Still Putting It All Together

One of America’s most successful charter-school networks receives more government money than it has previously admitted — and it’s also not as successful as it has stated, according to a new study.

It’s like finding out Santa isn’t real.

“The findings in our report show that students with disabilities and students classified as English language learners are greatly underrepresented,” he wrote.

Yes, give a school more money, take away students who have more obstacles, and allow them to lie — and they will seem amazing and the solution to all of our education woes.

The House voted to restore the $557 million cuts for special education funding. It is not time to celebrate quite yet. First, the budget bills are far from final and there may yet be cuts before this process is over. Second, as CEC, a lobby group for educational issues, stated; “it amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul. That’s because under the [funding] amendment, the funds restored to special education will be taken from other [general] education programs.”  Taking money out of general education funding will have a negative effect on students with special needs when they are in general education settings. President Obama’s budget proposalcontemplates modest increases in education funding

Why is the rest of the country not more alarmed by the state of education funding in the U.S.?  Everyone has this ideal of how awesome our country “used to be” back in the “good old days.”  Well guess what, not everyone went to school then or for as long.  Special education students were often not even sent to school at all. Of course there’s a difference!

While a possible shutdown is probably not going to be a picnic for anyone, if the past is any guide, most school districts and states wouldn’t feel an immediate pinch.

Why? Well, many formula programs in the department, including the all-important Title I grants to districts and special education, are “forward-funded.” That means the money for this fiscal year that Congress is currently squabbling over—fiscal year 2011—isn’t slated to make its way to districts until July of this year. That would have been the time frame even if Congress had passed its spending bills on time.

Nancy Grasmick, the superintendent of schools in Maryland, who was on the job back in 1995 and 1996, the last time the federal government shut down, said it wasn’t that disruptive for state education.

“We were very concerned about the federal government shutdown, and followed the negotiations closely,” she said in an e-mail. “But, in the end, we didn’t find that the shutdown disrupted the work we do. The federal funding came through as promised and projected.”

One possible exception: Impact aid, which goes to school districts that are home to military bases and other federal programs. Impact aid is one major formula program in the Education Department that follows the same schedule as the regular federal fiscal year—it isn’t forward-funded.

Many districts that depend on the aid have already applied for—and received—a significant portion of their funding through early funding requests. And during the previous shutdown, impact aid advocates persuaded the department to temporarily shift money from forward-funded programs to help finance impact-aid requests until the government was up and running again. They are already talking to lawmakers and the Obama administration about using a similar strategy this year, if necessary.

As a Title I teacher, this is a huge relief to know.

President Obama firmly believes that all children deserve a world-class education. When he says all children, he means all – regardless of their race, ethnicity, disability, native language, income level or zip code.

The President’s proposal to fix NCLB focuses on schools and students at-risk, and on meaningful reforms that will help these students succeed. The plan will maintain the federal government’s formula programs serving disadvantaged students, English learners, migrant children, and students with disabilities. Many people are speculating that the President wants to make these programs competitive. They are wrong. The President is committed to keeping the historic federal role of providing funding for students who need it most. He does not want the programs dedicated to at-risk students to become competitive. And he does not want to reduce the funds distributed by formula.

The President does believe there’s a role for competitive funding in education reform – and that these programs will benefit at-risk students. For too long in education, we have failed to recognize and reward success at the state, local or school level.  The Race to the Top program changed that. It spurred innovation, rewarded stakeholders working together to implement reform, and gave states incentives to raise their academic standards, invest in the teaching profession, use data to improve schools, and focus on fixing their lowest-performing schools. Through Race to the Top, 46 states developed comprehensive plans to advance these reforms. Eleven states and the District of Columbia are leading the way on them. Race to the Top created incentives for 41 states to voluntarily adopt college and career ready standards. This will raise expectations for all students and end a practice of setting a low bar that was particularly harmful to poor and minority students.

With just 1 percent of the annual education spending, Race to the Top states are blazing a path for reforms for decades to come. They are creating innovative solutions and effective practices that will benefit all students.

This powerful combination of formula funding supporting at-risk students and competitive funding for reform will position America to win the global race in education. It will ensure that all students, including our most at-risk, receive the world-class education they deserve.

My thoughts:

1st Paragraph — if he means All then why are we dealing with Race to the Top, which only helps some states?

2nd Paragraph — I am glad that he does not want to reduce funds — however, that is what sometimes happens with the way NCLB is set up.  School districts lose money based on their school report card.

3rd Paragraph - I am a firm believer of working with special needs students and students considered “at risk.”   However, what are the plans to promote programs and challenge students who are average, or above average.  Currently in Ohio, we are only required to identify gifted students.  It is not mandated that we do anything with them once they are identified.   Is that really giving these kids the best education which they also deserve?