NEA, MNEA advocate for improvements to NCLB
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, renamed the No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001 by the Bush Administration,
came up for renewal in September 2007. This opened the door
for major improvements to the flawed and under-funded mandates
that have affected every classroom in Missouri.
Over the past several months, Missouri NEA leaders have met
with Missouri ‘s congressional delegation at home and
in Washington DC to advocate for improvements to ESEA/NCLB.
During this time, NEA President Reg Weaver and others testified
before congressional committees on NEA’s agenda for
change.
| |
Major
court ruling on No Child Left Behind: States and school
districts not required to spend own funds to comply
with law
Victory
announced on eve of controversial law’s sixth
anniversary
On the same
day President George W. Bush held a press conference
in Chicago to defend the failing No Child Left Behind,
and on the eve of NCLB’s sixth anniversary, a
federal appeals court delivered yet another major blow
to the controversial law. The United States Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled today that Secretary
Spellings is violating the Spending Clause of the Constitution
by requiring states and school districts to spend their
own funds to comply with the law.
“The
court’s message couldn’t be more clear:
If the president is sincere about continuing No Child
Left Behind, he needs to put his money where his mouth
is,” said NEA President Reg Weaver. “The
president refuses to budge on NCLB, his flagship domestic
policy, but unless he takes action it is clearly a sinking
ship.”
Six years
ago, President Bush promised to fully fund NCLB. But
the president has consistently refused to make good
on his promises. Due to Bush’s recent veto of
the FY 2008 education appropriations bill, there will
be a $14.8 billion gap in funding for NCLB programs.
That is on top of the previous cumulative gap of $56.1
billion.
The Jan.
7 ruling is a major victory for NEA and the other plaintiffs—including
nine school districts and nine NEA state affiliates—which
brought the lawsuit in April 2005 to oppose costly federal
regulations that divert money from children and classrooms
to paperwork and bureaucracy. Today’s ruling by
the appeals court reverses the lower court’s November
2005 summary judgment dismissing the lawsuit.
At issue
is Section 9527(a) of the law that says, “Nothing
in this Act shall be construed to....mandate a State
or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur
any costs not paid for under this Act.”
NEA and the
other plaintiffs had argued in their complaint that
this section of the law prevents the federal government
from requiring states and school districts to spend
their own funds to comply with the law’s mandates.
The lawsuit
does not challenge the laudable goals of the law or
call for its dismantling. Instead, it simply argues
that any federal mandates in this law must come with
tools and resources to get the job done. Otherwise,
educators can’t be expected to do more with less.
The court agreed, holding that the Education Department’s
interpretations of NCLB, requiring that states and school
districts devote their own funds to NCLB compliance,
“violate the Spending Clause.”
“It’s
time for the Secretary to comply with the law and the
Constitution,” Weaver said. “If the administration
won’t ensure that states and schools have the
federal funds needed to implement the law, then they
must cease with threats to punish states and districts
who cannot comply due to lack of federal funds.”
The lack
of funding at issue in the lawsuit is just one aspect
of NCLB that has come under increased fire recently.
Parents, teachers and lawmakers have called for reform
because of the law’s obsessive focus on standardized
testing, heavy-handed punishments and bureaucratic protocols.
For
more information, visit www.nea.org/esea/index.html. |
“It now appears that if reauthorization isn’t
completed in May, it may not happen until after the presidential
elections,” says MNEA Director of Programs DeeAnn Aull,
who serves on NEA’s ESEA advisory committee. “A
new president could lead the effort to erase, rewrite and
reauthorize this controversial law to make it more workable
and more responsive to the real needs of children. The ESEA/NCLB
Act established laudable goals—high standards and accountability
for the learning of all children regardless of their background
or ability. Unfortunately, the devil was in the details.”
Even the U.S. Department of Education has recognized problems
in the existing law and has instituted changes, according
to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who stopped
in Jefferson City for a first-ever meeting with the Missouri
State Board of Education in February. Missouri NEA President
Chris Guinther and Teaching and Learning Director Ann Jarrett
attended the board meeting to provide the teacher perspective.
“I think the comment I hear most from teachers is how
the focus on testing has taken some of the joy out of teaching,”
says Missouri NEA President Chris Guinther, who travels the
state meeting with members and listening to their concerns.
“Focusing on what’s on the test has taken teachers
away from focusing on teaching and the whole child—teaching
them to think critically and appreciate the joy of learning.
New teachers especially feel this pressure as they enter their
classrooms for the first time, excited about the prospect
of teaching, only to encounter the stress of teaching to the
test and the pressure to prove academic achievement through
test scores.”
“Many educators fear they are so focused on bringing
up test scores for lower achieving students that they are
leaving out the high achiever,” according to Teaching
and Learning Director Ann Jarrett.
NEA has developed a comprehensive positive agenda for the
ESEA Reauthorization, which spells out detailed recommendations
to make the law better. Learn more at www.nea.org/esea/index.html.
NEA’s efforts focus on three priority areas
in working with Congress as it considers the reauthorization
of NCLB/ESEA:
- 1. Use more than test scores to measure student learning
and school performance.
• Include multiple measures of student learning and
school effectiveness instead of the current one-day snapshot
based solely on standardized tests.
• Reward progress over time to improve student achievement
at all levels.
• Recognize individual needs of students (Special
Education, English Language Learners).
- Reduce class size to help students learn.
- Increase the number of highly qualified teachers.
• Provide financial incentives to teachers who teach
in hard-to-staff schools.
• Allow teachers who have achieved certification by
the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to
be deemed “highly qualified.”
• Provide flexibility for teachers of multiple subjects,
including special education and rural educators.
NEA believes the changes made so far are steps in the right
direction, but more significant changes are needed in order
to make the law workable and effective. Join NEA’s effort
to affect positive change by urging your elected representatives
in Congress to support legislative proposals that will improve
NCLB.
NCLB at the bargaining table
Lobbying at the nation’s Capitol to fix and fund NCLB
is just one part of the equation for dealing with the culture
NCLB has established. As Missouri NEA members prepare to exercise
their collective bargaining rights, concerns around the demands
the law has made on educators are sure to be a part of the
conversation at the bargaining table.
“We’re starting to see student test scores tied
to teacher evaluations and salaries,” says Teaching
and Learning Director Ann Jarrett. “Missouri NEA strongly
opposes these actions and encourages local leaders to bargain
language to prevent or regulate the use of test scores in
teacher evaluations. Bargaining offers a good opportunity
to determine a system for teacher evaluation that takes into
account all factors that affect teaching and learning.”
Other topics that affect student achievement and NCLB requirements
include class size, staff development and reimbursement for
career training, release days to pursue national board certification,
incentive pay for achieving national board certification,
and time during the contract day for collaboration in professional
learning communities.
For samples of contract language on professional development
issues, contact your UniServ director or Ann Jarrett at Ann.Jarrett@mnea.org
or (800) 392-0236.
sb,
spring '08
|
