Sycamore Taxpayer

This page is devoted to exploring

The role of the

Federal Government in Public Education.

 

 

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12/27/2011

Top 10 Education Stories of 2011 There was no lack of education news in 2011. From an explosion in school choice options to the Obama Administration’s executive overreach, the top stories included the high and low lights when it came to issues affecting America’s schools. 10. Obama Administration orchestrates for-profit university witch hunt. On June 2, the Department of Education issued restrictive new regulations targeting “for-profit” higher education institutions. The new “gainful employment” regulation restricts access to student loans for students attending for-profit institutions (like Capella University or the University of Phoenix, for instance) if the school’s average debt-to-earnings ratio exceeds 12 percent of a graduate’s income. The net result? De-facto government price controls on a sector meeting the needs of students historically underserved by traditional universities. 9. Obama forgives student loans. In November, President Obama traveled to the University of Colorado-Boulder to announce his plan to forgive federal student loans — a demand made, notably, by the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Students cannot be required to pay more than 10 percent of their discretionary income on loan payments, all of which will be forgiven after 20 years. Sadly, this executive overreach shifts the burden of paying for college from the students who are directly benefiting from having attended college, to the nearly three-quarters of Americans who did not graduate from college. 8. Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) sees action. Federal education policy watchers were surprised to see the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee pass a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), today known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). As bureaucratic and heavy-handed as NCLB is currently, the Senate HELP Committee’s proposal was 1,000 pages of even more Washington-style education “reform.” Instead of taking a cue from conservatives in Congress who have put forward proposals to allow states to completely opt-out of the bureaucratic law, the HELP committee put a stamp of approval on a proposal to reinforce the status-quo. Hopefully the Senate committee’s solo action will remain a 2011 relic, and approaches to allow states to opt-out completely will be considered in the new year. 7. House Education and the Workforce Committee moves to reduce federal role in education. This year, the House Education and the Workforce Committee put forward some major proposals to begin the important work of reducing the federal role in education. Two important proposals were introduced: one, by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), would trim the number of programs under NCLB from around 80 down to 43. Another by Chairman John Kline (R-MN), would allow states more flexibility to spend federal education dollars in a way that best meets the needs of local students. Both are good first steps to returning more power to state and local leaders, and reducing Washington’s bloated role in education. 6. Online learning growth accelerates. In 2011, a growing number of families decided to take advantage of the online learning options now available for K-12 students across the country. According to Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, there are now 30 states with full-time online learning schools, open to students from districts across the state. Forty states offer state-run virtual schools, online charter schools are proliferating, and many more families are taking advantage of private online learning providers. Across the country, students are taking millions of courses online, customizing their educational experiences. 5. Administration continues national standards push. One of the more concerning education developments in 2011 was the Obama Administration’s continued push for states to adopt national standards and tests. The Common Core national standards, created by the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, have been backed by the Obama administration with $4.35 billion in Race to the Top money (grants were conditioned on states adopting common standards), through the forthcoming No Child Left Behind waivers, and in the Department of Education’s “blueprint” for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. National standards are a significant Washington overreach into what is taught in local schools, and would further remove parents for the educational decision-making process. 4. Obama Administration issues No Child Left Behind waivers. Despite Congressional deliberations over NCLB’s future and thoughtful alternatives to the law put forward by the House Education and the Workforce Committee and others, the Obama Administration decided in the fall of 2011 that time was up and began an end-run around Congress. The Administration began the process of issuing waivers to states for NCLB, conditioning access to the waivers on whether a state was willing to adopt the Administration’s preferred education policies — basically re-writing policy from the White House. The waivers are another executive overreach from the Obama Administration, and state leaders should reject them in 2012 and demand genuine relief from NCLB. 3. States limit collective bargaining. Education unions have long been a roadblock to reform. But in a bold move in early 2011, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker limited the power of public sector collective bargaining in his state. Most importantly, Gov. Walker gave teachers a choice: Public school teachers can now choose whether or not to join a union. Other states like Idaho followed suit and successfully curtailed the excessive power of education unions this year. But the fight isn’t over. Gov. Walker faces a potential recall, which will move forward if 540,000 signatures are collected by January 17, 2012. 2. Congress reauthorizes the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. In 2009 and 2010, families of low-income children receiving vouchers through the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program were reeling with uncertainty. The program was on its way to extinction due to language inserted in a 2009 spending bill by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). But in early 2011, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) made it his personal mission to see that the voucher program was restored and expanded, and he successfully fought for the reauthorization of the D.C. OSP. It was a welcome and well-deserved victory for D.C. families, who had fought so hard to ensure educational opportunity for their children. 1. Year of School Choice. The most exciting educational development of the last year was captured by a Wall Street Journal editorial headline crowning 2011 “The Year of School Choice.” In 2011, more families than ever before gained access to school choice options, freeing them from assignment-by-zip code policies that often relegate families to the public school closest to their home, regardless of whether it meet their child’s needs. Now, more families have access to school choice options such as vouchers, tax credits, homeschooling, online learning, and even education savings accounts, restoring their control over their child’s education. In all, 12 states and the District of Columbia either enacted or expanded school choice options in 2011. - Lindsey Burke researches and writes on federal and state education issues as a senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation.

