The substitute requires state education plans for youth in juvenile institutions, requires districts to include teacher salaries in their calculations for Title I funds and requires states and districts to publicly report progress in making funding equitable. It requires increased data collection on school dropouts and rewards schools whose reforms lower dropout rates. It requires dedicated funding streams for migrant students, neglected and delinquent students, English learners and rural students, and it eliminates mandatory spending requirements for school improvement and supplemental educational services. It includes a formula grant to states and local education agencies and a competitive grant to support teacher and school leader innovation and makes changes to pre-service training for teachers. It requires local education agencies to assess educator supports and working conditions, and to address the equitable distribution of qualified and effective teachers and school leaders. It creates programs to support out-of-school and expanded learning time programs and programs to support the non-academic, health and safety needs of students.

 The substitute also reauthorizes and modifies the Charter School Program similar to those in HR 5 <http://www.cq.com/bill/114/HR5> and creates programs for STEM education and literacy from preschool through grade 12, as well as grants for technology infrastructure and for nongovernmental entities to develop curricula in various subject matters. It redefines the Parent Information Resource Centers' (PIRCs) role to include training and technical assistance to states and districts and provides grants for dual enrollment of students in local education and higher education. It prohibits restraint and seclusion except in emergencies that threaten physical danger, requires criminal background checks and sets minimum standards for concussion safety in school sports. Finally, it authorizes grants to states for high-quality preschool programs and increases authorizations for Native Indian, Hawaiian and Alaska Native education programs, as well as for the education of homeless children and youth.

Latest update from CEF. Most of this is about ESEA. If you follow that at all, there is useful information below. Jeff > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > Subject: Tuesday Update > Date: July 7, 2015 at 7:29:40 PM EDT > To: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > > > > > > > REGISTER: CEF GALA 2015 <http://www.cvent.com/d/4rq3yc> > Thanks to the National Student Clearinghouse, NAFIS and NAICU for purchasing tables/sponsorships! > > CEF Gala: Registration is now open for the CEF Gala! Please register at:http://www.cvent.com/d/4rq3yc <http://www.cvent.com/d/4rq3yc>. Please help spread the word! > Welcome New Member: I am very pleased to announce that the Afterschool Alliance <http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/>has joined CEF as our 119th member! The Alliance’s mission is “To engage public will to increase public and private investment in quality afterschool program initiatives at the national, state and local levels.” Their representatives to CEF will be Jodi Grant <http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/aboutUsOffices.cfm#jodigrant>, Executive Director and Erik Peterson <http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/aboutUsOffices.cfm#erikpeterson>, Vice President, Policy. > NDD Town Hall: "What's the Deal with the "Deal?" Featuring Rep. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Nita Lowey > July 21, 2015: 1:00 - 2:00 pm > Rayburn 2359 > RSVP here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1sZVo1aBb9OKep9yfjFwe--WyM_Z5QFzDlbNNtN1gM-Q/viewform?usp=send_form>! > Seating is limited, so please, one person per organization. > Budget Deal: A group of 10 moderate Democrats led by Sen. Tester today sent a letter  <https://www.scribd.com/doc/270832154/2015-07-07-Budget-Caps-Letter> that “called on Congressional leadership and the President to reach a budget deal that responsibly invests in middle class families, veterans, national security, infrastructure, education and public access to public lands.” They specifically cited Head Start. See: Senators push Congressional leadership and President to avoid crisis and reach budget deal <http://www.tester.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=4028>. > ESEA: A lot happening! > Senate: > · The Senate this afternoon started debate on S. 1177. See thissummary from the Senate Republican Policy Committee <http://www.rpc.senate.gov/legislative-notices/s-1177_every-child-achieves-act-of-2015>. Also see: Senators launch into debate on overhauling No Child Left Behind <http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/247101-senate-starts-debate-on-no-child-left-behind-overhaul> (The Hill) > > See: EVERY CHILD ACHIEVES ACT: Murray Calls for Continued Bipartisan Work to Fix No Child Left Behind <http://www.help.senate.gov/ranking/newsroom/press/every-child-achieves-act-murray-calls-for-continued-bipartisan-work-to-fix-no-child-left-behind> > · The Senate will convene at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, July 8, 2015. Following Leader Remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1177 (Every Child Achieves Act of 2015). The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 PM for the weekly party caucus lunches. Votes are expected in the morning prior to the caucus meetings but are not currently scheduled. > > · HELP Committee Chairman Alexander filed an 840-page managers’ substitute <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19p6j32JwToZzhMaWNvSXRfaHM/view?usp=sharing>: Alexander-Murray SA #2089 (In Nature of a Substitute). For the purposes of debate, the amendment will be considered as original bill text. I don’t have a summary of it or what is changed from the bill as reported by the Committee. > > · The Administration