Aired just one week after the 2010 Congressional elections, this presentation brings community leaders, parents, and organizers up to speed on the current political landscape in Washington and how it is likely to shape the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

1. Part One:
How Does ESEA Reauthorization
Affect Communities of Color?

2. Special Thanks to Our Partners:
Based in Los Angeles, California
Based in New Haven, Connecticut

3. Agenda
1. What Happened Last Tuesday?
2. ESEA and Race
3. The Obama Proposal
4. The Republican Model
5. What Does it All Mean?
6. Question & Answer
Presenter: Jack Loveridge
Policy Analyst at Justice Matters

4. 2008: A Democratic Wave
Community Briefing Series

5. Nov. 2, 2010: The Tide Rolls Back
Community Briefing Series

6. The Results
• Republicans gain 64 seats in House
• Senate now 53-47 in Democratic Favor
• Moderate Democrats Sent Home
• GOP House gains greater than 1994, 1974
Community Briefing Series

7. An Older, Whiter Electorate
Community Briefing Series

8. New Leadership
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to be
replaced by John Boehner (R-OH)
• Pelosi will try to stay on as House
minority leader
• ep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) will likely
R
become House majority leader
Boehner, Cantor opposing Health Care legislation
• he 112th Congress will assume office
T
in early January 2011
Community Briefing Series

9. Profile: John Boehner
• Ohio Republican currently serving as
House minority leader has 16 years of
Congressional experience
• Ranking member of House Education
and Labor Committee that approved
No Child Left Behind
• Deep interest in education policy,
though his career background is in
business.
• Post-election quote: “We have real work
to do, and this is not a time for celebration.”
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
Community Briefing Series

10. The Education Challenge
• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is
the core of Federal public education policy
• Originally enacted in 1965, it must be reauthorized or
revised by Congress every five years
• ESEA, currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB),
is now four years overdue for reauthorization
• Many analysts think ESEA reauthorization is coming soon
Community Briefing Series

11. The Process
Mark-Up
Committee Hearings Committee Sends Bill
to Full Chamber
Reauthorized ESEA
Good for Five Years
President Vetoes
or Signs into Law Floor Vote
Reconcile Bills
Community Briefing Series

12. Reauthorize What?
• Signed in April 1965 by President Lyndon
Johnson, the ESEA regulates K-12 public
education
• Title I of the Act distributes Federal funds to
schools with high percentages (40% or more)
of low-income students
• Title III provides funding for language
instruction for English-learners
• Title V provides money for parent
engagement programs
• The law also contains provisions for
teacher training, libraries, and nutrition
Community Briefing Series

13. A Civil Rights Legacy
• Coming just months after the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, ESEA was informed by
the Civil Rights Movement
• Objective to compel Southern states to
desegregate schools by withholding
Federal funding
• All states complied
ESEA would not have been
possible without the Civil Rights
Movement
The Civil Rights movement could
not have accomplished its ends
without the backing of ESEA
Community Briefing Series

14. Government’s Role
• Along with ESEA, the
Department of Education was
founded in 1965
• Before this, the Federal role in
public education was virtually
nonexistent
• School conditions and student
achievement varied widely across
the country
• For low-income communities of color,
ESEA fought decades of racist policies
Since the opening of the Department of
Education (pictured), conservatives from
supported by state governments
George Wallace to Rand Paul have pushed for
its closure as evidence of big government
Community Briefing Series

15. Leaving No Child Behind
• On January 8, 2002, President
Bush signed the No Child
Behind Act (NCLB) into law
with bipartisan support from
Congress
• Modified and rebranded, the
core of the legislation is a
reauthorized version of the
1965 ESEA
• Emphasis on standards, accountability, and school choice
• But NCLB’s standardized tests and punitive approaches have
pushed-out students of color and masked low student performance
Community Briefing Series

16. A Reform Frenzy
• With the new administration, a broad
education reform discussion has begun
• From Bill Gates to Oprah Winfrey, the
news has been packed with big names
pushing a fix to NCLB
• The film Waiting for Superman marked
a peak in the media attention in
September
• However, real voices coming directly
from communities of color have been
missing in the public reform dialogue
Community Briefing Series

