Education Week - September 9, 2015 - 20

Rep. John Kline, House Ed. Panel Chairman, Set to Retire
Decision turns up heat
on overhaul of ESEA
By Lauren Camera
The decision by U.S. Rep. John Kline,
R-Minn., chairman of the House education
committee, to not seek re-election in 2016
puts added pressure on lawmakers in both
chambers to come to an agreement on overhauling the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act before the end of the year.
Kline, first elected to the House in 2002,
has been the top Republican on the education committee since 2009, where he's
made a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind
Act-the latest iteration of ESEA-a priority. Chairman of the committee since 2011,
he has ushered ESEA-rewrite bills through
the full House twice and is the author of
the current Republican-backed bill, which
cleared the House on a party-line vote in
July.
The House bill and a Senate-passed version are awaiting a conference committee
to hammer out differences as Congress
returns from its summer recess. (See story,
Page 18.)
"Whether it's replacing No Child Left
Behind, holding the Obama administration accountable for its harmful policies, or
strengthening higher education, there is a
lot of work to do over the next 16 months,"
he said in a press release."I remain humbled by the opportunity to lead the com-

mittee, and I intend to finish strong and to
continue delivering common-sense reforms
America's student, parents, workers, and
employers deserve."
Even if Kline had sought re-election and
won, he is term-limited on the education
committee, so this already would be his
last year spearheading education priorities.
Reps. Joe Wilson of South Carolina and
Virginia Foxx of North Carolina are the
next two most-senior Republican members.

higher education bills through the House
with bipartisan backing-one that would
increase financial-aid counseling, another
that would simplify the amount of financial
forecasting families receive for estimated
college costs, and another that would allow
colleges to test competency-based degree
programs.
The workforce training and the childcare measures are the only ones that were
signed into law by the president.

Turning Up the Heat

Administration Critic

But his announcement, education advocates were quick to point out, will give Congress even more incentive to get an ESEA
rewrite over the finish line.
"We're sad to see Chairman Kline go,"
said Mary Kusler, director of government
relations at the 3 million-member National
Education Association. "He's been a pragmatic leader [who's] been unafraid to talk
about the importance of our public education system in this country and the important role that the federal government has
in that system. Granted, he would like less
of a federal role than currently exists, but
overall he has really been a champion."
"This is a defining moment," Kusler
added. "If he can get a [ESEA] bill to the
president's desk, this will matter a lot."
Kline has also helped push bills through
the chamber on charter schools, workforce
training, child-care development, and education research.
In addition, he's worked to get three

Kline has been a vociferous critic of the
Obama administration's education agenda,
particularly its waivers from provisions of
the NCLB law, which he's argued are on
shaky legal ground, educationally problematic, and a troubling source of policy uncertainty for state leaders.
In an interview with Education Week
after the election in November, he said:
"I've been trying and trying to get No
Child Left Behind replaced ... I'm looking
at every way to get it done. It's the most important [education priority] because states
are struggling with the temporary-waiver
system set up by the administration. We
need to change the law."
Kline is a member of the Republican
Study Committee, a group of the most
conservative House members, but he's
more moderate when it comes to education
policy. In rewriting ESEA, for example,
he's been less inclined to support voucher
programs and instead interested in pass-

ing a bill that would replicate high-quality
charter schools.
"Kline is a legislator who came up at
time when moderate was a good thing
and not a poison pill," said Noelle Ellerson, associate executive director of policy
and advocacy at AASA, the School Superintendents Association. "He was able
to hold true to that even when it became
an increasingly difficult task. He had
end goals and there were things that
were nonnegotiable. But there were also
things he was willing to trade on. That's
really what you want, what policy needs,
what education needs, and what we're
going to miss."
The Minnesota Republican has been a
big proponent of fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
and has continually slammed the Obama
administration over its annual budget proposals for the program for students with
special needs.
Despite being targeted by liberal HBO
personality Bill Maher's "flip a district" effort during the last election, Kline easily
recaptured his seat, as he's done ever since
his first election.
Kline, a 25-year Marine Corps veteran,
also had a storied military career that
included piloting helicopters in Vietnam,
commanding aviation forces in Somalia,
and flying the presidential helicopter, Marine One. He also carried the briefcase containing the country's nuclear attack codes
for both former President Jimmy Carter
and Ronald Reagan.

