COMMENTARY: Our Children’s Education is on the Ballot this Year

COMMENTARY: Our Children’s Education is on the Ballot this Year

Submitted to the AFRO by Elijah E. Cummings

More than half a century ago, my parents and a wonderful teacher named Mr. Hollis Posey followed their hearts and championed my right to learn.  As a result, I received the empowering education in our City’s public schools that would transform my life.

Although I am grateful that I received the “thorough and efficient public education” that is guaranteed to every child by Article VIII of Maryland’s constitution, I am deeply troubled that all of Maryland’s children are not receiving this most basic foundation for successful, productive lives.

A widely acknowledged study in 2016 found that Maryland’s public schools are under-funded by $2.9 billion each year.

In response, the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education [typically referred to as the Kirwan Commission] has determined that significantly more funding will be required to give every Maryland child a reasonable chance in life, especially children living in those communities with the deepest concentrations of poor families.

Both our values and our long-term self-interest demand that we speak truth to power about correcting this failure.

Far too many of Maryland’s children are being relegated to a future devoid of competence or hope.  This is an unacceptable failing – and it’s up to us, as voters, to assure that those we elect in November are committed to providing our children’s public schools with the funding that they need and deserve.

Although public education is primarily a state and local (rather than a federal) responsibility, the President and Congress have an important role in funding the public education of economically disadvantaged students (Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) and students with disabilities (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).

Currently, annual federal education funding for Title I and IDEA is significant (just under $16 billion and $12 billion, respectively).  However, these appropriations have not kept up with the rising cost of educating our students, nor with the legitimate needs of states like Maryland for a more robust and realistic federal partnership.

The President and his Republican congressional allies have failed to adequately address this challenge.  Democrats in Congress have had to fight just to avoid significant cuts in federal education funding.

As a result, our nation’s schools are no longer the envy of the world, a reality that threatens our long-term national security.

Maryland’s Democratic delegation to Washington understands that we must significantly expand federal education funding – but only by electing a Democratic majority to the next Congress can we make this commitment a reality.

Despite Governor Hogan’s assertions that Maryland is devoting more support to public education than ever before, the Kirwan Commission has acknowledged that far too many of our school children are being short-changed, especially in jurisdictions like Baltimore City.

On Election Day this year, we will decide whether Republican Larry Hogan or his Democratic challenger, Ben Jealous, will make the education of our children his top priority and fulfill our constitutional duty.

As a Maryland voter, I am a strong supporter of Ben Jealous’ candidacy to become our next Governor.  Maryland’s teachers, through their Education Association’s endorsement, are supporting him as well.

As a Past President of our national NAACP, Ben Jealous is painfully aware (as am I) that the percentage of Maryland public school students living in poverty has more than doubled since 1990 (from 22 percent to 45 percent).  We understand that properly educating all of our students, as well as meeting the rising cost of special education, will require a substantial and sustained infusion of additional state funding.

Drawing upon the Kirwan Commission’s upcoming final report and recommendations, our next Governor and State Legislature will have the duty to revise Maryland’s school funding formula for the first time in nearly two decades.  The Commission is expected to recommend increasing the base, per-pupil state funding from $6,860 to $10,880 for each school child.

These challenges, I believe, are why Mr. Jealous has publicly committed (1) to fully implement the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations during the upcoming 2019 legislative session; (2) to raise our teachers’ salaries by 29 percent; (3) to implement full-day, universal Pre-K; (4) and to more effectively target state education funding to those school districts with the largest concentrations of poverty.

On Election Day, our voters can also approve an amendment to Maryland’s constitution that will guarantee that public education’s share of the state’s casino revenues is fully committed to funding public education (Question 1).  This guarantee will provide an additional $500 million in annual state funding for our schools, an important first step toward closing the current $2.9 billion funding gap.

Both Ben Jealous and Larry Hogan have declared that they support Question 1.   However, Governor Hogan has yet to adequately explain why he diverted $1.4 billion of our State’s casino money from public education (as voters were originally promised it would be invested) to other purposes.

When I visit our children’s classrooms, I look into our students’ eager faces and know that we must act with a sense of urgency to adequately invest in their future.  On Election Day, God willing, Maryland’s voters will commit our State to a better future for us all, one filled with confidence, competence and hope.

Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.

This post originally appeared in the AFRO. The opinions on this page are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the AFRO.

Send letters to The Afro-American • 1531 S. Edgewood St. Baltimore, MD 21227

COMMENTARY: Four Ways Schools Fail Special Education Students – Education Week

COMMENTARY: Four Ways Schools Fail Special Education Students – Education Week

Education Week logoBy Mark Alter, Marc Gottlieb, and Jay Gottlieb

Last spring’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District reaffirmed the importance of providing, in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, an “appropriately ambitious” education for the nation’s 6.7 million children with disabilities. The court ruled that in order for school districts to meet their obligations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, they must offer students with disabilities an individualized education plan that enables them to make progress and be adequately challenged to meet their full potential.

