Washington would regain flexibility to judge its own public-school performance under a bipartisan agreement announced Tuesday to fix the federal No Child Left Behind education law.
The proposal, announced by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, who is chairman of the U.S. Senate education committee, drew cheers from school officials in Snohomish County and statewide, even before they were briefed on the details.
If the bill is passed by Congress, it would eliminate the need for Washington to regain a waiver of requirements of the No Child Left Behind Law.
Last year, the state lost the waiver after state lawmakers refused to answer a demand by the federal government that they pass a bill that would have required statewide student test results to be used as a factor in teacher evaluations.
The state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction had estimated the state would lose control over how it spent nearly $40 million in federal dollars for academic help for struggling students if the state lost the waiver.
The state also was forced to return to an old way of evaluating schools. More than 1,900 schools out of about 2,200 in Washington, including many in Snohomish County, were labeled as failing in 2014 because of the No Child Left Behind system.
Washington had a two-year reprieve from that system until the waiver was taken away in April 2014.
Not being in compliance with No Child Left Behind, and not having a waiver, means that most school districts in Washington have to send letters informing parents that their children attend schools which, as far as the federal government was concerned, are failing.
The Murray-Alexander proposal would eliminate that requirement, ending “the federal test-based accountability system of No Child Left Behind, restoring to states the responsibility for determining how to use federally required tests for accountability purposes,” according to the announcement by the senators.
“This is a good first step,” said Randy Dorn, the state superintendent. “I know there’s a long process ahead for the bill to pass, but I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Local school officials, too, were pleased with the announcement.
Everett School District spokeswoman Mary Waggoner said there were cheers Tuesday afternoon as school district staff, who help send out the letters and take calls from concerned parents, learned of the proposed agreement.
“They see first-hand how this does not work,” Waggoner said of No Child Left Behind.
Cynthia Jones, the district’s categorical programs director, called the proposed agreement “wonderful news.”
“Now the people who know students best will be able to use resources for more flexible ways of meeting the evolving needs of our individual students,” she said.
Said Everett Superintendent Gary Cohn: “We are delighted the federal government finally recognizes how these financial sanctions inhibit getting help directly to students who need it most.”
It’s unclear when the bipartisian agreement would go into effect, if approved by the full Senate and the House of Representatives. The so-called failing letters might need to go out again this year.
In Olympia, state Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, the chairman of the state Senate Education Committee, called Tuesday’s announcement a step in the right direction. But Litzow said he wouldn’t stop fighting to regain Washington’s waiver until the proposal was signed by President Barack Obama or the U.S. Education Department said everyone could have a waiver.
“If some point in the future, it actually becomes law, great,” Litzow said.
Litzow said he still has school districts passionately demanding legislators change state law to require that statewide student test results be used as a factor in teacher evaluations, so he’s going to keep pushing toward that change.
The Arlington School Board, for example, sent a letter to the Legislature in support of making changes to No Child Left Behind, said Arlington Superintendent Kristine McDuffy.
“It is encouraging to see the U.S. Senate Education Committee is proposing changes,” McDuffy added.
Gov. Jay Inslee applauded Murray and Alexander for working together on a solution to the education-law stalemate and thanked Murray for listening to people in Washington state. “Instead of penalizing children and schools who need our help most, this proposal will allow school districts the flexibility to best use federal dollars on proven programs,” Inslee said in a statement. He encouraged fast action by Congress.
Since 2012, states have been forced to apply for waivers from some of the law’s requirements. Washington gained a waiver and then lost it, making it one of only a few states still required to follow the old requirements of No Child Left Behind.
Herald writer Sharon Salyer contributed.
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