• House Appropriations Subcommittee Marks up Labor-HHS-ED bill.
• Congressman Miller and Senator Kennedy Introduce Legislation to Increase Funding for NCLB
• ED Issues New Regulations for Schoolwide Programs and Other Activities
• U.S. Conference of Mayors Passes Education Resolutions

House Appropriations Subcommittee Marks up Labor-HHS-ED bill.

On Thursday, July 8, 2004, the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education marked up the fiscal year 2005 bill that provides funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Below are some of the highlights of the legislation.

The bill provides $11.1 billion in funds for IDEA part B. This is a $1 billion increase over fiscal year 2004, and the most money that this program has ever received. This amount is also consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. While CEC is grateful to the appropriations subcommittee for providing an additional $1 billion over last year's funding, we are still concerned that this amount falls far short of the full-funding mark established when special education legislation was first enacted 29 years ago. In 1975, Congress promised to pay 40 percent of the additional cost of educating students with disabilities. This amount is referred to as full funding. However, for FY 2004 that amount is only 18.6 percent, and $11.1 billion for FY 2005 is 19.7 percent, not quite half of what Congress promised. CEC advocates reaching full funding over 8 years, or by 2012. To achieve this, CEC recommended funding IDEA Part B at $12.37 billion for FY 2005. CEC has always advocated for, and will continue to advocate for, mandatory full funding of IDEA Part B.

The Subcommittee funded the following IDEA Programs as follows:

IDEA Section 619 (Preschool Grants) was funded at $387,699,000. This is consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. CEC recommended $652,000,000 for FY 2005.

IDEA Part C (Early Intervention for Infants and Toddlers) was increased to $466,581, up from FY 2004's $444,363,000. This is consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. CEC recommended $590,000,000 for FY 2005.

IDEA Part D Programs:

State Improvement Grants were funded at $51,061,000. This is consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. CEC recommended $153,135,000 for FY 2005.

Technical Assistance and Dissemination was funded at $52,819,000, which is $10,000 below FY 2004's level of $52,820,000. This is consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. CEC recommended $158,240,00 for FY 2005.

Personnel Preparation was funded at $91,537,000. This is consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. CEC recommended $275,643,000.

Parent Information Centers were funded at $26,173,000. This is consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. CEC recommended $81,672,000 for FY 2005.

Technology and Media Services were funded at $32,305,000, down $6,824,000 from FY 2004. This is consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. CEC recommended $117,403 for FY 2005.

Research and Innovation was funded at $78,125,000. This is consistent with the President's FY 2005 request. CEC recommended $234,807,000 for FY 2005.

The Javits Gifted and Talented program was funded at $11.1 million. The President had sought to eliminate the program.

Here are additional education highlights of the bill that was marked up on Thursday as provided by the Appropriations Committee:

Overall, the bill provides a $2 billion increase for the Department of Education, bringing it to a total of $57.7 billion.

Title I - Program is funded at $13.4 billion, the same as the budget request and $1 billion above last year, to provide aid to states and school districts to help educationally disadvantaged children achieve the same high state academic performance standards as all other students.

Reading First - Fully funds this program at $1.1 billion, which will enable states to eliminate the reading deficit through scientific research-based reading programs.

Improving Teacher Quality - The bills provides $2.95 billion, $20 million above the budget request and last year's level, for professional development programs to provide states and school districts with tools to improve teacher quality. The bill also provides $49.4 million for Transition to Teaching to assist eligible members of the armed forces and mid career professionals to obtain certification as teachers. Math and Science Partnerships are funded at $269 million, an increase of $120 million over last year to increase the number of teachers trained in the fields of math and science.

State Assessments - The bill includes $410 million, $20 million over fiscal year 2004, to cover the cost of developing annual state assessments of students' reading and math skills. States will be responsible for selecting and designing their own assessments.

Maximum Pell Grant awards are maintained at $4050 and the program is increased by $823 million over last year.

Impact Aid is funded at $1.25 billion, $21 million over last year's level and the budget request.

After School Centers are funded at $1 billion, the same as the budget request and last year's level.