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This year, a new graduation rate (required by a 2008 federal education law change) will be published by the ODE, but not included in a district’s “Report Card” until next school year.

Source: “FINAL DISTRICT AND SCHOOL REPORT CARDS, B1 & B2. CPS takes issue with state’s grad rates” By Denis Smith Amos, The Enquirer August 24, 2011

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Excerpts: Currrently, $11 billion school lunch program is regulated by the Agriculture Department (USDA). The Agriculture department had estimated that the proposal (add more fruits and vegetables) would have cost about $6.8 billion over the next five years, adding about 14 cents to the cost of a school lunch.

Source: “Congress blocks new rules on school lunches” By Ron Nixon The New York Times. Published in The Enquirer 11/16/11 A4

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Sycamore’s  May, 2011 Five Year Forecast includes these references: 

STATE BUDGET – 2011

As noted above the State began the process with an $8 billion gap to fill. For the current biennium, the K-12 education community has been sheltered from the state funding cuts that have impacted other governmental sectors. This has been possible through the utilization of federal stimulus (ARRA) dollars known as the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF). Without this funding source along with the States’ revenue shortfall, public education will realize unprecedented cuts. In the House version of the budget, the impact ON Sycamore’s state revenue is as follows:

• Reductions to state basic aid and federal stimulus funding – Sycamore is projected to lose approximately $500,000 per year in state basic aid along with $200,000 per year in federal stimulus funding.

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Restricted  Federal Grants in Aid – SFSF (Line 1.045)

As noted above, for the current biennium, a portion ($200,000 annually) of the State Foundation category is received as federal restricted funding. Note that lines 21.01-21.06 provide projections of expenditure by category for these funds. These funds are eliminated from the forecast in the next biennium. The district will also include federal Ed jobs funds ($67,000 per year) for FY11-FY12. These funds are to be utilized to retain or add jobs.

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Other Financing Sources – Advances In Line (line 2.050):Advances in are repayment to the general fund of monies loaned to finance other areas of the operation. In FY2011-2015, advances in may occur for repayment from federal grant programs if needed. You may note that line 5.02 – Advances out reflects the same amount of funding going out of the general fund to the federal grant programs.  

Source: Sycamore May, 2011 Five Year Forecast

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Education Secretary Arne Duncan is teaching students a lesson: how to get your way no matter what the rules are.

Congressional talks are breaking down over No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the Obama administration’s arbitrary back-to-school timeline for reauthorizing the law is slipping away. So Duncan is preparing to circumvent Congress by granting states waivers to get out from under some of NCLB’s mandates.

But there’s a catch: to receive a waiver, states must agree to adopt the administration’s education policies. Thus Duncan could ensure that the education reforms he and the president want are implemented in America’s schools, with or without a reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.

Secretary Duncan indicated in a recent call to reporters that waivers — the administration’s NCLB “plan B” — are under serious consideration.

“The worst-case scenario is that Congress does nothing, and we do nothing,” Duncan told reporters. But there is actually something worse than doing nothing: Duncan’s plan to abrogate the Constitution and push states to adopt reforms that are not in the best interests of students.

According to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress history assessment, just 24 percent of high school seniors are proficient in civics; just 12 percent are proficient in history. So they might not know that the executive branch can’t exert its will on Congress by issuing policy ultimatums, but Secretary Duncan certainly should.

The administration has used carrots before to enact its brand of education “reform.” For states to have access to the more than $4 billion in federal funding doled out through Race to the Top, states had to agree to adopt national education standards and tests.

Indeed, the past year has been full of obfuscations (confusion), as the Obama administration has tried to coerce states to adopt national standards while simultaneously maintaining the ruse that the effort is voluntary.

Concern grew when President Obama indicated that access to federal Title I dollars for low-income schools would be contingent upon adoption of national standards — a policy that, unlike Race to the Top, would make the standards anything but voluntary. In remarks to the National Governors Association in February 2010, Obama noted that “as a condition of receiving access to Title I funds, we will ask all states to put in place a plan to adopt and certify standards that are college and career-ready in reading and math.”

