Federal Legislative Report 112-4

Distributed via Email: March 16, 2012

‘DEAR COLLEAGUE’ LETTER REGARDING INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES IN EDUCATION ACT (IDEA) FUNDING

Please contact Senators Durbin and Kirk and encourage them to sign on to the “Dear Colleague” letter being circulated by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The letter is addressed to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and related federal agencies and requests “the highest possible funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in FY 2013.” The deadline for signatures is Friday, March 23.

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT (ESEA)
REAUTHORIZATION UPDATE

On Feb. 28, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a mark-up for its draft reauthorization of the ESEA. The Committee passed the Student Success Act ( H.R. 3989 ) and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teaching Act ( H.R. 3990 ) along straight party-line votes (23-16).

No date has been set for when the ESEA bills will move to the House floor, but there is speculation that the House could vote on the bills before July in time for the start of the 2012-13 school year. Any House‐passed bill would need to be conferenced with a Senate-passed bill. While the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed their bill last fall, Sen. Tom Harkin has indicated that he will not bring it before the full Senate until the House passes a bipartisan bill. It does not appear, with the party line vote in Committee, that if the bills pass the House they will be considered bipartisan.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ESEA WAIVER

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) unanimously passed the ESEA waiver application and submitted it to the U.S. Department of Education at the end of February. The following information is how ISBE describes the waiver:

It is seen as an accountability agenda that supports Illinois’ reform agenda.

It has four key points/goals: Outcomes over time; achievement in math, language arts, and science; student progress; educational context (climate, buildings, etc.).
It promises to reward high achieving schools, and they will be seen as mentors.
By 2013, Work Keys 3 will be available that will give those passing it a National Career Readiness Certificate.
The growth model value system was determined last month to be a value table model. It proposes to help close the achievement gap further by reducing the numbers determining a sub-set. It is currently 45, proposed to be 35.
A Center for School Improvement will be established for among other things, professional development. Twenty million dollars is projected to begin that task.
The strength of the application is its first principle: College and Career-Ready Expectations for All Students.
As Illinois moves forward in adopting Common Core Standards, utilization of the RTTT3 grant, and reform legislation this waiver format reinforces and endorses all these undertakings.
The biggest piece of work comes from the State Accountability expectations of Principle 2. This component will be phased in over two years.

The full waiver application and an Executive Summary can be found on the ISBE website here .

SECURE RURAL SCHOOLS ACT

On March 14, the Senate passed the highway transportation bill ( S. 1813 ), which includes an amendment to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Self-Determination Act for one year. The bill was passed by a vote of 74-22.

The Secure Rural Schools program provides funding as federal payments in lieu of local property taxes to school districts and communities with nontaxable national forest lands and other establishments (such as watershed restoration and maintenance and fisheries on federal lands). The legislation will now be considered by the House.

This Federal Legislative Report is used to forward information on federal issues from NSBA and other federal sources. Those interested in additional information or signing up for these free reports should contact Susan Hilton .