FRN issues for 2006 

Michael A. Resnick, the National School Boards Association’s associate executive director for advocacy and issues management, discussed federal funding issues, policy changes needed in No Child Left Behind and new threats posed by voucher proponents.

Funding

• Title I (“the funding engine that drives No Child Left Behind”) grants to local education agencies were cut $28 million. Title I is now $10 billion short of the fiscal support promised when Congress enacted NCLB four years ago.
• IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) received $70 million less than a year ago. Congress promised federal funding for 40 percent of the program’s cost when the act was first passed 30 years ago; actual support has now fallen to 18 percent.

• State technology grants were cut 45 percent this year. Federal support has plummeted from $700 million to $272 million in just two years.

No Child Left Behind

Vigorous lobbying yielded some flexibility in administrative mandates, including:

• Up to 3 percent of all test takers eligible for IDEA can be credited for making adequate yearly progress on alternate assessments based on their individual needs and goals.
• A one-year pilot program will allow up to 10 states to use alternative measures of growth in academic achievements.
• The requirement for all teachers to be rated highly qualified was delayed to the 2006-07 year.

Vouchers

The Hurricane Voucher program subsidizes private school costs for up to 60,000 students uprooted by Hurricane Katrina. “Make no mistake, it is a national voucher—although limited to displaced students and to one year’s duration,” Resnick warned. “Proponents could use it as a model for the big federal programs, like Title I, when they come up for renewal next year.”

Timber lands

CSBA’s federal action agenda also includes support for continued compensation to local governments and rural school districts for revenues lost due to environmental restrictions on timber cutting on national forest land. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is among the co-sponsors of S. 267, a bill to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, which is set to expire this year. Rural California counties received $67 million through the act in 2004, according to Feinstein’s office, with much of the money going to schools. CSBA also supports several amendments to the program, including:

• Expanding the range of activities and programs that generate the funds, such as pilot projects, service contracts and special use permits related to forest stewardship and recreation.
• Full cost-of-living adjustments to funds allocated under the program.
• Creating incentives to promote greater local government coordination and community-based partnerships regarding federal land management, and to promote the sustainable economic self-sufficiency of rural communities through the best use of all natural resources.

President Bush has proposed selling 309,421 acres of forest service land nationally, including as many as 85,465 acres in California, to replace rural school funding now provided under the act. Feinstein opposes the president’s proposal.