House revises Title I

A key amendment passed on the House floor would authorize an additional $1.5 billion to Title I, the largest federal education program, for a total of $9.8 billion for fiscal 2000.

The House bill, known as the Student Results Act (H.R.2), also addresses other programs that make up the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), including bilingual education.

Meanwhile, the Senate released a summary of a comprehensive bill covering all the programs in ESEA, but has not begun action on it.

The House bill continues the implementation of state content and performance standards and aligned assessments adopted when ESEA was last reauthorized in 1994. States would be required to have their final aligned assessments in place by the 2000-01 school year, but could seek a one-time, one-year waiver if needed.

The House rejected several amendments to include vouchers in the Title I program.

The bill gives states the option of setting aside up to 30 percent of all new Title I local formula funding to provide cash rewards to schools that make substantial progress in closing achievement gaps between high and low-achieving students. The original proposal would have made a 25 percent set aside mandatory–a provision opposed by NSBA–but the committee approved an amendment to make the awards optional.

The House bill would mandate that states take one or more specific correction actions against low-performing school districts, including a state take-over.

The bill generally extends the corrective action provisions in existing law and also strengthens the parent involvement provisions. It continues the existing provision calling for districts to set aside 1 percent of their Title I funds for parent involvement. A new provision would allow states to establish a parent advisory council.

In a provision aimed at improving the quality of instruction, the bill places a freeze on the number of teacher aides that can be hired with Title I money. William F. Goodling (R-Pa.), chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, charges the Title I program has been used as a "jobs program" for unqualified teacher aides, known as paraprofessionals.

The bill also increases the minimum qualifications that must be met by all teacher aides within three years and it requires parents to be informed about the quality of teachers and paraprofessionals in their school's Title I program.

School districts receiving Title I funds must provide report cards to parents and the public on the academic performance of each Title I school.

Districts that already distribute report cards on their schools can include the Title I information on them and can distribute the report cards through the Internet, the news media, or public agencies.

The Student Results Act essentially maintains the basic provisions regarding the allocation of Title I funds to the neediest schools within districts. But it does give a higher priority to schools with 75 percent or more students above the poverty threshold and to elementary schools.

The bill would allow schools with at least 40 percent of students in poverty to operate schoolwide programs. The current threshold is 50 percent.

The bill includes provisions allowing small, rural districts to consolidate funds. Districts with fewer than 1,500 students would be exempt from several formula requirements, giving them the flexibility to target federal funds to best meet their needs.

The House passed an amendment to retain the Women's Educational Equity Act, which provides $500,000 for teaching materials and programs to help schools eliminate gender bias. The House Education and the Workforce Committee had voted earlier to terminate this program.

The House bill does terminate the $20 million program under ESEA targeted to Native Hawaiians.

Among other provisions of the bill as passed by the House:

• The bill limits civil liability against teachers, school board members, and administrators who engage in "reasonable" disciplinary actions.

• The bill states that ESEA programs should be based on current, scientifically based research, not unproven fads.

• An amendment passed on the floor permits schools to use Title I funding to establish or enhance prekindergarten programs for 3, 4, and 5-year-old children.

• An amendment was passed to include mathematics and science in Title I standards and assessments.

• The House approved an amendment to permit children who are victims of violent crimes at school or who otherwise attend unsafe schools to transfer to another public school chosen by their parents.

NSBA sent a letter to House members before the vote, stating that the Student Results Act "contains many promising strategic innovations to the current Title I program that could substantially improve the academic achievement of low-achieving students."

NSBA is concerned that provisions are needed to help local school systems improve their district-level capacity to support Title I schools and will work with the Senate on this issue.

"We are concerned that simply requiring school districts to be more accountable, without placing higher a value on systemwide support activities, will not be enough," says NSBA President Mary Ellen Maxwell.

NSBA proposes that the final legislation require states to allocate a portion of their Title I funds to enable school districts to provide technical assistance to local schools and to improve their planning, standards setting, evaluations, and support services.

"School districts that are barely able to fund their academic programs now will find themselves responsible for increased planning, monitoring, and assessing school-level performance in a much more timely manner and at a much more sophisticated level than they have ever done before," Maxwell says.