Secretary Duncan Tells Congress: Sequestration is Bad for Kids!

This morning, US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, testified about the potential impact of sequestration before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees education appropriations. Watch his testimony here:  Secretary Duncan layed out the anticipated cuts to all education programs, including IDEA. He testified that Title 1 will lose over $1 Billion Dollars and IDEA Part B grants to states alone will lose over $900 million dollars.

Secretary Duncan explained that if Congress allows sequestration to occur the loss of federal education funding will gravely impact state and local budgets which are already stretched. He was also asked specifically about what impact this might have on education reforms like Race to the Top and other significant efforts that states are currently undertaking. He was clear that the loss of these important dollars would mean it would be very difficult for districts to just continue providing basic services, let alone tackle the challenges our nation’s schools face in their quest to again top the world.

Want to learn more about sequestration? Read this. For more information on how sequestration will affect non-defense jobs, please see this report from the Labor-H Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.

You can also see how individual states will be effected by viewing this excellent report from the Committee for Education Funding.

Want to join CEC and tell Congress that your students and community cannot withstand these deep cuts? Send this letter TODAY!

Comments

[joan grim]

Is sequestration an issue that concerns parents, teachers, administrators, universities, and pre-service teachers of students with disabilities? Should children and families with disabilities be used to fund more of the same agenda that has shown questionable benefits to their children, students with disabilities and classrooms? Or,should CEC focus attention on state and local effects of DoEd regulations, policies, and funding priorities that minimize equity for SPED students? Should more money go to initiatives that ignore evidence and reduce teacher education professional standards? States receive only about 9% of money from the federal government, yet federal policies are changing at the state and local levels that are disrupting education equality for children with disabilities.

Race to the Top mandates more money go to unaccountable charter operators and high stakes testing, yet every penny that goes to charter schools and testing companies comes out of the public school budget, meaning less money for special education. Charter operators in PA and NY are pleading for more money to run their schools, yet they serve far fewer children with significant disabilities than public schools.

Charter schools segregate and expel high proportions of children with disabilities and counsel them into underfunded and over crowded public schools. Minneapolis charters are expelling children with special needs. With 80% of New Orleans under private management, charters regularly refuse admission to children with disabilities forcing poor families to find another school far from their homes. Does this behavior not violate federal law? http://dianeravitch.net/2012/07/28/minneapolis-charter-doesnt-want-special-needs-students/
What is happening in Minneapolis and New Orleans is happening in every state that doubled the number of charter schools mandated by Race to the Top grants. CEC has advocated and worked for inclusion for over 50 years yet Dept of Ed has failed to evaluate the children being left behind by charter dumping and resulting overcrowded public schools forced to take unwanted children. How does CEC reconcile years of replicated research supporting positive effects of inclusive practices with DoEd's segregationist policy outcomes?

The Dept of Ed is advancing regulations that reduce standards for teacher educator training. DoEd endorsed applying to teacher trainees the Highly Qualified standard. The purpose of the highly qualified designation was to highlight the disparity between credentialed and non-credentialed teachers in high needs areas, e.g., special education. With untrained teachers designated as highly qualified, the public will not be able to discern such disparities in their children's schools. States such as AL have dropped requirements for teacher certification beyond a BS degree, advancing an anyone can teach paradigm that flies in the face of evidence. Charters and districts under private management and mayoral/state control now hire more unqualified, untrained, inexperienced teachers (e.g. Teach for America) and churn their staff at high rates. This does little for advancing quality education for the long haul. Should CEC endorse lower standards for professional preparation? Why mandate lower standards when at the same time the Dept is placing more demands on educators for quality outcomes?

Dept of Ed is applying the same failed policies of No Child Left Behind to Higher Education Teacher Preparation. From HECSE Task Force on Teacher Education (2012):
"The regulations would require states to rate every teacher preparation program on a 1-4 rating scale and to use criteria that have not been determined to be valid and reliable for this purpose. There is no statutory authority for either requirement.
1. Criteria such as value-added scores of K-12 students of program graduates, job placement rates, and job retention rates are problematic.
These criteria have not been documented by research to be valid and reliable measures of preparation program effectiveness.
a) Multiple factors outside of graduates’ preparation have an impact on their ability to find a job and their decisions to remain in or leave the teaching workforce.
b) Multiple factors influence K-12 student performance beyond the teacher’s preparation, such as school working conditions, school leadership, and school resources.
4. The criteria represent federal overreach and may violate state laws. Proposals provide waiver authority to the secretary even though there is no statutory authority to do so."

