Following President Obama's call to "win the future" through education reform, Congress is now back to work on reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This second webinar in the Justice Matters Community Briefing Series examines the policy themes of competitiveness and accountability that will shape the educational future of the nation's students of color. Geared toward parent leaders, organizers, and community organizations, this presentation also provides an update on the latest developments in the ESEA reauthorization process, examining policy ideas highlighted in the 2012 Federal budget, meetings of the House Education and Workforce Committee, and briefings from the Department of Education.

1. Part Two:
How Does ESEA Reauthorization
Affect Communities of Color?
Thursday, February 24th 2011

2. Special Thanks to Our Partner:
A Center for Regional, National, &
International Movement-Building
www.thestrategycenter.org

3. Agenda
1. Fierce Urgency of Reform
2. The Budget Breakdown
3. Race, Win or Lose
4. Roads to Reauthorization
5. Question & Answer
Presenter: Jack Loveridge
Policy Analyst at Justice Matters

4. Leaving NCLB Behind
• Just 50% of the nation’s students of color
graduate from high school on time
• In California, 37% and 27% of Black and Latino
students, respectively, are pushed out each year
• No Child Left Behind’s (NCLB) high stakes
accountability systems provide incentive to push
out low-performing students to boost test scores
• NCLB is the most recent version of the
Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
Past due for Congressional reauthorization.
Community Briefing Series

5. New Politics, Old Realities
• Congress has authorized
ESEA seven times since 1965
• The current 112th Congress
is a deeply divided one
• GOP House, Filibuster-
prone Democratic Senate
• Nixon, Reagan, and G.H.W. Bush signed
legislation co-authored with Democrats New Speaker John Boehner takes the
gavel from now Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi
• No Democratic President has ever
reauthorized ESEA with a divided government
Community Briefing Series

6. A Blueprint for Reform
Four key proposals included:
1) Gradually replace formula funds with
competitive grants
2) Broaden student assessments, keeping
standardized testing central
3) Encourage charter school creation
4) Close or restructure ‘low-performing’
schools via Turnaround Models
Community Briefing Series

7. ‘Win the Future’
“Meanwhile, nations like China and India
realized that with some changes of their own,
they could compete in this new world. And so
they started educating their children earlier and
longer, with greater emphasis on math and
science.”
– President Obama
Jan. 25, 2011
• State of the Union tied education
reform to economic success, global
competition
• U.S. faces challenge, a “Sputnik
moment” in rise of developing
nations like China & India
Community Briefing Series

8. Getting Started
Three Developments this Month:
1.) House Hearings Began
2.) Major Players at White House
3.) 2012 FY Budget Released
Former Chairman Miller (D-CA) and then-
ranking member Kline (R-MN) at a hearing
on NCLB’s effectiveness in 2010.
Community Briefing Series

9. A $2 Billion Increase
Defense Debt
Medicare/
IRS
Interest
Medicaid
Security
All Other
Social
Departments
Security
K-12 & Postsecondary Education
Community Briefing Series

10. Accountability
“We want to reward good teachers and
stop making excuses for bad ones.”
-President Obama
• Reform funding will continue to be
the priority
• Funds to be distributed to
implement the four turnaround
models featured in the Blueprint
• $975 million for teacher training,
hiring, and retention reforms
Community Briefing Series

11. Competition
“These targeted increases reflect the
administration’s competitiveness agenda.”
-Arne Duncan
• $900 million for a 3rd Race to the Top
• District-level competition with special
fund for rural communities
• Presumably same criteria: initiate
reforms via turnaround models,
encourage charter expansion
Community Briefing Series

12. Evaluation
“Instead of labeling failures, we will
reward success.”
-President Obama
• Least discussed element in
Administration’s proposals & budget
• However, evaluation is key. It is the
standard by which progress is judged
and how $300 million for low-
income schools will be distributed
• Still decides funding, teacher
retention, and creates push-out
incentives
Community Briefing Series