The court described this standard in its ruling as a “fact intensive exercise.” From our vantage, that fact-intensive exercise must include processes to ensure that schools actually provide the mandates that appear in each student’s IEP.

In recent years, there have been substantial structural improvements to existing special education practices. Schools now typically place greater emphasis on educating students with disabilities in general education classes and have adopted stringent guidelines to ensure that students with disabilities have access to the general education curriculum.

Despite these improvements, the U.S. Department of Education determined in July that fewer than half of the states are meeting their obligations under IDEA. Most of those states failing to follow educational guidelines have done so for at least two years…

Read the full article here: May require an Education Week subscription.

NATIONAL: Trump’s Budget Slashes Education Funding, Declared “Dead on Arrival” by Republicans and Democrats Alike

NATIONAL: Trump’s Budget Slashes Education Funding, Declared “Dead on Arrival” by Republicans and Democrats Alike

President Trump released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget on May 23 and immediately received bipartisan criticism from members of Congress concerned with deep cuts to education, health-care programs for low-income adults and children, and a variety of other federal programs.

“I can understand why President Trump wanted to be overseas when he released a budget slashing education at home,” said Alliance for Excellent Education President Bob Wise. “Still, I bet he could hear the outcry emanating from U.S. schools all the way in Rome. Thankfully, members of Congress are already signaling that Trump’s proposal will be parked—permanently—on the tarmac when he returns.”

Trump’s budget would cut discretionary funding for the U.S. Department of Education, excluding Pell Grants, by $5.3 billion or 11.6 percent compared to the 2017 funding levels recently approved by Congress. Funding cuts and program eliminations were plentiful and targeted everything from large programs such as Title I, which was cut by $578 million, and special education, which was cut by $114 million, to smaller programs focused on literacy and afterschool academic opportunities.

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said the budget “reflects a series of tough choices” and “ensures funding for programs with proven results for students while taking a hard look at programs that sound nice but simply haven’t yielded the desired outcomes.”

Labeling a program as ineffective has been a popular justification to cut funding, even in instances where research says otherwise. In a March 16 press briefing, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Twenty-First-Century Community Learning Centers, or afterschool programs, had “no demonstrable evidence of actually helping kids do better in school.” This is despite a U.S. Department of Education report finding that these programs “[touch] students’ lives in ways that will have far-reaching academic impact” and make students “more likely to persist to graduation.”

Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant said Trump’s proposal is “painfully short-sighted and makes a mockery of the president’s promise to make our country safer and to support inner cities and rural communities alike.”

Trump also proposes that funding be eliminated for the brand-new Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) grant program created with bipartisan support under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The program supports a well-rounded education for students; a safe and healthy school climate; and the effective use of schoolwide technology.

“Republicans and Democrats consolidated and eliminated several different programs to create SSAE and give flexibility to school leaders,” said Wise. “Now the president’s budget removes the funding—and flexibility—designed to improve education. Instead of eliminating funding for the program, President Trump should take the advice of two key ESSA architects, former House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline and U.S. Representative Bobby Scott who have urged that the program receive the full $1.65 billion for which it is eligible under ESSA.”

Even programs recently praised by DeVos and Trump did not avoid the budget cleaver. In an April 18 speech in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Trump said that vocational schools are “going to be a big factor” in the his administration. However, his budget proposes to cut career and technical education grants to states by $168 million, or 15 percent.

Proponents for charter schools were among the very few winners in Trump’s budget as it includes an increase of $158 million, or 46 percent, to start new charter schools or expand and replicate existing high-performing charter schools. Still, charter school advocates disagree with Trump’s approach.

“The National Alliance supports the administration’s investment in opening, expanding, and replicating high-quality charter public schools,” said National Alliance for Public Charter Schools President and Chief Executive Officer Nina Rees. “However, we are concerned that the proposed budget doesn’t maintain final FY 2017 funding levels for IDEA and reduces Title I Part A formula funds. Both IDEA and Title I are foundational programs for some of our most vulnerable students.”

In addition to expanded funding for charter schools, Trump proposes $1 billion for a new program that would provide supplemental awards to school districts that allow federal, state, and local funds to follow students to a public school of their choice. These Furthering Options for Children to Unlock Success, or FOCUS, grants would help school districts establish or expand “student-centered systems that (1) differentiate funding based on student characteristics, providing disadvantaged students more funding on a per-pupil basis than other students; (2) offer a range of viable school options and enable the federal, state, and local funds to follow students to the public school of their choice; (3) make school performance and funding data easily accessible to parents; and (4) empower school leaders to use funds flexibly to address student and community needs,” according to the U.S. Department of Education’s budget summary.

