November 13, 2007: Letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
November 13, 2007
The Honorable Edward Kennedy, Chairman
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Mike Enzi
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
Dear Chairman Kennedy and Ranking Member Enzi:
The National School Boards Association (NSBA), representing over 95,000 local school board members across the nation, commends you for your commitment to public education and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act during the 110th Congress.
We are very disappointed to learn that the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will not be able to complete its ESEA/NCLB reauthorization bill during this First Session of the 110th Congress, but we are encouraged and remain optimistic that a final reauthorization bill will be completed in 2008, before Congress adjourns.
Over the past several months, NSBA has very much appreciated the opportunity to present our recommendations for reauthorization and to share in the dialogue regarding improvements that need to be made to ensure that the objectives of the law can be achieved. We agree that continued focus must be directed toward many of the core tenants of the current law including accountability, valid and reliable assessments, disaggregated data, the unique needs of English Language Learners (ELL) and students with disabilities, access to quality teachers, state and local flexibility, and federal funding. Further, we remain convinced that modifications can be made to the current law that will preserve these principles, and at the same time, ensure that many of the current obstacles and unintended consequences that we have already identified are eliminated.
We fully agree that schools should be held accountable. We also agree that the performance of our students, schools and school districts must be measured by a system that is both fair and accurate. As you are fully aware, this is not the case today – and our students, families, teachers and administrators should not be told to simply “wait it out” until after the Presidential election when Congress can find the time to deal with it.
NSBA believes that it is imperative that the reauthorization is completed before the 110th Congress adjourns. Failure to reauthorize ESEA/NCLB during this 110th Congress will be devastating to our public schools, and has the potential for adversely impacting public opinion regarding local schools across the country. Equally as important, states and our local schools will continue to be subject to the many flawed requirements of the current law. This could mean another two or three school years of an increasingly rising AYP bar and a progression of sanctions that will expand the number of schools identified as not making the grade as well as the cost of unnecessary dysfunctional actions that schools will be required to implement.
NSBA urges you to reauthorize ESEA/NCLB for several reasons, including the following:
- The current accountability and assessment systems fail to accurately or fairly reflect the performance or progress of students, schools or school districts unnecessarily resulting in too many of our schools being labeled as “in need of improvement,” and interpreted by the general public as failing.
- The overemphasis on high stake testing will continue in spite of the fact that states and school districts have been unable to fully provide reliable and valid assessments for our students with disabilities and our English Language Learner (ELL) students – due to the failure of the Congress to fully provide the necessary funding as promised.
- Local school districts and schools will continue to be restricted from targeting already limited federal funds on those students and schools most in need due to mandated set-asides for supplemental services and public school choice programs that have demonstrated very limited, if any, results.
- States and local school districts will continue to be subject to a “one-size-fits-all” approach that fails to recognize the unique needs of individual students or schools – and that fails to provide adequate flexibility to states and local school districts.
Therefore, as you prepare the Committee agenda for the second session of the 110th Congress, we urge you to give the ESEA/NCLB reauthorization sufficient priority in order to address the major issues identified by local school boards across the nation, and to complete the final legislation prior to adjournment.
For further information regarding our positions as well as our formal recommendations, please contact Reginald M. Felton, director of federal relations at 703-838-6782, or by e-mail, rfelton@nsba.org.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Resnick
Associate Executive Director