Last month during remarks to the National Center on Education and the Economy, Secretary Duncan stated that “We [the Department of Education] have not and will not prescribe a national curriculum. I want to repeat that” — a statement which Education Week said prompted laughter from the audience.

But even if the strings-attached waivers wouldn’t create a back-door mechanism for the administration to implement its education reform agenda without Congressional approval — and they will — waivers for the failed No Child Left Behind law are not a long-term solution.

A better solution is to provide immediate relief and a long-term solution to reforming education. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), for example, has introduced a bill to eliminate 43 ineffective and duplicative programs under NCLB to better target resources to those students most in need. Rep. John Kline (R-MN), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, is expected to put forward a proposal soon to provide states with flexibility over how the spend their federal education dollars.

Then there’s the A-PLUS proposal, which would allow states to exercise their Tenth Amendment rights and opt out of the many programs under NCLB and direct their education dollars in a way that best meets student needs. Together, the A-PLUS approach and measures to consolidate and eliminate ineffective programs would send dollars and decision-making back to state and local leaders.

“President Obama has called for lawmakers to rewrite No Child Left Behind by the start of the new school year,” writes Fawn Johnson in National Journal. “Now he’s giving them the second warning before sending them to the principal’s office: Do your job or we’ll do it for you.”

The administration could set a far better example by respecting the Constitution and parents. It’s time for education reform that is accountable to parents and other taxpayers — not bureaucrats in Washington.

Lindsey M. Burke is an education policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/17/secretary-duncans-plan-to-circumvent-congress/#ixzz1QgRL16FV

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Send Education Dollars and Decision-Making Back Home 

Source: Morningbell@heritage.org 6/13/2011

The Obama Administration has another problem on its hands. The mighty hand of the federal government has its grip on education in the form of the No Child Left Behind federal law on public education, but the trouble is that the law isn’t working. Instead of a top-down approach to education, it’s time for restoring state and local control over education, while downsizing the Department of Education.

That’s a lesson that Education Secretary Arne Duncan needs to learn.

In an interview last week, Duncan expressed frustration at the “slow motion train wreck” that is No Child Left Behind, which is up for re-authorization. Under the law, all children are required to be proficient in math and reading by 2014—a standard that could leave three-quarters of U.S. schools labeled as failures, leaving them at risk of losing federal funding.

But the federal government has neither the authority nor the capacity to achieve local school improvement, as a half-century record shows. As a result, schools and states are scrambling, and the NCLB mandate has led to “serious unintended consequences, such as a weakening of state achievement standards and a loss of transparency to parents and taxpayers about students’ real academic performance,” according to The Heritage Foundation’s Lindsey Burke. But there are even bigger problems—the significant expansion of the federal role in education, leading to restrictive red tape tying up local and state education leaders.

The costs of complying with federal mandates are extraordinary. Burke writes that “estimates from 2006 found that the new guidelines and regulations created by NCLB increased state and local education agencies’ annual paperwork burden by 6.7 million hours, at a cost of $141 million.” That number continues to grow. According to Representative John Kline (R–MN):

States and school districts work 7.8 million hours each year collecting and disseminating information required under Title I of federal education law. Those hours cost more than $235 million. The burden is tremendous, and this is just one of many federal laws weighing down our schools.

And despite the rules and regulations, not to mention a tripling of federal per-pupil expenditures and $2 trillion of taxpayer money spent since 1965, academic achievement and graduation rates have remained flat.

Rather than recognize that a top-down approach to education isn’t the answer, President Barack Obama and Secretary Duncan want to stay the course and perhaps grant waivers on test score requirements. They don’t want to lose their grip on local schools.

The good news is that there’s an alternative.

The Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) Act, a conservative alternative to No Child Left Behind, would remove the reams and reams of Department of Education bureaucracy handed down to states and empower them to direct how their education dollars are spent. It would allow states to opt out of No Child Left Behind and increase state and local control in education while increasing transparency of results to parents and taxpayers.

A-PLUS provides states the opportunity to put the 10th Amendment into practice right now by opting out of the many federal programs under NCLB. At the same time, policymakers should work to move the underlying law in the same direction: sending dollars and decision-making to those closest to students by eliminating programs, increasing flexibility, and directing accountability to parents and taxpayers, not bureaucrats in Washington.

There are some 60 competitive grant programs and approximately 20 formula grant programs that fall under NCLB alone. In all, the Department of Education operates more than 100 competitive and formula grant programs. The application processes are terribly complex, leading schools to devote precious times and resources to focusing their attention on Washington in hopes of getting funding.

Federal policymakers should reduce the federal footprint in education by eliminating the majority of competitive grant programs and consolidating most formula grant programs so more dollars reach students in need, rather than getting soaked up by bureaucracy. Policymakers should also allow states to make federal Title I dollars ($14.5 billion for low-income schools) portable, to follow a child to a school of his or her choice.

