Under the Dome
Federal Legislative Update
At the National School Boards Association Annual Conference in Chicago, the NSBA legislative team gave an update on major federal education legislation that affects all schools. Among the topics that were discussed were the federal budget, the E-Rate program, the No Child Left Behind Act and private school vouchers.
President’s FY 2007 budget request
The president’s education budget request provides: (1) no increase for Title I grants to schools, maintaining a $12.7 billion appropriation despite the availability of $25 billion for Title I grants; (2) a $100 million increase for special education, a figure that fails to keep pace with inflation; and (3) an end to 42 education programs (totaling $2.1 billion) including Career and Technical Education, Education Technology Grants, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and Smaller Learning Communities.
Senate budget proposal
On March 16, the Senate passed Senate Congressional Resolution 83 by a 51-49 vote. The resolution includes the Specter/Harkin Amendment that would add $7 billion for education, health and labor programs. This amendment restores funding to the FY 2005 levels, after the across the board cuts that were adopted for FY 2006.
House budget proposal
The House Budget Committee, at the time this story goes to press, has not debated or considered its budget resolution. Even when it does consider the budget, there will be a $7 billion gap that persists between the House and Senate’s budget proposals. NSBA would like school board members to contact their legislative representatives to convince them not to accept a budget resolution unless it contains the Specter/Harkin Amendment.
E-Rate program
In 1996, Congress created the E-Rate program through the Telecommunications Act. This program makes Internet access and other telecommunications services affordable for schools and libraries that serve low-income students. This program is funded through a “universal service fee” that is charged to telecommunications providers and has generated approximately $15 billion since 1998 for telecommunications discounts. There are currently two bills in Congress, S. 241 and H.R. 2533, which would help to strengthen the program and resolve some of the accounting issues that exist in the current process. These bills would provide the Universal Service Fund a permanent exemption from the Anti-Deficiency Act, which would allow for the program to be more effectively available to the schools that need the grants.
NCLB
NCLB has some major flaws which must be addressed legislatively during next year’s reauthorization process. Many of the implementation challenges are beyond the Secretary of Education’s discretion. The National School Boards Association also suggests that if Congress does not address the needed changes, both the credibility of the No Child Left Behind law and the public confidence in public schools will erode. NSBA and CSBA believe that these legislative changes are necessary to ensure that public reporting accurately reflects student, school and school district performance, and to improve academic achievement of all students. Our suggestions include redefining AYP so that it accurately measures the progress of specific groups of students, strengthens the connection between sanctions and what specifically needs to be addressed to improve student achievement, and grants the Secretary of Education more authority to approve state plans.
Private school vouchers
As a part of his FY 2007 budget, the president has requested $100 million for ”Opportunity Scholarships for Kids,” which are private school vouchers of up to $4,000 per student. We oppose this proposal because it would eliminate accountability, create an NCLB double standard, these vouchers are provided to programs fraught with scandal, and vouchers force taxpayers to fund both public and private education systems.