This weekly report of public policy issues affecting mathematics education is for the week ending June 13, 2008.
1. Budget and Appropriations
2. Equal Opportunity in Public Education
3. In Brief
4. New Publications
5. In the News
1. Budget and Appropriations
Consideration of funding bills for Fiscal Year 2009 went into full swing on Capitol Hill last week. Though the full Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate are not scheduled to meet to divide up almost $1 trillion for domestic discretionary programs, several subcommittees got to work in the House and completed four mark-ups, based on preliminary conversations with committee leadership. The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved on a party line vote a bill that will provide $27.9 billion for the Interior Department and EPA programs—approximately five percent over last year. Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts grows by $15 million to $160 million, with identical funding provided for the National Endowment for the Humanities. When the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science met they provided a $1.7 billion increase in funding for programs supporting science, technology, and innovation. For the National Science Foundation that translates to $6.9 billion, up from $6.06 in FY 2008. $17.8 billion was allotted for NASA and $785 million for NIST.
This Thursday the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, (LHHS) and Education will meet to mark up a funding bill for those agencies. Though exact numbers are not public, it is anticipated that the program eliminations called for by the president will be ignored along with many significant proposed cuts in spending. The number of programs that will actually be increased is not known, but staff members are doing their best to lower expectations in what is considered to be an austere budget climate. The Senate LHHS and Education Subcommittee will meet on June 24 to consider their spending plan. It is anticipated that the full Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate will also act that week to adopt LHHS and Education spending plans. Taking the bills to the floor for a vote, however, remains a long shot. The leadership is not interested in an extended debate with the president, who has already made it known that he will veto anything that allocates more funding than he requested. The LHHS bill in both Houses is certain to exceed his request by as much as $10 billion, making a presidential veto a sure thing.
While appropriators got to work on their FY 2009 plans, the House and Senate remained tied up in knots over what to do about the emergency supplemental spending bill. Funding for the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are top priorities, so that portion of the measure will be agreed to before the July 4 recess. What is in question is how much domestic emergency funding will be included in the bill. The Senate is insisting on new GI education benefits and funds to extend unemployment insurance payments along with funds to pay for a moratorium on new Medicaid rules. In the House, there was an effort to move a stand alone unemployment benefits bill that finally passed, but with barely enough votes to override an anticipated veto. What happens when the stand alone bill reaches the Senate unknown. The final budget decisions regarding education spending for FY 2009 will be postponed through a continuing resolution and handed off to the new president.
2. Equal Opportunity in Public Education
Last Tuesday, the Center for American Progress (CAP) hosted a conference titled, “Ensuring Equal Opportunity in Public Education: How Local School District Funding Practices Hurt Disadvantaged Students and What Federal Policy Can Do About It.” The discussion shed light on the comparability provision of Title I of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Congressman Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) gave the introductory address, while panelists spoke to the provision’s history and its potential pitfalls at the district level.
Title I of the NCLB Act contains a school finance “comparability provision.” This provision requires school districts to equalize funding between low and high poverty schools using state and local funds before supplementing the high poverty schools with Title I funding. The purpose of the provision is to ensure that local school districts distribute Title I funds as a supplement on an already level playing field. Marguerite Rosa, Research Associate Professor at the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, presented information on how districts allocate Title I resources to schools and how the practice creates inequities. The comparability provision specifies that districts must equalize spending for high and low poverty schools before receiving Title I money. However, this provision has truly fallen by the wayside in many districts, where Title I money is being used to fill in the holes created by meager state and local funds. Also presenting was Phyllis McClure, consultant and long-time Title I historian; she described her work on the comparability provision as “rescuing the subject from oblivion;” and vice president at the Education Trust, Ross Wiener, discussed the potential for strengthening the comparability provision to unlock the potential for other reforms under NCLB. According to Wiener, the comparability provision is about financial equity. The provision is not about adequacy or an area to implement substantive reform efforts.
During the discussion period, the panelists addressed the gradual establishment of “unique” funding allocations for each school that are linked to local politics. With local factors influencing federal intentions, in the era of standards-based reform, the ability of high-poverty students to achieve those standards is questionable, particularly in the current funding atmosphere. All panelists emphasized the need to not over think the comparability provision. Financial equity is the core of its intent, and the education community should work to strengthen this funding requirement.
To learn more about the conference, visit here. Read the Center on Reinventing Public Education's research on this topic.
