Vantage Point: Federal Relations Network focuses on bill to reform NCLB 

Dr. Kerry Clegg

During the last week of January, CSBA’s Executive Committee hosted its largest ever California delegation to NSBA’s Federal Relation Network conference in Washington, D.C. The focus of FRN this year was to introduce an NSBA-sponsored bill to improve the No Child Left Behind Act. Most of the improvements NSBA proposes are similar to our own “Fix NCLB” campaign and CSBA had considerable input into the draft language.

The California delegates spent Feb. 1 lobbying our congressional leaders and soliciting support for the new bill. In addition, members of the Executive Committee and our Governmental Relations staff headed by Rick Pratt met with Leighann Lenti, deputy director of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Washington Office, and with Patti Sullivan, director of the Center on Education Policy.

Since we returned from Washington, President Bush has released his 2006 budget proposal and has severely dinged education in the process. It seems there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between the Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations, but also some glaring differences. One of the more interesting observations on the general tenor of our meetings was a new attitude toward NCLB. Both Lenti and Sullivan suggested that there appears to be more room for discussion with the U.S. Department of Education now that Margaret Spellings is in charge. In a personal meeting with my own Congressman, Buck McKeon, who is a senior member of the House Education Subcommittee, he said former Secretary Rod Paige’s role was to implement NCLB and Spellings’ role is to make NCLB work. This is the first time in four years that McKeon has conceded that some regulatory changes in NCLB may be necessary.

Emboldened with a sense of optimism, I also discussed the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act with the Congressman. I was assured that Perkins would be reauthorized this year and this assertion was reinforced in every meeting we had with leaders in Washington. Naturally, these assurances preceded the devastating education budget proposed by President Bush, which cuts the entire $1.2 billion from the Perkins Act and redirects the funds to NCLB to implement high school testing and remediation. Here, Schwarznegger and the president appear to be at odds since the governor supports reinvigorating vocational education in the state, and that will be difficult without Perkins funds. Nonetheless, our FRN trip was very encouraging and will provide an exceptional beginning to our return to our nation’s capital in April with CSBA’s Federal Issues Council.

Just a few words about CSBA activities at home. The Science Education Task Force, in cooperation with the California Science Teachers Association, had its first meeting Feb. 5 and staff from the state Department of Education told us about the current status of student performance, assessment and accountability in California. In addition, we heard from Phil Lafontaine, manager of the Math and Science Leadership Office at CDE, on professional development and recruiting of science teachers. We essentially focused on where we are; our future meetings will focus on what we need and how we can get there. This task force had a highly productive meeting and our collaboration with CSTA provides a refreshing perspective.

On a final but important note, CSBA and the Education Coalition remain united in our strong opposition to the governor’s education budget. We will continue to clarify the issues with the press, the public and the state Legislature to ensure that the needs of the children of California are met.