Dive Brief:

• The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)'s “supplement not supplant" clause requires school districts to explain how school funding distribution works, and some believe that federal regulatory guidance on the issue will be contentious and face political roadblocks.
• Districts are also now required to prove Title I schools are getting their fair share of state and local funds on top of the extra federal money they receive due to their Title I classification.
• The Atlantic Monthly opines that actions taken by school districts forced to explain the fairness of their funding may distract education leaders and school officials and complicate their workload, with a potential drawback of ultimately having a negative impact on students' academic performance.

Dive Insight:

One of the main concerns outlined by policy researcher Nora Gordon in her Atlantic Monthly op-ed are the unintended consequences of regulating "supplement not supplant," which says federal funds are not intended to absorb the states' funding obligations to these schools. Gordon strongly opposes the clause, saying it lacks transparency. She also points out that since it requires more work on the part of districts, there's actually an incentive — a greater ease of compliance — to keep poor students locked in poor schools. 

"As I discussed here and in my Senate testimony," she writes, "as a consequence districts might respond to these pressures by continuing to concentrate poor students in Title I schools rather than trying to break up concentrated poverty." 

Other education experts have also expressed concerns about the changes. A group letter of disapproval was sent to acting U.S. Secretary of Education John King last week, boldly asking the national ed leader to  "refrain from defining terms and aspects of the new law ... especially as it relates to the ‘supplement, not supplant’ provision.” Whether or not King will comply is yet to be determined, yet such a concession seems highly unlikely. Districts should remain focused on the details of ESSA's "supplement not supplant" guidance when it is finally released, although it may also be helpful to consider criticism in order to address potential future pitfalls.