Department of Education to Waive Key NCLB Requirements

Today Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that the Obama administration will move forward with its plan to offer states “waivers” from No Child Left Behind’s requirement that 100 percent of all public school students be labeled “proficient” in math and reading by 2014.

In exchange for the waivers, states must embrace reform measures, which are expected to shadow the Administration’s education reform priorities such as adopting college- and career-readiness standards and creating teacher and principal evaluation systems that incorporate student achievement growth. The full details of the plan won’t be released until September so we don’t yet know if improving access to high-quality early-learning opportunities could be one of the waiver package’s reform priorities. (But here are some answers to questions the Department has been getting.)

In June we wrote about Duncan’s proposal to give states relief from NCLB (the most recent iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) if Congress did not reauthorize the law before the start of the 2011-12 school year.

In a press release from the Department of Education, Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council said, “America’s future competitiveness is being decided today, in classrooms across the nation. With no clear path to a bipartisan bill in Congress, the President has directed us to move forward with an administrative process to provide flexibility within the law for states and districts that are willing to embrace reform.”

After Duncan’s initial announcement back in June, lawmakers voiced concerns about his plan and questioned his authority to attach strings to waivers. U.S. Representatives John Kline (R-MN) and Duncan Hunter (R-CA) – chairs of the Education and the Workforce Committee and the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, respectively – sent Secretary Duncan a letter demanding an explanation of his authority by July 1. Duncan responded, saying that ESEA gives him the flexibility to do so.

Kline remains concerned, noting in a written statement that waivers in exchange for reform could “undermine the committee’s efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.”

But some Democratic lawmakers, after initially raising concerns about the plan, have now offered support, including Rep. George Miller (D-CA), ranking member on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

At least three states – Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky – have already submitted waiver requests, with many more expected to do so this fall.

Check back for updates on the Department’s ESEA waiver plan. Also be sure to take a look at our special page on ESEA reauthorization.