WASHINGTON UPDATENANCY REDER

DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NASDSE

Tri-State Regional Special Education Law Conference

November 2012

WHAT THIS PRESENTATION WILL COVER

Washington Update Impact of Election?

WHAT WILL THE ELECTION MEAN FOR EDUCATION?

NASDSE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS PRIORITIES – TIER 1

IDEA implementation (including results work; fiscal issues; and development of reauthorization principles)

ESEA reauthorization (including waivers; assessments; teacher evaluations)

FY 13 appropriations Data issues (including SPP/APR concerns) Seclusion and restraint legislation Common Core Standards Technology (including virtual schools;

accessibility and online learning) Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

NASDSE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS PRIORITIES – TIER 2

Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act

Health care (Medicaid/other issues) Career and Tech Ed School choice (includes charter schools and

vouchers) Early childhood Foster care (implementation of the Fostering

Connections Act) Respite care ADA/504 issues

OVERALL ANALYSIS OF THE PAST YEAR

NothingNADA

BUBKYS

NIENTE

ZIP ZERO

NAUGHTZIL

CH

IDEA IMPLEMENTATION

SPP/APR indicators Changes announced at OSEP Leadership Conference

at the end of July Follow-up to final changes RDA work

Fiscal issues (verification visits; funding) Title 1/IDEA initiative Full funding legislation

Going absolutely nowhere Assessments (see ESEA reauthorization)

No one in Washington is talking about IDEA reauthorization

ESEA REAUTHORIZATION – GLACIER HASN’T MOVED (NORTH POLE IS MELTING FASTER!!)

ESEA REAUTHORIZATION – IN THE HOUSE

H.R. 2218 – Charter Schools bill -- passed the House

H.R. 2445 – Flexibility in Using Federal Funds H.R. 1891 – Repeals ineffective or

‘unnecessary’ education programs to focus federal programs on quality programs for disadvantaged children

H.R. 3989, the Student Success Act and H.R. 3990, the Encouraging Innovation and

Effective Teachers ActThese four passed out of Committee; not

sent to House floor

H.R. 3989 – THE STUDENT SUCCESS ACT (TITLE I)

Eliminates AYP – student achievement and turnaround around low-performing schools given to states and districtsStates establish academic standards in

reading and math and other subjects if they so choose

Annual assessments in reading and math, but not science

Maintains subgroupsStates have flexibility to develop turnaround

models Codifies 1% alternate assessment without a cap

AND IN THE SENATE….

ESEA REAUTHORIZATION IN THE SENATE Bill marked October 2011(bill number at last!! S. 3578) Committee report issued mid-October (1,285 pages!!) Issues (still the same issues!!)

Accountability – no annual measurable goals Continues subgroup disaggregation Seven turnaround models States need to set college and career-ready

standards What about the 1%/2% assessments? No AYP – substituted continuous improvement Highly effective teachers - not based on student

test scores Focus on lowest performing 5% of schools

CRITICAL ISSUES

Highly effective teachers vs. highly qualified teachers

Alternate assessments/modified assessments (1%/2%)

Accountability approaches Use of PBIS/RtI/multi-tiered interventions/UDL Transferability of funds Graduation rate calculations What to replace AYP with? Title I/IDEA working group recommendations

– paper available at www.nasdse.org

LET’S TALK ABOUT HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS What does the current law say? ED’s position permeates all policies

Race to the Top Waivers Regulations

How did the CR change the definition of HQT? Those in alt cert programs are considered highly

qualified; CR asked for data collection on this What will a new ESEA bill do?

Both Senate and House bills weaken HQT provisions/Kline bill eliminates it and sends it back to the state

How to reconcile with language in IDEA? No one seems to be thinking about this

HQT Coalition

RACE TO THE TOP

Applications for District Race to the Top funds were due beginning of November

Nearly 900 districts applying

NCLB FLEXIBILITY

35 states have been granted waivers (ID approved on 10/18)

States not applying for waivers: MT, NE, PA, TX, VT (withdrew), WY

IL, IO haven’t heard and CA wants a do-it-yourself model; 7 states recently applied

Documents posted at http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility

Waiver is good for two years – could be an extension

Question: how will states move from waivers to new ESEA?

What will happen to waivers in a Romney Administration?

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

THEY START ALL OVER AGAIN

New bills, new bill numbers

FY 13 BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS/ SEQUESTRATION

BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS – HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO WORK

President submits budget to Congress House passes budget resolution Senate passes budget resolution House and Senate pass 12 appropriations

bills Conference committees iron out differences House and Senate vote on conference

reports President signs into law

WHAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR?

President submitted his budget pretty close to being on time – dead on arrival

House passed a budget resolution (Ryan budget) cutting as much as 20% from nondefense discretionary spending

House passed 6 appropriations bills (Labor/HHS/Education didn’t get committee vote)

Senate did not pass any Continuing Resolution passed through

3/27/13 – level funds everything

NOW TO THE DICEY STUFF….. THE BUDGET CONTROL ACT

BUDGET CONTROL ACT

The goal of the BCA is to reduce the deficit by $2.3 T over 10 years throughCaps on discretionary spending ($841 B)Sequestration if Congress approves budgets

higher than specified amounts automatic cuts will happen

‘Super Committee’ failed to come up with a deficit reduction plan (it had more latitude, e.g., raising taxes, cutting entitlements)

Failure of Super Committee triggers $1.2 T in sequestration cuts (but Medicaid is protected)

More info: www.cbpp.org or www.ombwatch.org

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS SEQUESTRATION?

WHAT HAPPENS UNDER SEQUESTRATION?