3. In Brief
Governor's Guide for Investing in Early Childhood
The National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices released a new report last week, "Partnering with the Private and Philanthropic Sectors: A Governor’s Guide to Investing in Early Childhood." The report provides a roadmap for governors to “leverage the resources and expertise of the private and philanthropic sectors in furthering early childhood programs and services in their states.” The report states that promoting the healthy development and school readiness of children from birth to age five is an integral strategy to prevent achievement gaps in later years, and the contribution of public-private partnerships to develop successful supports for young children and families is growing. The report highlights successful early childhood public-private partnerships from 11 states and aims to help governors, state policymakers, and leaders in the private sector community understand the necessary steps in forming a valuable and effective partnership. More
Response to Intervention
Last Monday, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) held a briefing titled, “Understanding Response to Intervention (RTI).” Douglas Fuchs, Professor of Special Education at Vanderbilt University, presented his views on RTI and explained why he believes RTI should be used to identify struggling students and diagnose learning disabilities. According to CEC, RTI is designed to identify struggling learners early in their education, to provide access to needed interventions, and to help identify children with disabilities. Fuchs argued that there are two purposes of RTI: to provide an alternate method of learning disability identification and to reorient general education towards early intervention and prevention. CEC believes that RTI merges special education into the overall policies of No Child Left Behind by having clear standards, useful measurement, and sound instructional practices. Susan Fowler, President of CEC, opined that RTI “lays the groundwork for bringing a new focus on enhancing the performance of all students, including those with disabilities, through a common system in which classroom teachers and special education teachers can work together.” More
Education Begins at Home Act
Last Wednesday, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on H.R. 2343, the Education Begins at Home Act. The bi-partisan bill, introduced by Representatives Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Todd Platts (R-Penn.), aims at enhancing early education home visitation programs. Witnesses testified that home visitation programs: increase school readiness, academic achievement, parent-child interaction, and involvement; encourage more frequent visits to health providers; provide early screenings for disabilities; prevent against child abuse; and provide parents with vital support and knowledge about caring for and raising young children. The legislation intends to improve Early Head Start programs as well as more effectively reach military families with young children and those with English language learners. The witnesses said that home visitation programs are especially beneficial to young, uneducated, and impoverished parents who often lack the resources and knowledge to care for their infants and young children properly. More
Discussion on Teach for America
Last Wednesday, the Alliance for Excellent Education hosted a discussion on research about the effectiveness of Teach for America (TFA) corps members that work in high schools. Jane Hannaway from the Urban Institute described in detail an Urban Institute-conducted study that found that TFA corps members had a greater impact on student academic performance than traditionally trained teachers in all categories listed. The study did not include a comprehensive answer to the question “why” TFA corps members were more effective in the classroom than their traditional counterparts, but several possibilities were discussed. These included the rigorous academic training they had at elite colleges and universities; the focus and commitment to a job that is acknowledged from the beginning as very difficult; the high level of energy to do the job well; and the support these teachers receive from TFA before and while they are in the classroom. Heather Harding, Vice President for Research and Public Affairs at Teach for America, provided a comprehensive overview of TFA and highlighted the selection process as the most critical contributor to TFA successes. The required competencies include: achieves ambitious, measurable goals; past history of persevering through challenges; makes accurate linkages between cause and effect and generates relevant solutions to problems; plans well and works efficiently; influences and motivates others; respects students and families in low-income communities; and understands and desires to work relentlessly in pursuit of the TFA mission.
2008 Kids Count Data Book
Last week the Casey Foundation released the "2008 Kids Count Data Book." The report shows that national trends in overall child well-being have improved slightly since 2000. Also showing improvement is the child death rate, teen death rate, high school dropout rate, and teens not in school and not working. The report provides state- and city-level data for over 100 measures of child “well-being” including education, health, health insurance, employment, income, poverty, youth risk factors, and children in immigrant families. “Kids Count contains some good and bad news,” says Laura Beavers, coordinator of the national Kids Count project at the Casey Foundation. “We continue to see that well-being indicators have largely gotten better for teens, and they’ve gotten worse for babies. Looking across all well-being indicators, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Massachusetts rank highest, and New Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi rank the lowest.” View the report
4. New Publications
“Partnering with the Private and Philanthropic Sectors: A Governor’s Guide to Investing in Early Childhood” National Governors Association (PDF)
“Higher Education and a Competitive Workforce” Career College Association
“Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Fact, Not Fiction: Setting the Record Straight” College Board (PDF)
“Allocation Anatomy: How District Policies That Deploy Resources Can Support (or Undermine) District Reform Strategies” Center on Reinventing Public Education
5. In the News
“Earmark Spending Makes a Comeback” Washington Post (6/13/08)
“Mandated Tutoring Not Helping MD, VA Scores” Washington Post (6/13/08)
“Bush Loyalists Fight Foes of ‘No Child’ Law” New York Times (6/12/08)
“Sharpton, Education Plan May Tear Union Ties” USA Today (6/12/08)
“Democrats Offer Plan to Revamp School Law” New York Times (6/12/08)
“Survey: Distractions, Homework Pull Kids Away From Reading” USA Today (6/11/08)
“Students Like to Fail High School Exit Exam Can Be Identified as Early as 4th Grade, Study Says” Los Angeles Times (6/11/08)
“Report Takes Aim at ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype of Asian-American Students” New York Times (6/10/08)
“Backgrounds Play Big Role in New Immigrants’ Success in US Classrooms” Dallas Morning News (6/10/08)
“Charter Schools Big Experiment” Washington Post (6/9/08)
Information for this week’s NCTM Legislative and Policy Update was compiled from reports by Washington Partners, LLC.
