Administration Calls for Increase
in School Spending, NCLB Changes

The National School Boards Association is supporting the provision in the fiscal 2011 federal education budget that would increase discretionary funding by 7.5 percent, or $3.5 billion.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke about the budget proposal Feb. 1 during an address to school board members at the NSBA’s Federal Relations Network, a grassroots advocacy program where school board members throughout the nation meet with legislators in Washington, D.C.

Duncan also said the administration seeks to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, formerly known as No Child Left Behind, by replacing NCLB’s system of rating schools on student test scores.

“I’ll always give credit to NCLB for exposing the achievement gap and advancing standards-based reform,” Duncan said at the NSBA conference. “But you all know its problems. It has allowed, even encouraged, states to lower their standards. It’s encouraged teachers to narrow the curriculum. It relies on simplistic tests that don’t accurately measure whether students are learning. It mislabels schools – even when they’re showing progress on important measures.”

Specifically, Duncan said the Department of Education wants to focus on progress in student growth, closing achievement gaps, raising high school graduation rates, and using includes $173 billion in loans, grants and tax credits to increase the number of students attending college.

The budget includes $49.7 billion for the Department of Education’s discretionary programs. Most of the $3.5 billion increase from 2010 would be for competitive grants.

Anne L. Bryant, NSBA executive director, said the proposals are a good start “given the stark economic realities our nation’s schools are facing.” She added, “At the same time, out of concern for the needs of all school districts, we would like to see IDEA and Title I receive increases. It does concern us that the administration is placing such a large focus on competitive grants, which are the core of the additional funding sought by the president.”

Copyright © 2010 New Jersey School Boards Association. All rights reserved.