NSTA
Legislative Update
January 5, 2009
President-elect Obama Selects Chicago Superintendent Arne Duncan as New Education Secretary
On December 16, 2008 President-elect Obama named Chicago Public Schools’ chief executive officer Arne Duncan as his nominee to be the next U.S. secretary of education.
Duncan has served as head of the CPS for seven years, and is known for his ability to improve struggling schools, expand charter schools, and improve teacher quality. Like the president elect, Duncan is an avid basketball player who advised Obama on education issues during the campaign. He has called for doubling funding for No Child Left Behind and allowing more flexibility in the federal education law.
The biography of Duncan posted on to the Obama-Biden Transition website states “For the past seven years, Arne Duncan has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools, where he has earned a solid reputation for confronting pressing issues in public education, such as transforming weak schools and increasing teacher quality. Prior to joining the public school system, Duncan directed the Ariel Education Initiative, a program which seeks to create educational opportunities for inner-city children on the South Side of Chicago. In 2006, the City Club of Chicago named Duncan Citizen of the Year. Duncan comes from a family of educators; his mother founded and has run a notable Chicago tutoring program for 48 years. Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University.”
In a prepared statement announcing Duncan as his choice for Education Secretary, President-elect Obama states, “For years, we have talked our education problems to death in Washington, but failed to act, stuck in the same tired debates that have stymied our progress and left schools and parents to fend for themselves: Democrat versus Republican; vouchers versus the status quo; more money versus more reform—all along failing to acknowledge that both sides have good ideas and good intentions.
We cannot continue on like this. It is morally unacceptable for our children—and economically untenable for America. We need a new vision for a 21st century education system—one where we aren’t just supporting existing schools, but spurring innovation; where we’re not just investing more money, but demanding more reform; where parents take responsibility for their children’s success; where we’re recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers; where we hold our schools, teachers and government accountable for results; and where we expect all our children not only to graduate high school, but to graduate college and get a good paying job.
These are precisely the goals to which Arne Duncan has devoted his life—from his days back in college, tutoring children here in Chicago; to his work at the helm of a non-profit remaking schools on the South Side; to his time working for the Chicago Public Schools, where he became Chief Executive Officer of this city’s school system.”
Teacher unions and other education groups were generally pleased with the selection of Duncan as Ed Secretary.
AFT president Randi Weingarten states" As Chicago schools' chief executive officer, Duncan has shown a genuine commitment to what we see as the essential priorities for an incoming education secretary. There may be times when we will differ, but we believe we will agree fully that America's students and teachers need an education secretary committed to focusing on real solutions for closing the achievement gap and providing every child with a rigorous, well-rounded education that prepares him or her for college, work and life.”
“This could be the beginning of a promising new period for public education in this country,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “Arne Duncan has said before Congress that funding for NCLB should be doubled within five years, and that the law must be amended to give schools the maximum amount of flexibility possible. For too long, federal education policy has been about teaching to the test, and Duncan could use his new position to move beyond those failed policies, and provide every child with 21st century skills.”
John Holdren Tapped as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology; Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
President-elect Obama has chosen Harvard University physicist John Holdren, a leading expert on climate change, to serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Joining Holdren on the president's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology will be Nobel Prize-winning scientist Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Eric Lander, who specializes in human genome research. Marine biologist Jane Lubchenco will lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The president-elect made the announcement during the December 20 weekly Democratic radio address, (the president-elect also included a reference to science education during his address). Said Obama, “Working with these leaders, we will seek to draw on the power of science to both meet our challenges across the globe and revitalize our economy here at home. And I’ll be speaking more after the New Year about how my Administration will engage leaders in the technology community and harness technology and innovation to create jobs, enhance America’s competitiveness and advance our national priorities . . . I am confident that if we recommit ourselves to discovery; if we support science education to create the next generation of scientists and engineers right here in America; if we have the vision to believe and invest in things unseen, then we can lead the world into a new future of peace and prosperity.”What's Ahead in 2009: Will Congress Reauthorize No Child Left Behind This Year?
A recent article in Congressional Quarterly casts doubt that Congress will reauthorize No Child Left Behind in 2009, and most likely not get to the federal education law until 2010. “Democrats hoping to rewrite President Bush’s landmark 2001 No Child Left Behind law have long been eyeing 2009 as the year when a new administration could work with Congress on a significant revision or overhaul,” writes CQ reporter Lydia Gensheimer. “But education policy experts say it will likely be at least a year—stretching into 2010—before a reauthorization occurs, in part because President-elect Barack Obama’s administration has placed a priority on economic recovery and health care reform, and in part because no true consensus has been reached on how to do it.”