$1.2 T includes cuts in spending and savings on national debt. Interest savings estimated at 18% of total; leaves deficit reduction target of $984 B

Divide $984 B by number of years (2013-2021) = $109 B/year

Divide $109 B evenly between defense and nondefense spending – about $54.5 B for each

Remove exempt programs from calculation Mandatory spending exempt or limited – Medicare

limited to 2% There are a few specific cuts to nondefense

discretionary spending (e.g. from the ACA)

MORE ON SEQUESTRATION

In FY 13, apply the remaining dollar number in equal percentage cuts across the board (approx. 8.2%)

For FY 2014-2021, lower the discretionary spending caps by the sequester amount (allows cuts to be made program by program)

If caps broken, automatic across-the-board cuts are triggered

FY 2013 sequestration goes into effect January 2, 2013

For programs like Title I and IDEA, cuts don’t happen until summer of 2013 because of forward funding of FY 13 funds. (Impact Aid cuts are immediate)

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF SEQUESTRATION ON IDEA (FIRST YEAR IMPACT OF BCA)

Would cut IDEA Part B $895.6M for FY 13 Would cut 619 $29.1 M Would cut Part C $34.2 M Would cut other special ed programs by $19.4 M

WHAT PROGRAMS ARE EXEMPT?

Short list (not exhaustive)Children’s Health Insurance Program

(CHIP)Some Pell grantsMedicaidSNAP (food stamps)Supplemental Security Income ProgramTANF

GOOD RESOURCES ON SEQUESTRATION

AASA survey on sequestration: http://www.aasa.org/uploadedFiles/Policy_and_Advocacy/files/AASA%20Sequestration%20July%202012.pdf

NEA fact sheet: http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/Disastrous_Impact_of_Sequestration_on_Education.pdf

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: www.cbpp.org

Report from Senator Harkin (www.senate.gov)

ARE EDUCATION PROGRAMS ‘WELFARE PROGRAMS?’

Sen. Sessions said on 10/17 that a number of education programs are ‘welfare programs’

Note: Rep. Ryan’s budget that passed the House cuts education programs by 20%

SO WHAT’S THE FISCAL CLIFF?

LAME DUCK CONGRESS

WHAT CONGRESS NEEDS TO DO IN THE LAME DUCK SESSION

Avoid the fiscal cliff TANF needs to be reauthorized Postal Service running out of money for

pensions And more…

DATA ISSUES

New changes to the indicators announced at OSEP Leadership Conference But changes already have to be made!

New data collection under CR regarding HQT

SECLUSION AND RESTRAINT LEGISLATION

Rep. Miller introduced H.R. 1381 in April 2011 – has 56 co-sponsors

Sen. Harkin introduced S.2020, Keeping All Students Safe Act in December 2011 – no cosponsors

NASDSE has supported Miller bill – more concerns with Harkin bill

Biggest issues with this legislation Prohibition on inclusion in IEP – Senate bill would

also prohibit usage in behavior plans Cost of training Timing for contacting parent and holding meeting

Where do we go from here??

COMMON CORE STANDARDS (IMPLEMENTATION AND ASSESSMENTS)

The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) ED Task Force Coalition has been looking at computer adaptive assessments and developed statement, which NASDSE supports

Great resources: IDEA Partnership http://

www.ideapartnership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1522g

NICHCY http://nichcy.org/schools-administrators/commoncore#overview

TECHNOLOGY (VIRTUAL SCHOOLS, ACCESSIBILITY AND ONLINE LEARNING

Draft legislation has been prepared by the Alliance for Excellent Education

NASDSE’s Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities

NASDSE’s work with the Gates Foundation

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING (UDL)

NASDSE participates in UDL Task Force and works closely with CAST

Best resource is CAST’s National Center for Universal Design for Learning: www.udlcenter.org/

WHAT MOVES SLOWER THAN ESEA REAUTHORIZATION?

REAUTHORIZATION OF WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT The biggest issue seems to be what to do about

sheltered workshops?

Poses problem for IDEA reauthorization because it has to come first

HEALTH CARE (INCLUDING MEDICAID)

Waiting for publication of final Part B Medicaid rule

Work with the NAME Coalition – key outside groups are NASDSE, AASA and CASE

The Affordable Care Act but note that it will help individuals with disabilities in numerous ways (e.g., prohibits denying insurance for pre-existing conditions)

What is the potential impact of block-granting Medicaid on students with disabilities?

CAREER AND TECH ED Nothing new to report at this time

SCHOOL CHOICE (CHARTER SCHOOLS AND VOUCHERS)

Release last June of GAO report on charter schools and students with disabilities

Charter School ‘Summit’ at the Dept of Ed three weeks ago

Critical issues Enrollment of students with disabilities in charter

schools Capacity of charter schools to serve students

with disabilities Training for charter school authorizers and

operators Vouchers more active at state level

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Early Learning Challenge Fund: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/index.html

FOSTER CARE

Implementation of the Fostering Connections Act NASDSE participates in foster care education

coalition Critical issue: who makes decisions about

school placements for students in foster care – the IEP team of the child welfare worker who has responsibility under the Fostering Connections Act to keep child in home school or as close to home school as possible

NASDSE has asked for joint OSEP/HHS meeting

RESPITE CARE

Important issue those of us in education frequently overlook

Respite care grants to states

ADA/504 ISSUES

Concern remains regarding interpretation by OCR as to how 504 is applied in schools – OCR sees little, if any, differences between IDEA and 504

NASDSE working with OCR to set up regional conference calls between OCR regional offices and state directors of special education

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

WHERE TO GO FOR MORE INFORMATION

Alliance for Excellent Education: www.all4ed.org

Center on Education Policy: www.cep-dc.org Common core standards:

www.corestandards.org Center for American Progress:

www.americanprogress.org