Charter Schools - The bill includes $220 million for start-up and planning grants for charter schools and $50 million to increase charter schools' access to capital markets.

TRIO and GEAR UP programs to help minority and disadvantaged students prepare for and succeed in college are increased by $10 million and $20 million over the budget request, bringing total funding to $842 million and $318 million, respectively.

Head Start is increased $123 million over last year's level, bringing total FY05 funding to $6.9 billion. This funding level will allow Head Start and to maintain current service levels while ensuring that quality improvements and training elements are fully implemented.

The bill must now go on to the full House Appropriations Committee.

The complete funding charts in the bill are available at http://appropriations.house.gov/_files/2005LHHSTable_Sub.pdf

Congressman Miller and Senator Kennedy Introduce Legislation to Increase Funding for NCLB

On July 8, 2004, Congressman George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, introduced the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Appropriation Support Act, H.R. 4769, which would provide $237 million in additional funds for school districts that are scheduled to receive less funding for the Title I program this year than they did last year. Senator Kennedy (D-MA) introduced similar legislation in the Senate, S. 2617.

Several factors have created a situation where over half of the nation's school districts will receive less Title I funding than they did last year unless additional federal education funds are appropriated by Congress. The relatively small increase in overall Title I funding, and the use of newly issued year 2000 census data from the Department of Education, contributed to the funding decrease in these districts.

The Title I program provides funding to school districts to improve the reading and math skills of disadvantaged children. The program received the smallest funding increase in fiscal year 2004 of any year since the enactment of NCLB.

Miller's bill would provide $237 million in a supplemental appropriation for 2004 for the Title I program. If appropriated, this amount of funding would be sufficient to ensure that all school districts receive at least level funding from 2003 to 2004. The bill would not redirect Title I funds targeted to disadvantaged school districts provided in the 2004 appropriations bill.

It is like likely that this, or another piece of legislation designed to make up the shortfall of Title I funds, will be included in some sort of education or omnibus appropriations bill in the House. It is not clear now how the funds will be dealt with in the Senate.

CEC is pleased that legislation has been introduced to make up for the shortfall in federal school funding brought about by lower funding levels and the incorporation of numbers from the 2000 census. We urge Congress to move forward with funding the shortfall in federal education funds.

ED Issues New Notice on School Wide Programs

On July 2, 2004, the Department of Education (ED) issued a notice in the Federal Register to authorize and exempt schoolwide programs under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). ED will consolidate funds from federal education programs that ED administers and exempts the school from complying with many statutory or regulatory provisions of those programs, if the intent and purposes of the programs are met in the schoolwide program. The July 2 notice identifies which federal education program funds and services may be incorporated in a schoolwide program and provides guidance on satisfying the intent and purposes of the programs incorporated.

A schoolwide program is a program designed to improve the academic achievement of all students in the school, particularly the lowest-achieving students. Schoolwide programs grew out of research about what makes schools work for disadvantaged students. According to ED, repeated findings show that staff in highly successful high poverty schools develop and carry out comprehensive schoolwide reform strategies, establish safe environments that are conducive to learning, and support enriched instruction in an expanded core of subjects for all students. Over the years, researchers have documented that when the entire school is the target of change, schools serving even the most academically challenged students can achieve success.

There are three core required elements of a schoolwide program. First, a school operating as a schoolwide program must conduct a comprehensive needs assessment of the entire school to determine the performance of its students in relation to the State's challenging academic content and achievement standards. Second, using data from its needs assessment, the school must then develop a comprehensive plan to improve teaching and learning in the school, particularly for those students farthest away from demonstrating proficiency on the State's academic content and achievement standards.

Finally, any school operating a schoolwide program must annually evaluate the implementation of, and the results achieved by, the schoolwide program and revise the plan as necessary based on the results of the evaluation to ensure continuous improvement of students in the school.