Teachers in public schools serving children with special needs are concerned about the excessive weight given to test scores because many children with disabilities do not perform well on standardized tests. Yet the Dept of Ed has accelerated a test-and-punish approach that moves us away from teaching critical thinking and a social-adaptive curricula to more time spent drilling for test prep. This policy ignores evidence about the appropriate use of standardized test scores and sets-up children to fail. It's simply wrong.

Melodie Hargrove of OSEP told special educators at CEC in Apr. 2012 to prepare for austerity so it's difficult to believe that increased allocations for Dept of Ed will go directly to public school sped classrooms and teachers. What's the purpose of more money if it expands Race to the Top initiatives that ignore evidence about high stakes testing, funds lowering teacher preparation standards and increases conditions for segregation?

The Dept of Ed should round out the ramifications of their initiatives before using CEC members to advance a political agenda that has questionable equality outcomes for special education children, families, professionals and the educational community.

[NFennema]

This information is both shocking and appalling. It is ridiculous to think that Education is where we can "cut" money within our national budget. Our students with disabilities within the public school system deserve their basic services and rights, and all cutting our budget is going to do is cut these students' futures. The information regarding preservice teachers is scary and could be determental to our nation. I cannot think of anything worse than individuals who are not educated, educating our youth! Lowering the standards for pre-service teachers and calling them highly qualified is a recipe for disaster. I am also concerned about the excessive weight on test scores. Our students are in special education for a reason, and 9 times out of 10, they are not on grade level. Giving them grade level tests is ridiculous and impossible. Talk about a way to destroy self-esteem. It is definately setting up students with disabilities for failure.

[TDuswalt]

I just completed my first year as a special education teacher and I find this information heart breaking. I think our nation has forgotten its priorities. Education is the one program that touches every single person in our country.

Every student deserves a teacher who is highly qualified in a classroom that is not overcrowded and lacking necessary materials.

Where do great teachers, doctors, engineers, scientist, and yes, politicians come from? Great schools!

Students with exceptionalities deserve no less. Every student should have access to an education that is designed for their needs to be successful at what ever level that may be.

The county that I teach in has been forced to cut the budget and no longer offer modified testing on the state high stakes assessment. We are setting our students up for failure.

What message is our government sending to our students by cutting an already under budgeted public education ?

[Angel]

As a special education teacher I am very passionate about the needs of our students. It is very hard to hear that our student may loose even more resources. The needs of our students are changing everyday and we have a responsibility as a nation to meet these needs.

The children of today will become the leaders of tomorrow if we are truly invested in our youth we have to put the resources behind them.

[ASaber]

It is shocking as well as saddening to read such information. Education is already such a struggle for many.Cutting on the budgets is surely just going to make matters worse. Students deserve every opportunity at having a better education that offers more possibilities, and that has more resources. Goverment should be increasing funding to better empower our youth and future leaders.

[A Geary]

It is so sad that people think cutting funds from education is the answer. School districts are strapped already. As teachers we know that early interventions are the answer for students at risk and now we are looking at losing more funds that support early interventions. I beleive there are other ways to decrease our national debt. Cutting education is not one of those answers. Schools need more support, resources and professional developement, not less. Next year will be my third year teaching as a special educator and I'm learning fast how important it is for me to be a leader and an advocate for my students so their needs are met.

[Mike B]

The one thing i see in our society is where are priorities are? our district has been faced with budget cuts and over 40 teachers lost their positions. These teachers were even tenured teachers with the district for quite some time. However, we are able to build two new football stadiums with turf fields and lights. We are cutting areas of need but making excuses we don't have the money to pay our educators. The quality of education has deteriorated especially in the urban districts. We do not have community or parental involvement. This makes it very difficult for teachers to apply structure and discipline in our schools. Accountability is also difficult because the lack of parental involvement.

We need to address the most important issues of our society, education and knowledge are power.