17. A Blueprint for Reform
• Released by Department of Education released a
document in March 2010, the Blueprint outline Obama
Administration’s plans for ESEA reauthorization
Four core proposals included:
1) Emphasizing competitive grants over guaranteed formula funding
2) Broadening student assessments, but keeping standardized testing central
3) Encouraging the creation of more charter schools
4) Closing or restructuring struggling schools through “Turnaround Models”
Community Briefing Series

18. Absent Community Voice
• The Blueprint approached students of color as the problem in our
public school systems
• Focus on fixing “low-performing” rather than investigating
structural problems
• Lacking meaningful parent engagement programs to welcome
families into schools and give them a role in school decision-making
Community Briefing Series

19. Focus on Competition
“The countries that out-educate us
today will outcompete us tomorrow.”
-President Obama
• Competition on all levels to promote
student achievement and school
improvement
• Schools serving low-income
communities of color at automatic
disadvantage in market approach
• No real emphasis on cooperation
between communities, students, and
educators
Community Briefing Series

20. Then came the elections…
House of Representatives
239 Republicans
188 Democrats
218 need to pass
Senate
53 Democratic Caucus
47 Republicans
51 for pass
60 to avoid filibuster
Community Briefing Series

21. From Miller to Kline
Rep. George Miller (D-CA)
• Democrat from Northern California has
35 years of Congressional experience Rep. John Kline (R-MN)
• Chaired Education and Labor Committee
since 2006 and in early 2000s With the new Republican majority
• Headed committee that authored No comes a change in 49-member House
Child Left Behind Education and Labor Committee
Community Briefing Series

22. Profile: John Kline
• Conservative Republican from
Minnesota with eight years of
Congressional experience
• Career as a defense strategist and
marine
• Comparatively new to education
• o chairmanship experience
N
• Post-election quote: “There is an
agreement in the Republican conference that
this [health care] law is bad policy, and we
need to fix it.”
John Kline 2010 Campaign Photo
Community Briefing Series

23. The Republican Model
“[R]eform that restores local control,
empowers parents, lets teachers teach, and
protects taxpayers.”
Rep. John Kline (R-MN)
November 4, 2010
Community Briefing Series

24. 1. Reasserting Local Control
• John Kline called the Federal role in
education a “very large intrusion”
• Local control is a very slippery slope
• Federal government involved in education
for important reasons
What it means for communities of color:
Reduces the role of the Federal government
and allows market forces to decide
educational quality Federal moves toward desegregation prompt
Arkansas governor to close schools in 1957
Community Briefing Series

25. 2. Empowering Parents
• Thinly-veiled code for “school choice” or
more charter schools and vouchers
• Charters, private schools, and vouchers used
as “Trojan horses” to draw resources away
from the public system
• Republicans rarely fund parent engagement
programs
What it means for communities of color:
Choice alone is not parental engagement.
The choice between a broken public school
and a charter is no choice at all
D.C. parents rally for school choice in summer 2009
Community Briefing Series

26. 3. Letting Teachers Teach
• Sounds good, but what does it mean
exactly?
• It links to the local control issue
• Department of Education makes the
paperwork so it’s the problem
• But teach what, exactly?
What it means for communities of color:
Reduces already modest Federal role
Community Briefing Series

27. 4. Protecting Taxpayers
• Funding cuts to keep taxes on
highest income brackets low
• Conservatives uncomfortable with
the Title I formula funding rules
• Balancing act for the rural politicians
Tea Partiers rally in Wisconsin
What it means for communities of color:
Historically guaranteed funding still at risk
Community Briefing Series

28. What’s next?
Three Scenarios:
1. President, Senate, and House compromise
2. Congress passes smaller “patch” legislation
3. Government finds no consensus in 2011
Community Briefing Series

29. What now?
Back to the Drawing Board:
Although the national conversation will continue, Congress will need time to
regroup in early 2011.
Nothing is Inevitable:
Reauthorization does not have to happen a given way or even happen at all.
Either way, the policy approaches from both sides will be heavily altered.
Urgency Remains:
The old policies of NCLB are still in place and they are still hurting
communities of color. Now is the time to build an active and informed
community-led discussion.
Community Briefing Series

30. Question & Answer
Jack Loveridge
Policy Analyst
jack@justicematters.org
Visit us online at:
www.justicematters.org
www.justicemattersblog.blogspot.com
Justice Matters’ mission is to bring about racially just schools that
develop and promote education policy rooted in community vision.