Oppose NCLB Waivers and Support Federal DOE Elimination

The following testimony was submitted to a joint hearing of the Minnesota House Education Reform and Finance Committees regarding No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers held today.  Although this testimony pertains to Minnesota, the concepts described apply to all states that have received or are applying for these waivers.

Despite the great desire for funds and the desire for even the illusion of flexibility, state legislatures must stand up for state sovereignty, separation of powers, local control and parental rights or the federal takeover of education will be complete.

On the federal level, Minnesota’s own Rep. John Kline (R-MN 6), chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee has authored two bills – The Student Success Act (HR 33989) and The Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (HR 3990).  While these bills do many good and important things, like properly codifying flexibility at the legislative level and prohibiting the executive branch from setting standards and demanding other requirements and we support them, we are even more enamored by Senator Rand Paul’s bill that cuts $5 trillion of federal spending over five years and completely eliminates the US Department of Education.  Given the horrific extent of federal spending, debt, and government overreach into every aspect of children’s and their families’ lives, we see this as a more direct approach.

Please urge your state legislators to resist the waivers and their implementation in your states as well as to urge your members of Congress to support the Kline bills as the interim step on the way to the ultimate goal of the Paul legislation.

February 16, 2012

Dear Chairwoman Erickson, Chairman Garofalo and Members of the House Education Committees,

Thank you for your willingness to consider these written comments on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers. Education Liberty Watch has several concerns:

1)      The waiver program as implemented by the US Dept. of Education is unconstitutional as the executive branch  is usurping legislative authority and implementing reforms not in law.

Former federal judge and law professor Michael  McConnell said, “ [T]he Obama administration has admitted to a strategy of governing by executive order when it cannot prevail through proper legislative channels. Rather than work with Congress to get reasonable changes to President Bush’s No Child Left Behind education law, it has used an aggressive interpretation of its waiver authority to substitute the president’s favored policies for the law passed by Congress.

2)      The waiver application by the Minnesota Department of Education is also outside Minnesota statute and is usurping state legislative authority as indicated in an excellent letter from chairmen Garofalo and Erickson to Secretary Duncan dated January 17, 2012.  In that letter, they cited specific issues of working around statutory authority, such as ignoring the multiple measures ratings laid out in Sec. 120B.35, the executive branch setting policy outside of the legislature, and the failure to include legislative input in the waiver application process.  The same issues have played out in the Minnesota Department of Education’s Race to the Top Early Learning application process and the implementation of the early childhood scholarship program.

3)      Although last on our list, the issue most important to Education Liberty Watch is the whole issue of federal and state imposition of national academic standards via the bribery or blackmail of federal funds.  Even if these standards were perfectly academic and non-controversial, which they clearly are not, as witnessed by opposition to them by multiple expert individuals and groups across the country, it is absolutely not the role of the federal government to impose these standards especially through the extra-legislative methods involved in the Race to the Top and Common Core Standards processes.   One of the key components of this waiver application is the imposition of these standards. There has been a long, proud history of bipartisan cooperation at both the state and federal levels of Minnesota legislators to resist this federal interference in state prerogatives of education that have included No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and the Common Standards.   Most recently, we are grateful for Representative Erickson’s bill to require legislative approval of standards that was approved by both chambers of the legislature last session but was unfortunately removed in final negotiations.  We appreciate that she has reintroduced it this year and think it is imperative that that bill pass again and be signed into law.

Leaving aside the constitutional concerns there are also the financial concerns about these standards and their implementation especially the alignment of these standards to assessments.  California has estimated that will cost $3 billion dollars to develop new assessments.  While certainly not likely to be that high in Minnesota, there is already much concern about the number, cost and rigor of the myriad of assessments that Minnesota already gives to comply with federal mandates without developing a whole new set for these less than ideal standards.  Given both the federal and state government’s precarious financial situations, it cannot be a good idea to waste precious resources this way.

National standards supporters are likely to point to the fact that 46 states have already adopted the Common Core.  We will point out, however, that states like Indiana adopted them in order to qualify for a Race to the Top grant and then realized that the criticism that these standards would take Indiana backwards in academic quality was true.  However, their Senate education committee voted down an effort to withdraw from this terrible federal imposition in part due to fear that they wouldn’t get their waiver.

In summary implementation of this waiver should be resisted because it is usurping legislative and constitutional authority at both the state and federal levels; is imposing a federal curriculum that is unconstitutional, very expensive and of poor quality, and analogous to the health care debacle; and is using borrowed federal funds that will tie Minnesota into regulations and processes that will not improve academics while diminishing state, local, parental, and individual autonomy.  We believe that Minnesota should withdraw from No Child Left Behind as has been proposed by many legislators on both sides of the aisle, as well as Governor Dayton for a very long time.  We also support legislation proposed in Congress to eliminate the federal Department of Education so as to allow the states and the people to administer education decisions per proper constitutional authority.

Thank you again for this opportunity to submit written comments on this very important issue.  Best wishes as you all continue to try to do the best for children as well as remain faithful to your oaths of office.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or if we may offer more information as this process proceeds.

Sincerely,

Karen R. Effrem, MD

President – Education Liberty Watch