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Republicans on Capitol Hill and conservative education policymakers are accusing the Obama administration of breaking its promises on education reform, saying recently released federal guidelines for how states and school districts should implement the bipartisan law are overreaching and encroach on local authority.
“The administration has decided that rather than try to find a middle ground or to work in a spirit of cooperation that they are going to push their own policy preferences to the max,” says Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education think tank. “Many administrations have done the same, but to do this on the heels of a bipartisan compromise, it’s left a bitter taste in a lot of people’s mouths.”
The White House was quick to push back on that assessment.
“This bill is a result of consensus that this law needed to be reformed and refined,” said Cecilia Munoz, assistant to the president and director of the Domestic Policy Council, to a group of reporters Thursday. “We needed to get away from the one-size-fits-all approach, and I’m quite confident that that coalition is not going to break up.”
She continued: “The details matter a lot, but the consensus around what we needed to accomplish, what we in fact accomplished by passing the law and what we believe we are accomplishing with these regulations is quite strong.”
The Education Department released on Thursday a series of proposed regulations to the new education law aimed at providing more specificity for how states and school districts should design their accountability systems. The proposals were met with criticism from GOP lawmakers, who were quick to warn that they were not in line with the foundation of the law – namely to provide more flexibility to states and school districts.
“I am disappointed that the draft regulation seems to include provisions that the Congress considered – and expressly rejected,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a key architect of the law. “If the final regulation does not implement the law the way Congress wrote it, I will introduce a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn it.”
While Alexander’s staff is still going through the 192-page package of regulations, one of the major proposals conservative policymakers have complained about is a tightening of the indicators states and districts are allowed to use – in addition to test scores – to show student success and school quality.
Rep. John Kline, chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, agreed with Alexander, saying in a statement that he’s “deeply concerned the department is trying to take us back to the days when Washington dictated national education policy.”
“If this proposal results in a rule that does not reflect the letter and intent of the law,” then Minnesota Republican said, “then we will use every available tool to ensure this bipartisan law is implemented as Congress intended.”
To be sure, these regulations aren’t even the most controversial of the bunch that have been driving the renewed partisan debate. Those are expected in the coming weeks.
Secretary of Education John King has been quick to note that the draft regulations, including those that are still to come, are within the administration’s authority and are aligned with the goals of the new law.
“We have been very careful that the regulations are consistent with the law and reflect the law’s commitment to balance flexibility with civil rights guardrails,” he told reporters Thursday. “We’ve had a diverse set of input that has gotten us to this point, and we will continue to gather that input.”
His intentions have the backing of congressional Democrats, including most recently Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who brokered the education legislation with Alexander and who is now urging King to use that authority.
“Nothing in ESSA removes the department's broad legal authority to promulgate rules that set parameters for state and local decision-making,” she wrote earlier this week in a letter to King, along with Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va. “We urge you to use that existing regulatory authority.”
King underscored that in drafting the regulations, department officials are trying to thread the smallest of needles to strike the right balance between flexibility for states and school districts and protections for the most disadvantaged students – the exact challenge members of Congress encountered in crafting the legislation.
“As folks look at the draft in total, they will see that we tried to strike a balance of protecting flexibility for states and districts, which was a priority for everyone, but also protecting the civil rights guardrails,” King said.
Indeed, Republicans and conservative education groups aren’t the only groups concerned with the regulations. Even civil rights groups voiced skepticism Thursday over how states and school districts are allowed to define consistently underperforming students, among other things.
It’s unclear how the entire process will shake out. The public has 60 days to comment on the proposed regulations before they are finalized. King and Munoz said that those comments will be taken seriously but underscored that the administration also intends to preserve the civil rights aspects of the education law – and that means, among other things, ensuring resources get to students with the greatest needs.
“Right now it doesn’t feel like they have any interest in meeting the Republicans half way,” says Petrilli. “They are in the 'rhymes with bucket’ phase of the administration.”
If you have a child with a disability and have questions about special education law, please contact Joseph C. Maya, Esq., at 203-221-3100, or at JMaya@mayalaw.com, to schedule a free consultation.
Source: Lauren Camera, New Education Law: Bipartisan No More (May 27, 2016), U.S. News & World Report available at http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-05-27/new-education-law-bipartisan-no-more
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