Dive Brief:
- The U.S. House of Representatives is expected this week to pass its re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which would give states more flexibility on K-12 requirements — specifically as it pertains to the flow of Title I dollars and how student test scores correspond to teacher evaluations.
- Even if the plan passes in the Senate, it's unlikely to make it past the White House, which released new data Monday showing how its lax stance on Title I dollars could be hugely detrimental to large districts with a high percentage of low-income students.
- Testing has been a focal point of the re-authorization, particularly in the Senate, but the House version of the bill leaves requirements essentially the same — an annual test for grades 3-8 and one during high school — and allows more portability of Title I funds, which many argue will help affluent districts but hurt those that really need the funding.
Dive Insight:
According to the New York Times, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan "stopped short of saying there could be no agreement on a reauthorization" during a Monday morning breakfast meeting. It looks like the Obama Administration is not going to go out without a fight. ESEA was last re-authorized as "No Child Left Behind" under President George W. Bush in 2001, carrying awesome but ultimately unrealistic goals that all students would be proficient in math and reading by 2014. In 2007, Congress attempted to re-authorize the act, but the move failed when no middle ground could be agreed upon.
Duncan has said that President Barack Obama won't put his name on anything that takes funds away from "poor kids and poor districts," which is what the House rewrite would likely do. Of course, it would first have to make it through the Senate, where Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), head of that chamber's education committee, has said he wants a bipartisan reauthorization.