issued its Statement of Administration Policy <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19p6j32JwToTUQ3Nm5rWnktZkU/view?usp=sharing> on S. 1177: “The Administration appreciates the bipartisan effort that produced this legislation and wants to work with the Senate and House on a bipartisan basis to ensure that important changes are made to protect the most vulnerable students.” > Also see: White House Calls for More Accountability in Senate ESEA Bill, But No Veto Threat <http://p.feedblitz.com/r3.asp?l=106666492&f=944597&u=35945206&c=4976859> > > The White House yesterday also released a report, “GIVING EVERY CHILD A FAIR SHOT: Ensuring All Students Have Equal Opportunity to Succeed <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19p6j32JwToeE5hUHU2em8wd2s/view?usp=sharing>”: > “To accelerate our progress and ensure that it reaches every child, we must replace No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with a strong law that invests in what’s working and improves on what’s not. A new law should empower state and local decision makers – including school leaders, superintendents, and state officials – to develop their own systems for measuring and improving schools. It should push states to reduce testing without sacrificing clear, comprehensive information for parents and educators. And it should guarantee that steps are taken to help struggling students and schools.” > > · Here is the list of amendments pending to the substitute (other than Toomey I don’t have the text of these yet): > > 1. Fischer amendment to ensure local governance of education. (#2079) > > 2. Peters amendment to allow local educational agencies to use parent and family engagement funds for financial literacy activities. (#2095) > > 3. Rounds amendment to require the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study regarding elementary and secondary education in rural and poverty areas of Indian country. (#2078) > > 4. Reed amendment to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 regarding school librarians and effective school library programs. (#2085) > > 5. Warner amendment to enable the use of certain State and local administrative funds for fiscal support teams. (#2086) > > 6. Toomey amendment to protect our children from convicted pedophiles, child molesters, and other sex offenders infiltrating out schools and from schools “passing the trash” – helping pedophiles obtain jobs at other schools. (#2094) [Note that by consent, it will be in order for each manger or their designee to call up a side by side amendment to Toomey #2094.] See attached for text. > > · The following is a list of all filed amendments (not all of these will be officially offered) those in BOLD are pending: > > > 1. Rounds amendment to require the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study regarding elementary and secondary education in rural and poverty areas of Indian country. (#2078) > > 2. Fischer amendment to ensure local governance of education. (#2079) > > 3. Hatch amendment to establish a committee on student privacy policy. (#2080) > > 4. Hatch amendment to amend part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow for the renegotiation of contracts for failing local educational agencies and schools, and for other purposes. (#2081) > > 5. Hatch amendment to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 relating to early learning. (#2082) > > 6. Gardner amendment to enable local educational agencies to use funds under part A of title 1 for dual or concurrent enrollment programs at eligible schools. (#2083) > > 7. Alexander amendment to require criminal background checks for school employees. (#2084) > > 8. Reed amendment to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 regarding school librarians and effective school library programs. (#2085) > > 9. Warner amendment to enable the use of certain State and local administrative funds for fiscal support teams. (#2086) > > 10. Feinstein amendment to provide for additional mean of certifying children, youth, parents, and families as homeless. (#2087) > > 11. Reed amendment to provide a definition of inexperienced teacher. (#2088) > > 12. Alexander amendment in the nature of a substitute. (#2089) > > 13. Whitehouse amendment to protect students from sexual and violent predators. (#2090) > > 14. McCaskill amendment to establish a voluntary pilot program for interstate teaching applications. (#2091) > > 15. McCaskill amendment enabling states, as a consortium, to use certain grant funds to voluntarily develop a process that allows teachers who are licensed or certified in a participating State to teach in other participating states. (#2092) > > 16. Franken amendment to end discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools. (#2093) > > 17. Toomey amendment to protect our children from convicted pedophiles, child molesters, and other sex offenders infiltrating out schools and from schools “passing the trash” – helping pedophiles obtain jobs at other schools. (#2094) > > 18. Peters amendment to allow local educational agencies to use parent and family engagement funds for financial literacy activities. (#2095) > > 19. Kaine amendment to add career and technical education as a core academic subject. (#2096) > > 20. Brown amendment to improve certain provisions relating to charter schools. (#2097) > > 21. Brown amendment to provide assistance for the modernization, renovation, and repair of elementary school and secondary school buildings in public school districts and community colleges across the United States in order to support the achievement of improved educational outcomes in those schools, and for other purposes. (#2098) > > 22. Brown amendment to amend Part A of title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow funds provided under such part to be used for a site resource coordinator. (#2099) > > 23. Brown amendment to amend