NSBA focuses on ESEA reauthorization, federal funding at FRN conference

I was able to join more than 800 school board members and state school board association leaders who came to Washington this week to learn about the most current issues in Congress and spend a day meeting with their representatives on Capitol Hill.  Speakers included author and historian Diane Ravitch and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

NSBA focuses on ESEA reauthorization, federal funding at FRN conference

• The Obama administration and a vastly different Congress will be making crucial decisions — most notably through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act — in coming months, and school board leaders must help educate them, NSBA leaders said at the start of the 2011 FRN conference. Read more.
• Public education has never faced such divisive and demoralizing criticism as it currently does, and conversations about closing schools are fueling the fire, author and historian Diane Ravitch says. Read more.
• In his annual assessment of the political landscape, pundit Norm Ornstein gives his predictions for acrimony, mini government shutdowns, and a revolt by the “Junior DeMints.” Read more.
• U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan promised school board members that he will do everything in his power to ensure that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is reauthorized by the next school year, and the law’s escalating and unfair sanctions will be largely replaced with supports and rewards for excellent schools. Read more.
  
• Though the development of Common Core State Standards has been a state-led, voluntary initiative, school boards need to keep a close eye on their development to ensure this doesn’t become another unfunded mandate that hurts rather than helps raise student achievement. Read more.