A school operating a schoolwide program is not required to identify particular students as eligible to participate in the schoolwide program, or demonstrate that the services provided with Title I, Part A funds are supplemental to services that would otherwise be provided. To provide schoolwide program schools maximum discretion in using resources from federal education programs to their best advantage, ED encourages local educational agencies (LEAs) to provide Federal funds directly to those schools to the extent possible, rather than only providing personnel, materials, or equipment. All consolidated funds and services must support the school's schoolwide plan. A school operating a schoolwide program must identify in its schoolwide plan the programs that have been consolidated and address how it intends to meet the intent and purposes of those programs.

A schoolwide program school may consolidate funds under the following programs in only the following three areas: Migrant Education, Indian Education, and Special Education. For special education, Under IDEA, a school that operates as a schoolwide program may consolidate funds received under Part B of IDEA. However, the amount of funds consolidated must meet a formula to be consolidated. The funds may not exceed the amount received by the LEA under Part B of IDEA for that fiscal year, divided by the number of children with disabilities in the jurisdiction of the LEA, and multiplied by the number of children with disabilities participating in the schoolwide program. A school may also consolidate funds it receives for students with disabilities under section 8003(d) of the ESEA. A school that consolidates funds under Part B of IDEA or section 8003(d) of the ESEA may use those funds in its schoolwide program for any activities under its schoolwide program plan, but it must comply with all other requirements of Part B of IDEA, to the same extent it would if it did not consolidate its funds in a schoolwide program.

According to ED, under IDEA, an LEA can use a portion of the funds received under Part B of IDEA for any fiscal year to carry out a schoolwide program under the ESEA, so long as students with disabilities included in the schoolwide programs receive special education and related services in accordance with their Individualized Education Programs (IEP), and are afforded all of the rights and services guaranteed to children with disabilities under IDEA. One example of a schoolwide activity that meets the intent and purposes of IDEA is high-quality professional development required for all staff and designed to result in improved learning outcomes for all children, including children with disabilities.

Under the notice issued by ED, there are several requirements that a schoolwide program must comply with. These are: health and safety, civil rights; participation and involvement of parents and students; private school children, teachers, and other educational personnel; maintenance of effort; comparability of services; and use of federal funds to supplement, not supplant non-federal funds.

In general, according to ED, a schoolwide program school may consolidate funds it receives from discretionary (competitive) grants as well as from formula grants, except for Reading First as indicated earlier in this notice. Although not required, it is preferable that the applicant LEA or school indicate in its application for discretionary funds that some or all of the funds would be used to support a schoolwide program and describe its activities accordingly.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jacquelyn C. Jackson, Ed.D, Acting Director, Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3W202, FB-6, Washington, DC 20202-6132. Telephone (202) 260-0826.

To access this notice in its entirety, please go to the following web site:

http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2004-3/070204a.html.

ED Grant Application Announcements

The Department of Education also issued the following grant announcements in the Federal Register:

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Overview Information; Research and Innovation To Improve Services and Results for Children With Disabilities--Center on Standards and Assessment Development; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004, CFDA Number 84.324U [OSERS]

Institute of Education Sciences; Notice Inviting Applications for Grants To Support Education Research for Fiscal Year (FY) 2005, CFDA Numbers 84.305A, 84.305B, 84.305E, 84.305F, 84.305G, 84.305H, 84.305K, 84.305M, and 84.902B [IES]

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Overview Information; Special Education--Research and Innovation To Improve Services and Results for Children With Disabilities--Research on Accessible Reading Assessments; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004, CFDA Number 84.324F [OSERS]

To view these announcements in their entirety, please go to the following web site: http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister/announce/index.html

U.S. Conference of Mayors Passes Education Resolutions

At its 72nd annual convention in late June in Boston, the U.S. Conference of Mayors passed numerous resolutions related to the welfare of cities. Among these resolutions were several targeted at improving education, including expansion of after school programs and pre-kindergarten programs. All the Mayors' resolutions can be found at

http://usmayors.org/72ndAnnualMeeting/AdoptedResolutions04.pdf .

Daniel Blair
Senior Director for Public Policy
Council for Exceptional Children
1110 N. Glebe Rd.
Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201
(P) 703-264-9403
(F) 703-243-0410
TTY 1-866-915-5000
toll free 1-800-224-6830 x403
email: danb@cec.sped.org
www.cec.sped.org

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