Distributed via Email: March 9, 2015
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT (ESEA/NCLB) REAUTHORIZATION
The momentum to pass ESEA reauthorization has stalled. In mid-February, the House Education and the Workforce Committee considered the House version the Student Success Act (H.R. 5). After more than eight hours of debate, the committee passed the bill on a party-line vote. The legislative moved quickly to the House floor where the members considered more than 40 amendments. A vote was expected on Feb. 27, but the legislation was put on hold when it became clear to Republican leaders that they did not have enough votes to pass the measure.
The House was considered the easier chamber for success for the Republican version of ESEA Reauthorization. With the measure in the House on hold, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) version will not be considered. IASB supports both H.R. 5 and Senator Alexander’s legislation. Although neither piece of legislation is without pieces IASB opposes, the overall legislation in both cases would have moved federal law in a positive direction.
Senate leaders of the HELP Committee are now working on a bipartisan ESEA bill and hope to announce the new measure soon. Committee staff for Chairman Alexander and ranking member Patty Murray (D-WA) have been in negotiations for weeks.
PRESIDENT’S FISCAL YEAR 2016 (FY16) BUDGET
In early February, President Obama released his FY16 budget proposal. The current Congress considered it “dead on arrival.” In the past, the president’s education budgets have focused on competitive grant programs, and have typically level-funded formula programs like Title I. The FY16 budget, however, reverses that. It proposes sizeable increases in formula funded programs and only includes small competitive programs. Race to the Top is not funded through this budget proposal, while Title I would receive a $1 billion increase, IDEA a $175 million increase, and Title III ELL grants a $36 million increase. The budget also included a plan to end further across-the-board budget cuts from sequestration.
The president’s budget request is a starting point in the federal budget and appropriations process. In the coming weeks, Congress is slated to debate a FY 2016 budget resolution and begin work on individual appropriations bills. Funding for most education programs is allocated through the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees for the Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.
SCHOOL NUTRITION
At the end of January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released Professional Standards for State and Local School Nutrition Programs Personnel as required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, its final regulation on certification/training for school food service personnel. This proposed rule would establish minimum professional standards for school nutrition personnel who manage and operate the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. The regulations take effect July 1.
The regulations provide direction depending on districts size, and mandate the number of hours required for annual/ongoing professional development. Enrollment thresholds determine the standards to which a specific district must comply (2499 or less, 2500 to 9999, 10,000 or more). The minimum hiring requirement for a director in a small LEA will be a high school diploma plus five years’ relevant experience. Directors hired without an associate’s degree will be encouraged to work toward achieving it, upon hiring. Mid-sized districts can hire someone with an associate’s degree and one year experience, but would be encouraged to pursue a bachelor’s degree. In larger districts the minimum requirement is a bachelor’s degree, along with state-recognized certification in food/nutrition food service management, dietetics, family and consumer sciences, nutrition education, culinary arts, or business.
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