title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a full-service community schools grant program. (#2100) > > 24. Enzi amendment to amend the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. (#2101) > > 25. Manchin amendment to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow comprehensive services and a comprehensive services coordinator to be provided to a greater number of students through schoolwide programs under section 1113(c). (#2102) > > 26. Manchin amendment to enable local educational agencies to use funds under part A of title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 for programs and activities that promote volunteerism and community service. (#2103) > > 27. Manchin amendment to amend the State plan requirement of section 1111 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in order to support children facing substance abuse in the home. (#2104) > > 28. Bennet amendment to amend title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 regarding comparability of services. (#2105) > > 29. Warren amendment to amend title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to include specialized instructional support personnel in the literacy development of children. (#2106) > > 30. Tester amendment to restore sections of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. (#2107) > > · Attached are details on two amendments not yet officially filed: a Sen. Casey (D-PA) amendment on preschool and a Kirk-Reed-Baldwin-Brown amendment on resource equity/dashboard opportunity. > > House: The Rules Committee just approved a new Rule <http://rules.house.gov/bill/114/hr-5-0> that makes in order four additional amendments to HR 5 (clock the members’ names to get the amendment text). > · Rokita (IN), Grothman (WI) <http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/rok177151516451645.pdf>: Sets the authorization from fiscal year 2016 through 2019 (10 minutes) > > · Walker (NC), DeSantis (FL): <http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/WalkerPLUS77151138283828.pdf> Adds A-PLUS, which would send funding under NCLB back to states in the form of block grants, and states would then be able to direct that funding to any education purpose under state law. (10 minutes) > > · Salmon, (AZ): <http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/Salmon_001_xml7715090345345.pdf> Allows parents to opt their student out of the testing required under this bill and exempts schools from including students that have opted out in the schools’ participation requirements. (10 minutes) > > · Polis (CO): <http://www.rules.house.gov/amendments/PolisTitleI7715125907597.pdf> Requires states to have college- and career-ready standards and set performance, growth, and graduation rate targets for all student subgroups. The amendment also includes performance targets for English language learners and students with disabilities. (10 minutes) > > HR 5 is expected to be on the House floor tomorrow, as early as noon. > > The House on Feb. 26 and 27 considered all 44 amendments made in order under the adopted rule. Roll call votes are still pending on the 10 amendments listed below. > · An amendment (#30) by REP. LEE ZELDIN, R-N.Y., that would allow a state to withdraw from the Common Core Standards or any other specific standards. > > · An amendment (#31) by REP. WILL HURD, R-Texas, that would express the sense of Congress that the Education Department should review all regulations addressing issues of student privacy and ensure that students' personally identifiable information is protected. > > · An amendment (#32) by REP. ALAN GRAYSON, D-Fla., that would require the Education Department to conduct an assessment of the impact of school start times on student health, well-being and performance. > > · An amendment (#33) by REP. FREDERICA S. WILSON, D-Fla., that would provide for school dropout prevention and re-entry and would provide grants to raise academic achievement levels for all students. > > · An amendment (#35) by REP. ANDRÉ CARSON, D-Ind., that would require the Education Department to develop a national strategy for elementary and secondary school education that includes advancing an annual measure of student learning, including a system of assessments; effective teacher preparation and continuing professional development; education administration; and international comparisons of education. > > · An amendment (#39) by REP. JULIA BROWNLEY, D-Calif., that would create a grant program for states to create or expand biliteracy seal programs to recognize student proficiency in speaking, reading and writing in both English and a second language for graduating high school seniors. > > · An amendment (#40) by REP. DAVE LOEBSACK, D-Iowa, that would support the expansion of the use of digital learning through the creation of a competitive grant program to partnerships to implement and evaluate the results of technology-based learning practices, strategies, tools or programs at rural schools. > > · An amendment (#41) by REP. GRACE MENG, D-N.Y., that would create a program under which the Education Department would provide grants for early childhood education scholarships, professional development and licensing credentials, or increased compensation for educators who have attained specific qualifications. The amendment would also require each state that applies for a grant to include in its application a description of its comprehensive early childhood professional development system, and grant recipients must maintain their fiscal effort for the activities supported by the grant funds for a fiscal year at levels equal to or greater than their fiscal effort for such activities during the preceding fiscal year. > > · An amendment (#43) by REP. BENNIE THOMPSON, D-Miss., that prohibits the bill from being enacted until the Education Department determines that its enactment will not reduce the college and career readiness of