House officials have just voted on the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) bill to replace No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the “Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA).” Learn more about the vote and the ESEA/ESSA bill here.
Thank you.
Original Message:
Sent: 11-23-2015 16:15
From: Elleka Watts
Subject: ESEA/NCLB Reauthorization Update
Good afternoon,
Attached to this post is an updated version of the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) document (posted Friday) that outlines all authorized funding levels for education programs under the new ESEA/NCLB, "The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)." Again, these are authorized funding levels, not the actual appropriations (dollar allocations) for these programs; actual allocations are subject to the appropriations (omnibus bill) process. See the previous post in this thread for a full explanation.
In addition, the School Superintendents Association (AASA) shared this document with us, outlining all the provisions known so far in the ESEA/ESSA bill, including Title I funding, state accountability systems, testing requirements, maintenance of effort (MOE), school climate provisions, and much more. Finally, ASBOUSA posted a blog today on provisions in the ESEA/ESSA as well.
Thank you.
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Elleka Watts
Government Affairs & Communications Coordinator
ASBO International
ewatts@asbointl.org
Reston, VA
Original Message:
Sent: 11-20-2015 11:42
From: Elleka Watts
Subject: ESEA/NCLB Reauthorization Update
Good morning,
The new Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) bill, tentatively named the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA), cleared the conference process this week on a 39-1 vote. See this EdWeek article for an overview of the vote, what's in the bill, and the likelihood of it passing Congress and the President's desk.
In addition, today's legislative update by ASBOUSA features more information on the new ESEA/ESSA bill. Next week (after more details have been released) ASBOUSA will post a blog with an in-depth look at the new bill and the changes that school districts should expect.
However, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) says no official or final legislative language on the bill has been released as of this time, so all provisions are still subject to potential changes. The final conference report that includes the ESEA/ESSA bill and all passed amendments should be released November 30. CEF says the House will vote on the final revised ESEA/ESSA bill during the first week of December. If it clears the House, the Senate will take it on the following week and then send it to the President. Officials aim to have a final bill signed into law by the end of the year.
In the meantime, CEF provided a seven-page summary of the programs that have made it into the preliminary ESEA/ESSA bill so far. It also includes how much funding has been authorized for each program (attached to this post).***
Thank you.
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***Note: Authorized funding levels reflect the total amount of money that has been allowed for spending on these education programs, but do not necessarily reflect the final amount of dollars the programs will receive; the federal appropriations process decides that instead. Appropriations are currently being handled via an omnibus bill in the works on Capitol Hill. The omnibus appropriations bill determines the actual dollars that all government agencies will receive for FY2016, including the Departments of Health, Human Services, and Education (L-HHS-ED).
If the omnibus bill passes Congress, the funds mentioned in the bill will be distributed to each federal agency's House and Senate appropriations committees, which usually delegate appropriations tasks to their subcommittees. The relevant subcommittee for education program funding is the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (L-HHS-ED) Appropriations Subcommittees. Members of these subcommittees will allocate the funding received (in accordance with the omnibus bill) to specific education programs as they deem appropriate (and the funds may or may not reflect the authorized funding levels in the CEF document.) In essence, CEF's estimates for education program funding are tentative, depending on how the L-HHS-ED subcommittees actually choose to allocate education dollars.
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Elleka Watts
Government Affairs & Communications Coordinator
ASBO International
ewatts@asbointl.org
Reston, VA
Original Message:
Sent: 11-18-2015 11:29
From: Elleka Watts
Subject: ESEA/NCLB Reauthorization Update
Good morning,
The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that the House and Senate have appointed conferees for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) conference to reconcile the House and Senate ESEA reauthorization bills that were passed over the summer.
House and Senate conferees will meet this afternoon at 2:30PM EST for an open debate about the bill and will have an opportunity to offer amendments. CEF expects there will be a follow-up meeting to finish any business related to the bill on Thursday at 10AM. The first meeting can be viewed via webcast today. Details about the House conferees can be found here, however Senate conferees are still in the process of being appointed.
The final ESEA agreement must be supported by a majority of House and Senate conferees. CEF expects the conference report will be filed on November 30. Then the House will likely vote on the bill December 2. If it passes, it will go to the Senate shortly thereafter.
Details of the compromised bill are slowly being released, but not much is known at this time. CEF says the ESEA does increase total authorization levels (for education program spending) at the new (raised) budget caps for FY2016 and FY2017 (according to the recently passed Bipartisan Budget Act). Key formula grant programs like Title I grants will have increased authorizations (spending levels). However these authorizations are only for the next four years. Finally, there is no Title I portability provision in the compromised version, or any changes to the Title I formula.
Read more about the ESEA deal here.
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Elleka Watts
Government Affairs & Communications Coordinator
ASBO International
ewatts@asbointl.org
Reston, VA
Original Message:
Sent: 11-13-2015 07:45
From: Elleka Watts
Subject: ESEA/NCLB Reauthorization Update
Good morning,
The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) reports that several inside sources say that the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the House Education and the Workforce Committee leadership have reached a deal on reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and are now drafting it into legislative language.
POLITICO also confirms the news, saying: "As of last week, issues with accountability provisions in the bills were still a sticking point among lawmakers. But even then, both Republicans and Democrats said they were optimistic about the odds of getting the long-overdue bill rewritten this Congress." And, "the agreement keeps Congress on track to pass a rewrite of the law before the end of the year."
Next week, the House is expected to appoint ESEA conferees on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then there will likely be an official ESEA conference meeting the week after that (Thanksgiving week) to ratify the deal. The timeline call for the ESEA conference report to be filed on Monday, November 30 and voted on the House floor on December 2. If it passes the House, it will go to the Senate floor shortly thereafter.
Thank you.
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Elleka Watts
Government Affairs & Communications Coordinator
ASBO International
ewatts@asbointl.org
Reston, VA
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