“Under the guise of empowering parents with school choice, the Trump administration has proposed a federal budget that would hurt the very communities that have the most to gain from high-quality public school options,” said Eli Broad, founder of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. “The budget would undermine the purpose of Title I by encouraging states to redirect resources away from the highest-need schools and students. It would slash other education and social support programs that serve students and families in need. Arts education and science instruction, a safe place to go after the last school bell rings, an affordable home, and financial support to make it through college—these are all essential to a student’s success. Public school choice cannot come at the expense of all public school families and students.”

Members of Congress from both parties quickly panned Trump’s budget. U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), the second-highest ranking Republican in the Senate, and John McCain (R-AZ) called it “dead on arrival.” U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA), top Democrat on the House education committee, said Trump’s budget “undermines public education.”

Current and proposed funding levels for programs under the U.S. Department of Education are available at https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/18pbapt.pdf.

Source: Jason Amos is vice president of communications at the Alliance for Excellent Education.

OPINION: Destroying public education

OPINION: Destroying public education

End of public schools and school breakfast and lunch.

The school voucher system proposed by Education secretary Betsy DeVos does not mean you can choose any school you want your kid to go to. It means the public education program will be dismantled.

If your child has an IEP (individual education plan for students with special needs), kiss it goodbye.

If you have a job in special-education, if you’re a special education teacher, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, a para, a teacher’s aid, or an ESL (English as a second language) teacher, you’ll go first.

House Bill 610 makes some large changes. Inform yourselves. This bill will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5-17 and starts the defunding process of public schools. The bill will eliminate the Elementary and Education Act of 1965, which is the nation’s educational law that provides equal opportunity in education. ESSA is a big comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, advanced and gifted kids in AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance, and Federal Accountability Programs.

The Bill also abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch.

The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting Special Needs kids, no mention of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). Some things ESSA does for Children with Disabilities:

  • Ensures access to the general education curriculum.
  • Ensures access to accommodations on assessments.
  • Ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning.
  • Includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based interventions in schools with consistently underperforming subgroups.
  • Requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion).

Please call your representative and ask him/her to vote NO on House Bill 610 (HR 610) introduced by three Republican reps.

Democrats Press Betsy DeVos on Privatization, ESSA, and LGBT Rights

Democrats Press Betsy DeVos on Privatization, ESSA, and LGBT Rights

By Alyson Klein and Andrew Ujifusa

WASHINGTON — Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Education, sought to use her confirmation hearing to beat back the notion that she would undermine public education as head of the department, as Democrats pressed her on everything from her views on the civil rights of gay and lesbian students, to states’ responsibilities for students in special education, and guns in schools.

“If confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for great public schools,” DeVos said. “But, if a school is troubled, or unsafe, or not a good fit for a child—perhaps they have a special need that is going unmet—we should support a parent’s right to enroll their child in a high-quality alternative.” She also noted that her mother, Elsa Prince, was a public school teacher.

But those assurances didn’t seem to quell the anxieties of Democrats on the committee, including Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking member. “I have major concerns with how you have spent your career and fortune fighting to privatize public education and gut investments in public schools,” she said.

In the early stages of a tense hearing that lasted three and a half hours, Murray asked DeVos if she would be willing to commit not to “cut a penny from public education” or use her perch at the department to privatize public schools. DeVos said she would seek to give parents and children the best educational options possible, which Murray essentially took as a no.

DeVos didn’t delve into the specifics on many of the big questions on the table, like whether she would rein in the department’s office of civil rights, or how she would handle key details of the federal student lending program. And at times she seemed unclear on key policy details, including during a pair of exchanges with Democratic senators on whether federal special education laws should apply to all schools. (More here.)…

Read the full story here. May require an Education Week subscription.

 

Jeff Sessions Critical of Federal Guidance’s Power, Highlights Special Ed. Work

Jeff Sessions Critical of Federal Guidance’s Power, Highlights Special Ed. Work
Cross-posted from the School Law blog

By Mark Walsh

Sen. Jeff Sessions expressed skepticism during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. attorney general on Tuesday about executive branch guidance that has not gone through the full notice-and-comment rulemaking process and said he would be “dubious” about asking courts to defer to such guidance.

The Alabama Republican, who is President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Justice, was asked about such guidance by Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, who did not specifically cite the controversy over the Obama administration’s informal guidance on respecting the restroom choices of transgender individuals, but Lee appeared to have had that issue in mind…

Read the full article here. May require an Education Week subscription.