racial or ethnic minority students, students with disabilities, English learners and low-income students and the department provides written notification to Congress on such determination. > > · A Democratic substitute (#44) by REP. ROBERT C. SCOTT, D-Va.,that requires states to establish college- and career-ready standards in English, math and science for grades K-12 and high-quality assessments aligned to those standards. The standards must include measures of student growth as well as proficiency, and states could judge school performance based on multiple measures of student learning. It requires states and districts to identify schools in need of support and to develop plans to improve achievement at these schools; the plans must address the unique needs of the schools and employ locally identified interventions. It permits states to establish alternate assessments and achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and caps the number of students with alternate assessments included in school assessments at 1%. It establishes English language proficiency standards, assessments and targets, and it requires states with more than 10,000 student English learners, 25% of whom speak the same native language, to establish native language assessments; it also authorizes increased funding for English language learners. It requires states and districts to issue "report cards" providing information on student achievement, growth, graduation rates and equity indicators, with the report cards to also include information on alternate assessments, English language proficiency and teacher qualifications. > > The substitute requires state education plans for youth in juvenile institutions, requires districts to include teacher salaries in their calculations for Title I funds and requires states and districts to publicly report progress in making funding equitable. It requires increased data collection on school dropouts and rewards schools whose reforms lower dropout rates. It requires dedicated funding streams for migrant students, neglected and delinquent students, English learners and rural students, and it eliminates mandatory spending requirements for school improvement and supplemental educational services. It includes a formula grant to states and local education agencies and a competitive grant to support teacher and school leader innovation and makes changes to pre-service training for teachers. It requires local education agencies to assess educator supports and working conditions, and to address the equitable distribution of qualified and effective teachers and school leaders. It creates programs to support out-of-school and expanded learning time programs and programs to support the non-academic, health and safety needs of students. > > The substitute also reauthorizes and modifies the Charter School Program similar to those in HR 5 <http://www.cq.com/bill/114/HR5> and creates programs for STEM education and literacy from preschool through grade 12, as well as grants for technology infrastructure and for nongovernmental entities to develop curricula in various subject matters. It redefines the Parent Information Resource Centers' (PIRCs) role to include training and technical assistance to states and districts and provides grants for dual enrollment of students in local education and higher education. It prohibits restraint and seclusion except in emergencies that threaten physical danger, requires criminal background checks and sets minimum standards for concussion safety in school sports. Finally, it authorizes grants to states for high-quality preschool programs and increases authorizations for Native Indian, Hawaiian and Alaska Native education programs, as well as for the education of homeless children and youth. > > Higher Education: > Tomorrow at 11 am, Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA) will hold a press conference to preview the America’s College Promise Act of 2015. “The America’s College Promise Act of 2015 makes two years of community college free and provides an affordable pathway for low-income students to a four-year college degree. The legislation would give students the opportunity to access quality and affordable higher education that gives them the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the 21st century economy. Congressman Scott will be joined by other members of Congress supportive of efforts to make higher education more accessible and affordable, who are original co-sponsors of the bill.” See attached for more details > Sen. Rubio Plan: Sen. Rubio as a candidate for President today released his “21st Century Jobs Plan <https://marcorubio.com/issues/21st-century-jobs-plan/>”. Part of it deals with higher education: > “As president, I will begin with a powerful but simple reform. Our higher education system is controlled by what amounts to a cartel of existing colleges and universities, which use their power over the accreditation process to block innovative, low-cost competitors from entering the market. > “Within my first 100 days, I will bust this cartel by establishing a new accreditation process that welcomes low-cost, innovative providers. This would expose higher education to the market forces of choice and competition, which would prompt a revolution driven by the needs of students – just as the needs of consumers drive the progress of every other industry in our economy.” > > Also see: Rubio pledges to bust higher education ‘cartel’ <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/247038-rubio-on-economy-old-ways-no-longer-work> > > > Joel Packer > CEF Executive Director > JPacker@cef.org <mailto:JPacker@cef.org> > 202-383-0083 > 202-255-0915 (cell) > www.cef.org <http://www.cef.org/> > www.Twitter.com/edfunding <http://www.twitter.com/edfunding> > NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS > 1341 G Street, NW > Fifth Floor > Washington, DC 20005 > >