Behind the Headline: The ‘Intolerable’ Fight Over School Money

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The ‘Intolerable’ Fight Over School Money
NPR| 5/18/16

Behind the Headline
How ED’s Proposed Supplement Not Supplant Regulations Could Backfire on Equity
Education Next blog | 4/13/16

ednext-may16-ototn-npr-fightYesterday marked the latest skirmish in the battle over how to implement Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which sends $15 billion from the federal government to school districts to help schools serving low-income students.

During a hearing held by the Senate education committee, Senator Lamar Alexander, chair of the committee, continued his criticism of the Department of Education. Alexander is angry about rules developed by the Department of Education under Secretary John King to implement the new federal education law, rules which he sees as burdensome regulations that go beyond what the law allows.

As NPR’s Cory Turner explains

Alexander and King disagree on how to enforce the new law governing Title I. It says that to get federal money, districts have to prove a few things — among them, that they’re using state and local dollars to provide roughly the same services to kids in poor and non-poor schools alike.

Everyone agrees that Title I dollars are not supposed to gap-fill. They’re meant to be extra — the technical term is “supplemental” — for low-income kids who need them most. What the sides don’t agree on is how districts prove they’re not just filling gaps and that state and local resources are being spread fairly.

Turner explains some of the issues being debated in “The ‘Intolerable’ Fight Over School Money.”

Georgetown professor Nora Gordon, an expert on Title I who testified at yesterday’s hearing, explained some of the issues in greater depth in an EdNext blog entry, “How ED’s Proposed Supplement Not Supplant Regulations Could Backfire on Equity.”

—Education Next

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