Feds yank No Child Left Behind waiver from Washington
Apr 24, 2014, 12:48 PM | Updated: 1:25 pm
Washington state has become the first to lose its federal waiver for requirements of the No Child Left Behind education law as well as control over how about $40 million is spent to improve public school student outcomes, education officials announced Thursday. (AP Photo/Dinesh Ramde)
(AP Photo/Dinesh Ramde)
Washington is the first state to lose control of federal education dollars because of The No Child Left Behind Act.
The federal education accountability program is pulling its waiver of requirements because the state has failed to include certain student test results as part of teacher evaluation programs, according to the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Most states, including Washington, had been given a waiver from some elements of the federal education law. Washington has been operating under a conditional waiver for the past two school years.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to State Schools Superintendent Randy Dorn Thursday. Duncan wrote that he appreciated the state’s effort toward education reform, but said they hadn’t done enough to keep the flexibility waiver.
“Washington has not been able to keep all of its commitments,” Duncan wrote.
Dorn issued a statement saying he was disappointed in the decision, but not surprised. He criticized the state’s largest teacher union, the Washington Education Association, for blocking changes to teacher evaluations, proposed in the 2014 Legislature.
“The Washington Legislature stood up to Arne Duncan’s demands,” said WEA spokesman Rich Wood. “A majority of legislators, from both parties, saw that Duncan’s failed federal mandates would have done nothing to help either our students or our teachers in Washington state.”
The decision means Washington loses control of how it spends about $40 million in federal education dollars.
Under the No Child Left Behind Law, nearly every student in Washington public schools were expected to be reading and doing math at grade level by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. That goal, referred to as adequate yearly progress, will not be met by many schools.
Districts that do not make adequate yearly progress are required to set aside 20 percent of the federal dollars going to low income schools to provide tutoring or to pay to bus kids to different schools that are meeting the requirement.
The Tacoma School District, for example, has used that money, nearly $2 million, instead to add preschool to five elementary schools and hire instructional coaches to all low-income schools in the district.
Dorn said Washington has made a lot of progress, despite not meeting the goals of No Child Left Behind. He said the problem is with the federal law and inaction by Congress.
“There is widespread acknowledgement that NCLB isn’t working. Congress has failed to change the law at the federal level, so states are forced to come up with workarounds,” Dorn said.
Most states have been given a waiver from some elements of the federal education law as a stopgap until Congress acts to reauthorize the law.
“Congress is gridlocked. It hasn’t been able to reauthorize it or update it. It’s nearly 15 years old. It has unrealistic, inflexible requirements,” said Wood.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