Burke writes that the time has come for the federal government to honestly assess its performance in education and reassess its role:

For more than 45 years, Washington has tried and failed to reform education. Academic achievement languishes, graduation rates have stagnated, and achievement gaps stubbornly persist. It is time for Washington to hand back the reins to state and local leaders, and let go of the federal government’s stifling grip over education policy.

Layer upon layer of regulations and trillions in federal spending have achieved little if any results in education. The federal government has had its chance, and America’s schoolchildren have suffered. Congress and the Obama Administration need to put an end to the Department of Education “slow motion train wreck” that continues to create havoc in America’s schools.

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The Heritage Foundation 10/17/11

1,000 Days Under President Obama

Today marks the 1,000th day of Barack Obama’s presidency, and unfortunately for America, those days have been marked by deeper deficits, lost jobs, prolonged unemployment, and bigger government. Meanwhile, many of those charged with leading the federal government have all but abdicated their responsibilities.

The national debt stands at $14.9 trillion–$4.2 trillion of which has been added since Obama took his oath of office. Fourteen million Americans are unemployed–that’s 9.1 percent of the workforce. The unemployment rate has been above nine percent for 840 of the 1000 days, and the average unemployed worker has been without a job for more than 9 months. All told, 2.2 million jobs have been lost under Obama’s watch, despite the White House’s claims that the President’s $787 billion stimulus would create 3.3 million net jobs by 2010.

Unfortunately, instead of leading America toward fiscal sanity and a stronger economy, the President is taking the country in the opposite direction. Last week, his latest proposal to “stimulate” the economy with another $447 billion in spending failed to pass the Senate, but instead of recognizing that more taxing and spending is not what America wants or needs, he’s redoubling his efforts. Today, the President is starting another bus tour to sell a different version of the same plan–this time broken up into pieces of taxing and spending still big enough to choke a horse. It’s the same plan, only in different packaging. Former Congressman Ernest Istook explains the danger:

Even segmented versions of Obama’s $447 billion plan can be used to squeeze in those worst parts. That’s because it’s almost impossible to get both the House and the Senate to enact identical versions of a bill, thus requiring a conference committee to “work out the differences”–which sometimes includes adding distasteful details.

While it’s good news that the Senate rejected the President’s jobs plan, the bad news is that the Senate has utterly failed to help put America back on a strong fiscal path. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) point out that it’s been 900 days since Senate Democrats last adopted a formal budget plan, calling it “a national disgrace.”

As required by law, House Republicans presented a budget in committee, brought it to the floor, and passed it earlier this spring. It was an honest, detailed, concrete plan to put our budget on the path to balance and our economy on the path to prosperity. But Senate Democrats, during this time of national crisis, failed even to present a budget plan — in open defiance of the law and the public they serve.

What we have seen from the Obama Administration is bigger government, more regulations, and massive amounts of government spending in the hopes of stimulating the economy. The trouble is that it hasn’t worked, as the numbers show. Obama promised that his $787 billion stimulus would save or create 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. It didn’t, and given the jobs that were lost, he came up 7.3 million jobs short of his goal. His health care plan, better known as Obamacare, did not reduce health care costs as promised and is in fact responsible for increasing costs in 2011. On top of that, the law will price many unskilled workers out of full-time employment.

And those are just the big-ticket items. Over the last 1,000 days, America has seen increased regulations, a 9,000-earmark omnibus bill, a government union bailout, a Wall Street reform bill that will do more harm than good, a nuclear arms treaty that is detrimental to missile defense, a refusal to expand domestic energy production, federal overreach into education, an undermining of the rule of law, and a dark cloud hanging over our military’s future due to a failure to ensure adequate defense spending.

In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, James Freeman writes of an interview with billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman–Democrat, real-estate mogul, and New York Daily News owner. “Among business executives who supported Barack Obama in 2008, [Zuckerman] says, ‘there is enormously widespread anxiety over the political leadership of the country.’ Mr. Zuckerman reports that among Democrats, ‘The sense is that the policies of this government have failed.’” Given the track record of the Obama Administration over the last 1,000 days, they would be right. Bigger government has not put America on a stronger fiscal path, it hasn’t created jobs, and it hasn’t built a stronger economy.

There is a better way. Heritage’s Saving the American Dream plan charts a course that fixes the debt, cuts spending, and restores prosperity. It redesigns entitlement programs, guarantees assistance to those who need it, and saves the American dream for future generations. If Congress and the President want to move America forward, create new jobs, and spur businesses to grow and invest, then piling on debt, raising taxes, and increasing spending is not the answer–no matter how much Obama would like it to be.

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