13. 1. Who Wins?
• Of the new $500 for Title I and IDEA
students, $300 will be directed at low-
income schools
• Such schools historically serve
communities of color and new funds will
reward those making the most progress
• Much like broader Race to the Top strategy, this
method of funding does not account for initial
investment problem
Schools and districts with stronger existing
resources are at an advantage.
Community Briefing Series

14. 2. Who Loses?
• Competitive funding coupled with
high-stakes testing sustains system of
winners and losers
• While school turnaround models are
favored over closures and take-overs, the
race for cash poses a high-stakes
funding problem
• he situation that fostered high push-
T
out rates and deceptive data remains
Low-income, students of color are still at a
disadvantage in a system of competition.
Community Briefing Series

15. 3. Where’s the Finish Line?
• Prior incarnations of ESEA have
set both moral & numerical goals
for K-12 education
• or Lyndon Johnson this meant
F
equal access for low-income
students & communities of color
• For George W. Bush, this meant all students would be testing at
grade level by 2014
• Current strategy both highly pragmatic and rhetorical, lacking
emphasis on low-income students of color
The Goal is Unclear.
Community Briefing Series

16. Reauthorization Outlook
• Overdue for more than four years;
time seems right to tackle ESEA
• Education historically sees bipartisan
cooperation
• Three Scenarios:
1. Full-scale reauthorization
2. Piecemeal, smaller legislation
3. No action; NCLB remains
ESEA pitches in 1994,
1965, & 2002
Community Briefing Series

17. The Process
2.) Mark-Up
3.) Committee Sends Bill
1.) Committee Hearings
to Full Chamber
Reauthorized ESEA
Good for Five Years
6.) President Vetoes
or Signs into Law 4.) Floor Vote
5.) Reconcile Bills
Community Briefing Series

18. Building Consensus
“[R]eform that restores local control, empowers
parents, lets teachers teach, and protects taxpayers.”
Rep. John Kline (R-MN)
November 4, 2010
“This budget will promote reform, reward success,
and support innovation at the state and local level.”
Secretary Arne Duncan
February 14, 2011
Community Briefing Series

19. ‘Not So Fast’
• GOP unwilling to accept price tag,
even in K-12 education budget
• Chairman Kline for “getting out of the
way” of innovation at state & local level
• Republican 2011 FY budget proposal
would cut education funding by $5
billion, an 8% reduction from 2010
• Proposal must pass Senate & be signed
by President; highly unlikely
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
Community Briefing Series

20. The Austerity Pull
Progressives Moderates Conservatives Tea Party
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) President Rep. John Kline (R-MN) Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
Senate HELP Chair Barack Obama House Education Chair HELP Member
Formula Competitive 8-10% Abolish
Funds Grants Reduction D of E
Community Briefing Series

21. Possible Setbacks:
• Divisions among Republicans
• Spending issues: potential
shutdown, debt ceiling
• ‘Why allow a victory for
President Obama?’
• Deadline: Election 2012
Community Briefing Series

22. Time for Action
• Education still best chance for political
cooperation. Delays create extra time for
organizing and strategizing for real reform
• Just some – by no means a comprehensive list – of the
organizations doing work around ESEA reauthorization:
Communities for
Alliance for Excellent Education Policy
Excellent Public
Education Institute
Schools
The Forum for
Campaign for High
Education &
Dignity in Schools School Equity
Democracy
Campaign
Community Briefing Series

23. What’s Next?
High-stakes Changes:
A key question that remains unresolved is how real reform can be made with
the same high-stakes systems of evaluation & accountability that create
competitors to be bested rather than a spirit of cooperation.
Original Purpose:
It’s important to remember that in spite of the rhetoric around
competitiveness and local control, ESEA is Civil Rights era legislation
designed to combat institutionalized racism and poverty across the country.
Hard Road Ahead:
ESEA reauthorization in 2011 will be difficult and politically-charged.
However, the old policies of NCLB are still hurting students of color and
now is the time to bring a stronger community voice into the debate.
Community Briefing Series

24. Question & Answer
Jack Loveridge
jack@justicematters.org
Visit us online & Follow our blog at:
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www.justicemattersblog.blogspot.com
Justice Matters’ mission is to bring about racially just schools that
develop and promote education policy rooted in community vision.