U.S. REP. JOHN KLINE
The Minnesota
Republican has
helmed the House
education committee
since 2011.

Pennsylvania's budget impasse
continued to put pressure on local
schools last week, with some districts leaning on loans and reserves
to fund their schools without money
from the state, and with teachers
and support staff in one poor district
heading back to work without any
assurance they would be paid.
A new state budget was due July 1.
But Republicans who control the state
legislature and Democratic Gov. Tom
Wolf remained at odds last week over
issues including how to cut property
taxes that provide the biggest source
of public school revenues, and over
public pensions and liquor sales.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, the state's elected fiscal
watchdog, on Sept. 1 cited a survey
by the Pennsylvania Association
of School Business Officials that
showed many school districts are
considering tapping their reserves,
delaying vendor payments or taking
out short-term loans as the 2015-16
school year begins with state subsidies frozen.
"It is somewhat ironic that the fight
over more funding for education is actually costing school districts money,"
DePasquale said.
The House and Senate are not set
to return to the Capitol until later this
month. In the meantime, Wolf shifted

strategy last week, holding private
meetings Sept. 1 with top Republican
lawmakers, including Senate Majority
Leader Jake Corman and House Majority Leader Dave Reed.
Reed spokesman Steve Miskin
said he did not believe that Wolf
gave the Republicans an answer on
their two-week-old offer to meet a
key demand of Wolf's to boost public school aid, even if it requires a
tax increase. That offer came with
the condition that Wolf support the
Republican push to end the traditional benefit for most employees in
Pennsylvania's two big public pension systems by directing them into
401(k)-style retirement plans.
Wolf has opposed such a change, although he has expressed a willingness
to consider limiting how much of an
employee's salary would count toward
a traditional pension benefit.

Long-Running Battle
On June 30, Wolf vetoed the Republican majority's $30.2 billion budget bill
hours after it passed without support
from a single Democratic lawmaker.
Meanwhile, Republicans balked at
Wolf's $31.6 billion budget plan, saying it would require the biggest tax
increase in Pennsylvania history.
In the Chester Upland school district, just south of Philadelphia-
which said it could not meet a sched-

20 | EDUCATION WEEK | September 9, 2015 | www.edweek.org

uled payroll on Sept. 9 amid the
stalemate-teachers and support
staff, including bus drivers and secretaries, voted Aug. 27 to continue working even if they were not paid.
"We've always put our students first,
and we always will," said Michele Paulick, president of the Chester Upland
Education Association, the district
teacher's union.
Chester Upland said in January
2012 that it couldn't afford to pay employees, but the state used emergency
funds to keep the schools open. All
told, the state has given the district
more than $74 million in one-time
emergency funds in the past five years
to keep it operating, according to the
Wolf administration.
Chester Upland, which is under
state oversight, served about 3,400
students last year, and another 3,800
attended charter schools, according
to state data. Its approved budget
for the year is about $133 million,
about half of which ends up going to
charter schools. Most of the district's
revenue comes from the state government, largely because of the district's
poverty.
In the Pittsburgh region, the StoRox school district's board of directors approved a line of credit Aug. 20
to pay staff and continue operations
beyond September, Superintendent
Terry A. DeCarbo said. The district
borrowed about $7 million to cover

FROM TOP: Carlie
Chludzinski, 7, left,
and Aubrey Pierce, 6,
arrive on the first day
of classes for the
Harbor Creek school
district in
Pennsylvania.

Matt Rourke/AP

Associated Press

Jack Hanrahan/Erie Times-News/AP

Stalemate Over Pennsylvania Budget
Puts Heat on Districts as Schools Open

payroll through the first of the year.
Wilkinsburg is relying on property
tax revenue to carry its payroll. It has
enough to pay employees through
September at least, said Superintendent Daniel Matsook. The Brentwood
Borough school district is relying on
its fund balance to pay bills. Superin-

Gov. Tom Wolf and the
legislature are locked
in a fight over the
state budget that has
school systems
scrambling over
funding.

tendent Amy Burch said without state
funding, the district likely can support
itself through December.
This story includes material from
the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, distributed by
Tribune Content Agency.

http://www.edweek.org

Education Week - September 9, 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - September 9, 2015