Statement by Anne L. Bryant
Executive Director, National School Boards Association

Alexandria, Va., - March 14, 2010 – “The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is encouraged by the direction that the administration is taking in its blueprint to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

“Overall, the efforts are a vast improvement over the flawed No Child Left Behind program which it would now replace. We are pleased that the plan would provide a comprehensive set of initiatives by which the federal government could support local school districts to raise student performance and close the achievement gap for academically struggling students in our public schools.

“However we do have some concerns that will need to be addressed or clarified. For example, a state's funding for Title 1 and other federal programs should not be conditioned to it adopting common standards or a specific standard setting or approval process. More local school district flexibility is needed for how the lowest performing schools are turned around including not automatically replacing principals and there should be less reliance on competitive grants as opposed to formula grants.

“Additionally, more details are needed regarding the use of multiple assessments in measuring student achievement, how school districts of varying sizes and capacity will be able to take advantage and manage this broad and integrated array of strategies, and how the fiscal challenges that school districts will be facing over the next few years will impact the implementation of this initiative.

“As a blueprint, we recognize that there are details yet to be developed that will also determine the ultimate success of the program and our decision whether to support it.”

Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association (www.nsba.org) is a not-for-profit organization representing state associations of school boards and their 95,000 local school board members throughout the United States. Its mission is to work with and through all its State Association members to foster excellence and equity in public education through school board leadership. NSBA achieves that mission by representing the school board perspective in working with federal government agencies and national organizations that impact education, and provides vital information and services to state associations of school boards throughout the nation.

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Contacts:
Alexis Rice, Communications Director
571-437-7425 (c); arice@nsba.org

Linda Embrey, Communications Office
703-838-6737 (o); lembrey@nsba.org