized ESEA with a divided government

New Speaker John Boehner takes the gavel from now Minority Leader

Nancy Pelosi


A Blueprint for Reform

Four key proposals included:

1) Gradually replace formula funds with competitive grants

2) Broaden student assessments, keeping standardized testing central

3) Encourage charter school creation

4) Close or restructure ‘low-performing’ schools via Turnaround Models


‘Win the Future’ “Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world. And so they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science.” – President Obama Jan. 25, 2011

• State of the Union tied education reform to economic success, global competition

• U.S. faces challenge, a “Sputnik moment” in rise of developing nations like China & India


Getting Started

Three Developments this Month:

1.) House Hearings Began

2.) Major Players at White House

3.) 2012 FY Budget Released

Former Chairman Miller (D-CA) and then-ranking member Kline (R-MN) at a hearing

on NCLB’s effectiveness in 2010.


A $2 Billion Increase

Social Security

Medicare/Medicaid

Defense Debt Interest

All Other Departments

K-12 & Postsecondary Education


IRS

S

ecur

ity

Accountability

• Reform funding will continue to be the priority

• Funds to be distributed to implement the four turnaround models featured in the Blueprint

• $975 million for teacher training, hiring, and retention reforms

“We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones.” -President Obama


Competition

“These targeted increases reflect the administration’s competitiveness agenda.” -Arne Duncan

• $900 million for a 3rd Race to the Top

• District-level competition with special fund for rural communities

• Presumably same criteria: initiate reforms via turnaround models, encourage charter expansion


Evaluation

• Least discussed element in Administration’s proposals & budget

• However, evaluation is key. It is the standard by which progress is judged and how $300 million for low-income schools will be distributed

• Still decides funding, teacher retention, and creates push-out incentives

“Instead of labeling failures, we will reward success.” -President Obama


1. Who Wins? • Of the new $500 for Title I and IDEA students, $300 will be directed at low-income schools

• Such schools historically serve communities of color and new funds will reward those making the most progress

• Much like broader Race to the Top strategy, this method of funding does not account for initial investment problem

Schools and districts with stronger existing resources are at an advantage.


2. Who Loses? • Competitive funding coupled with high-stakes testing sustains system of winners and losers

• While school turnaround models are favored over closures and take-overs, the race for cash poses a high-stakes funding problem

• The situation that fostered high push-out rates and deceptive data remains


Low-income, students of color are still at a disadvantage in a system of competition.

3. Where’s the Finish Line? • Prior incarnations of ESEA have set both moral & numerical goals for K-12 education

• For Lyndon Johnson this meant equal access for low-income students & communities of color

The Goal is Unclear.

• For George W. Bush, this meant all students would be testing at grade level by 2014

• Current strategy both highly pragmatic and rhetorical, lacking emphasis on low-income students of color


Reauthorization Outlook

ESEA pitches in 1994, 1965, & 2002

• Overdue for more than four years; time seems right to tackle ESEA

• Education historically sees bipartisan cooperation

• Three Scenarios:

1. Full-scale reauthorization

2. Piecemeal, smaller legislation

3. No action; NCLB remains


The Process

1.) Committee Hearings

2.) Mark-Up

3.) Committee Sends Bill to Full Chamber

4.) Floor Vote

5.) Reconcile Bills

6.) President Vetoes or Signs into Law

Reauthorized ESEA Good for Five Years


Building Consensus

“[R]eform that restores local control, empowers parents, lets teachers teach, and protects taxpayers.”

Rep. John Kline (R-MN) November 4, 2010

“This budget will promote reform, reward success, and support innovation at the state and local level.”

Secretary Arne Duncan February 14, 2011


• GOP unwilling to accept price tag, even in K-12 education budget

• Chairman Kline for “getting out of the way” of innovation at state & local level

• Republican 2011 FY budget proposal would cut education funding by $5 billion, an 8% reduction from 2010

• Proposal must pass Senate & be signed by President; highly unlikely

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

‘Not So Fast’


The Austerity Pull

Progressives Moderates Conservatives Tea Party

Formula Funds

Competitive Grants

8-10% Reduction

Abolish D of E

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) Senate HELP Chair

President Barack Obama

Rep. John Kline (R-MN) House Education Chair

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) HELP Member


Possible Setbacks:

• Divisions among Republicans

• Spending issues: potential shutdown, debt ceiling

• ‘Why allow a victory for President Obama?’

• Deadline: Election 2012


Time for Action • Education still best chance for political cooperation. Delays create extra time for organizing and strategizing for real reform


• Just some – by no means a comprehensive list – of the organizations doing work around ESEA reauthorization:

Alliance for Excellent Education

The Forum for Education & Democracy

Communities for Excellent Public

Schools

Education Policy Institute

Dignity in Schools Campaign

Campaign for High School Equity

What’s Next?

Original Purpose:

Hard Road Ahead:

High-stakes Changes: A key question that remains unresolved is how real reform can be made with the same high-stakes systems of evaluation & accountability that create competitors to be bested rather than a spirit of cooperation.

It’s important to remember that in spite of the rhetoric around competitiveness and local control, ESEA is Civil Rights era legislation designed to combat institutionalized racism and poverty across the country.

ESEA reauthorization in 2011 will be difficult and politically-charged. However, the old policies of NCLB are still hurting students of color and now is the time to bring a stronger community voice into the debate.


Question & Answer

Justice Matters’ mission is to bring about racially just schools that develop and promote education policy rooted in community vision.

Visit us online & Follow our blog at:

www.justicematters.org www.justicemattersblog.blogspot.com

Jack Loveridge [email protected]