Education Week - December 9, 2015 - 16

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| THE SCHOOL LAW BLOG | Serving on the U.S. Supreme Court
makes one a member of a pretty exclusive club, and it isn't
often that the justices join the boards of other prominent
organizations.
But Justice Sonia Sotomayor has done just that-joining the
board of iCivics, the educational organization founded in 2009
by retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The nonprofit organization offers digital games and lesson
plans for students and teachers to advance civics education
and has more than 100,000 registered teachers. O'Connor,
who left the Supreme Court in 2006, launched the effort out of
concerns for U.S. students' poor understanding of courts and
other government functions, and she has worked tirelessly to
promote it.
Sotomayor, who joined the high court in 2009, will be part
of a 10-member governing board for iCivics, to help guide
the development of its educational content and serve as an
ambassador for the organization.
Louise Dubé, the executive director of Washington-based
iCivics, said in an interview that Sotomayor contacted her after
an April event in which O'Connor was honored for her work
on civics education by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena
Kagan, and Sotomayor.
Dubé said Sotomayor was "unusually committed to education,
to civics, and to using her station in life to bring the message to
communities she relates to, especially Latino communities, that
law relates to you."
Asked what role she saw Sotomayor taking, Dubé said, "She
is primarily going to be a fantastic spokeswoman for iCivics.
She is a rock star with students, and we think she will help
reach students directly."
Under the Code of Conduct for United States Judges,
Sotomayor's role would appear to be permitted. The ethical
canons apply directly to lower federal court judges, not
members of the Supreme Court. But the justices generally
strive to abide by the canons.
-MARK WALSH

Pre-K Demand Outstrips
Funded Spots in Indiana's
Newly Launched Program
| EARLY YEARS | After much fanfare about the launch of
Indiana's first public preschool program this fall, numbers
have emerged showing that the number of funded spots is far
outstripped by demand.
Of the 5,000 applicants in Marion County, home of state
capital Indianapolis, only 30 percent were offered preschool
scholarships, according to The Indianapolis Star. And the
acceptance number in Marion County includes the extra
children who are covered by an additional $4.2 million in
annual funding provided by the city of Indianapolis.
"In Lake County, only 40 percent of those who applied
to the state program were accepted. Vanderburgh County
had the highest rate of acceptance, but still denied about 35
percent of applicants, state figures show," according to the
Associated Press.
Predictions that the program would be too small to serve the
number of qualified children have not resulted in additional
funding for the program in 2016.
And Republican Gov. Mike Pence decided not to apply for
$80 million in federal funding last year to cover additional
children, citing concerns that the money would come with
too many conditions and requirements. Pence "will wait for
results of the state's pre-K pilot program before making any
decisions" about growing the state's program, said Stephanie
Hodgin, a spokeswoman for the governor, in a statement.
Indiana's $10 million program has come under some fire for
refusing to accept 4-year-olds who are not legal U.S. residents.
"It's shortsighted and wrong to deny children educational
opportunity from the starting line because of their immigration
status-especially children who are clearly here through no
fault of their own," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
said in a September statement.
While state Democrats told the Star that there was enough
evidence that preschool worked to justify an immediate
expansion, state Republicans urged caution until the results of
the program are clear.
-LILLIAN MONGEAU

16 | EDUCATION WEEK | December 9, 2015 | www.edweek.org

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Joins Board of Group
Promoting Civics Education

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., left, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte,
R-Va., walk to the chamber as the House votes on a rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that
aims to roll back the federal role in K-12 education and to return much authority to the states.

House Approval of ESEA Overhaul
Marks Rare, Bipartisan Agreement
By Alyson Klein
Almost 14 years ago, the U.S.
House of Representatives voted by a
huge, bipartisan margin to pass the
No Child Left Behind Act, which put
the federal government front and
center when it came to how K-12
schools measured student performance and fixed struggling schools.
But last week, the House approved
the Every Student Succeeds Act-the
latest effort to update the main federal K-12 law-by an almost as overwhelming margin, 359-64.
The bill would scale back the federal role in education for the first
time since the early 1980s, handing
greater control over accountability
and school improvement back to
states. It also would keep in place
the NCLB law's signature transparency requirements-including annual testing-and focus on helping
traditionally overlooked groups of
students and failing schools.
ESSA's political prospects appeared rosy from there on out. A
similar piece of legislation passed
with big bipartisan support in the
Senate earlier this year, and the bill
was expected to sail through that
chamber in the coming days. And
the White House has said it strongly
supports the bill.

Setting the Template
The bill would direct states
and districts to turn around their
lowest-performing schools, schools
with high dropout rates, and those
where so called "subgroups" of
students-like English-language
learners, students in special education, and racial minorities-are
struggling.
It would consolidate some 50 programs into a big block grant, and
seriously curtail the U.S. education
secretary's authority, while main-

taining the Education Department's
important enforcement protections,
one sponsor says.
And, in a nod to concerns that the
NCLB law placed too much emphasis on a single test score in rating
schools, the measure calls for states
to consider other factors in gauging
school performance, such as school
climate and teacher engagement.

Cross-Aisle Backslapping
The debate on the House floor
Dec. 2 was full of bipartisan backslapping and a sense from lawmakers across the political spectrum
that ESSA strikes the right balance
between flexibility for states and
civil rights protections.
"Parents, teachers, superintendents, and other education leaders
have been telling us for years that
the top-down approach to education
isn't working," Rep. John Kline, RMinn., the chairman of the House
education committee and a coauthor of the bill, said during the
debate. "Yet some still believe that
more programs, more mandates,
and more bureaucrats will help get
this right. Well, those days will soon
be over."
For his part, Rep. Bobby Scott,
D-Va., another architect of the legislation, said the bill offered muchneeded leeway, while maintaining
the civil rights legacy of the underlying law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
"It maintains high standards for
all children, and requires states to
put into place locally designed evidence-based strategies that meet
the unique needs of schools," he
said.
The tone was a big departure from
July's debate over a version of the
bill backed only by Republicans that
barely squeaked through. And a
similar bill was pulled from consid-

eration when it failed to garner sufficient support among Republicans
back in February-in part because
of opposition from the conservative
Heritage Action fund. (Heritage also
is not a fan of ESSA.)
Since then, however, the legislation was merged with a bipartisan
Senate bill, sponsored by Sens.
Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and
Patty Murray, D-Wash.
And U.S. Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan issued a sunny statement after the passage of a bill that
many say would cut his successors
off at the knees.
"We are encouraged that the bill
passed by the House today would
codify the vision that we have long
advocated for giving a fair shot at
a great education to every child in
America-regardless of ZIP code,"
he said. "The bill that the House
passed today reflects more of that
vision than nearly any observer expected."
A broad coalition of civil rights,
education redesign, and disability
groups said in a statement last
week that the legislation isn't exactly the bill that they would have
written. But overall, those groups
offered a measured endorsement.
For their part, state chiefs were
jubilant-and clear that they won't
drop the ball when it comes to ensuring progress for disadvantaged
students.
"We welcome accountability," said
Thomas Bice, Alabama's state superintendent, in a recent interview.
"We believe in assessment. But one
size doesn't fit all. What we need in
Alabama may look different than
what they need in Montana."
Teachers' unions and school administrators are also big fans of the
bill.
Staff Writer Daarel Burnette II
contributed to this report.

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Education Week - December 9, 2015

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