Joel Packer, director of educational policy and practice at the National Education Association, is quoted saying that the Democrats are essentially split into two camps on the reauthorization--The teachers unions believe the law is too narrowly focused on holding schools accountable, while another faction is focused on more accountability and is willing to buck the teachers unions. While many realize the law needs improvements, there is no clear consensus on what needs to be done. Congressional leaders vow to work in a bipartisan way to make the law more “fair, flexible and better funded,” but must also garner support to re-write the federal education law from new Democratic members, many of whom campaigned to eliminate the law, and work with the conservative Republicans on the committee.
“Miller and Kennedy agree, aides say, on basic principles for revising the law, such as requiring more rigorous standards from some states, providing support for teacher preparation and retention, examining growth models as a means for measuring students’ progress and allowing for greater differentiation in the labeling of schools. Even with some agreement, though, experts say working through the details on a bill that runs nearly 700 pages will be no easy task,” writes Gensheimer.
After addressing the economic situation and health care, many speculate that legislation on early childhood education is also likely to come up before reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. The article states, however, that many hope that the Obama administration could interpret or enforce regulations differently than the Bush administration, particularly in regard to the regulations governing supplemental services to students.What's Ahead in 2009: Higher Funding for NSF Education Possible for FY2009
The House Appropriations Committee has released the committee report accompanying its version of the FY2009 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill that provides recommendations for FY2009 spending for programs at the federal science agencies, including the education programs at the National Science Foundation.
The House and Senate committees differ in their funding recommendations for Education and Human Resources at NSF. Both the House and Senate bills recommend the full $6,854.1 million request for NSF, an increase of 13.0 percent or $789.1 million from the current budget of $6,065.0 million.
But the Senate would provide $790.4 million, an increase of 8.9 percent or $64.8 million over the current budget of $725.6 million for programs under the NSF Education and Human Resources Directorate, while the House bill would provide $840.3 million for EHR, an increase of 15.8 percent or $114.7 million.
The House Appropriations Committee is seeking additional funding for both the Robert Noyce Scholarship program and the Math and Science Partnerships. Funding for the Robert Noyce Scholarship program, which encourages talented science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate students and postgraduate professionals to become K–12 mathematics and science teachers, would be increased $38,400,000 for a total program level of $50,000,000 in fiscal year 2009."
The Committee is recommending that the NSF MSPs be funded a total of $61,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, an increase of $12,500,000 over the fiscal year 2008 level and $10,000,000 over the budget request.
Language in the House and Senate bills must be reconciled, and will be made a part of the omnibus bill that will be presented to President-elect Obama after his inauguration.
What's Ahead in 2009: Democrats Vow to Push a Science Agenda
A December Time magazine article looks at a recent meeting hosted by Representative Rush Holt at Princeton University between Congressional leaders, researchers, scientists, and business leaders to discuss the future of U.S. innovation. "If you want to know our agenda for this new Congress, remember four words: science, science, science and science," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Monday. We stand by [science] as the most important investment we can make in the health, the education, the energy independence, the job creation and the defense of America," the Speaker said. ... “New Jersey Congressman Rush Holt (who is also a plasma physicist) says Democrats are keen to push ahead on earlier proposals to improve teacher training in math, science and engineering, and to expand broadband Internet access nationwide.”
A Bad Year for K–12 Education in the States
A report released by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) on December 15 shows that most states experienced poor fiscal conditions in 2008, with conditions for fiscal 2009 continuing to deteriorate and expected to continue to severely decline as the national recession deepens.
According to NGA and NASBO, spending is expected to decrease by .1 percent for fiscal 2009, and states are expected to make significant budget cuts in the coming fiscal years. “Virtually all states are now in recession or at risk, and states expect continued expenditure pressures from a variety of sources, including Medicaid, employee pensions and infrastructure. In addition, because states historically have continued to feel the impact of national economic downturns even after recovery begins, states could face even more difficult financial conditions in fiscal 2010 and beyond.”
How will this fare for K–12 education? Reports Michelle McNeil in the December 15 Education Week article "K–12 Threatened as State Spending Slumps":
Though state policymakers generally try to spare K–12 education in tough budget times, it becomes more difficult in a severe recession because public school funding is usually the biggest single expenditure in state government—20.9 percent of all state spending nationally in fiscal 2008. The next biggest category is Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor and those with disabilities, which encompassed 20.7 percent of state budgets last fiscal year. ... "Across the board in a large number of states, education is probably going to get hit,"' said Raymond C. Scheppach, the executive director of the Washington-based NGA.
"In past downturns, virtually everything faced cuts except K–12; the fact that even now we’re talking about K–12 shows how difficult the situation is,” said Scott D. Pattison, the executive director of the Washington-based budget officers organization.