The Department of Education issued a notice with corrections to the July 11 call for applications for the new Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) program. This program supports high-quality programs designed to develop and improve literacy skills for children and students from birth through 12th grade within the attendance boundaries of high-need local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools.

The Department of Education estimates that it will distribute 30 awards ranging from $150,000 to $750,000 to LEAs and one to four awards ranging from $3,000,000 to $14,000,000 to national, not-for-profit organizations.

IAL applications are available online and the deadline is August 10, 2012. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number is 84.215G.

Below are the corrections listed in the notice:

• The 2012 notice erroneously listed deadline dates for intergovernmental review under Executive Order (EO) 12372 and its implementing regulations in 34 CFR part 79. The Secretary had decided to waive the EO 12372 review of the July 11, 2012 notice, as authorized under part 79, but the notice did not reflect that decision.
• On page 40867, first column, the Ed Department is removing the third sentence, which reads “Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: October 9, 2012”.
• On page 40870, second column, under the heading “3. Submission Dates and Times”, they are removing the last sentence, which reads “Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: October 9, 2012”.
• On page 40870, second column, under the heading “4. Intergovernmental Review”, we are removing the second sentence.

For more information about the Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant program, read the Reading Today Online article or visit the Department of Education webpage.

As the Senate hearing about sequestration on Wednesday approaches, 3,000 organizations, including the International Reading Association (IRA), signed a letter to Congress supporting the bipartisan agreement that sequestration would be devastating to the nation. IRA Director of Government Relations Richard Long reports that the letter points out that the undersigned national, state, and local organizations—representing the hundreds of millions of Americans who support and benefit from nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs—strongly urge a balanced approach to deficit reduction that does not include further cuts to NDD programs, which have already done their part to reduce the deficit. Explaining that NDD programs are not the reason behind our growing debt, the letter cites percentages of cuts to NDD programs over the past few fiscal years. The full letter is available on the Coalition for Public Health website.

The Impact of Sequestration

A July 20 memo from Anthony W. Miller, Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education, states that “last November, the Joint Committee announced that it could not reach agreement on a deficit reduction plan. This failure triggered enforcement via automatic funding cuts, called sequestration, for fiscal year 2013, unless Congress prevents this from taking place by sending the President a balanced deficit reduction plan that does away with sequestration before it goes into effect on January 2, 2013.”

The memo continues “The 2012 advance appropriations become available in October 2012 for school year 2012-13. The 2013 regular appropriations become available in July 2013 for school year 2013-14. Most of the funds in the four accounts with advance appropriations—Education for the Disadvantaged (Title I, ESEA), School Improvement Programs (Title II, ESEA), Special Education (IDEA Part B), and Career, Technical, and Adult Education—get distributed by formula to States and then to local school districts or other entities. If Congress does not act to avoid sequestration, and assuming the 2013 appropriations for these four accounts are structured similarly to past appropriations (which they are under the pending House and Senate appropriations bills), the Department will take the sequester from funds that would become available in July 2013 for school year 2013-14, not from the 2012 advance appropriations available in October 2012.”

While Miller states that “most of the harm from the sequestration would not be felt in education programs until the 2013-14 school year, the damage from across-the-board cuts in that year would be severe,” he adds that “the potential for sequestration should not upset planning and hiring decisions for the immediately upcoming 2012-13 school year.” He explains that federal funds have already been appropriated and will be provided for this school year, through grants made in July 2012 and advance funds that will be obligated in October 2012.

Senate Hearing on Sequestration

There is a hearing on the impact of sequestration in the Senate on Wednesday that the general public can listen to via C-SPAN’s Capitol Hearings website. The pending January 2, 2013 sequestration will cut on average 9% from the Title I funding school districts are getting—about one-half the districts say that they have no information on the pending sequestration. The Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education will be holding a hearing on the impact of sequestration on education. This hearing was requested by the Committee for Education Funding in a letter to the chairman early this month.

This hearing will have the following witnesses:

Panel 1

The Honorable Arne Duncan
Secretary United States Department of Education

Panel 2

June Atkinson
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Raleigh, North Carolina

Billy Walker
Superintendent
Randolph Field Independent School District
University City, Texas

Neal P. McCluskey
Associate Director
Center for Educational Freedom
The Cato Institute

Tammy Mann
President and CEO
The Campagna Center

The Coalition for Public Health website has FAQs, videos, and more materials about sequestration. 

Recent reports show that there is some good and bad news for the US Department of Education FY13 budget.

The House subcommittee on appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education began marking up its bill for the upcoming fiscal year on Wednesday, July 18. Based on a chart released by the Committee for Education Funding, International Reading Association Director of Government Relations Richard Long shares that the latest draft reduces overall education funding by $1.1 billion but includes $159,698,000,000 for Striving Readers.

Level Funding

The committee’s markups indicate that the bill would include level funding for these programs: 

• Title I
• Migrant & Neglected
• Striving Readers
• Charter Schools
• Comp Centers
• Indian Ed
• Promised Neighborhoods
• English Language Grants
• Career & Technical
• Adult Ed
• IDEA (but Part B is increased by $500 million)

Eliminations

Unfortunately, the following initiatives may be on the chopping block:

• SIG
• SEED 1.5%
• Race to the Top (with a rescission of $400 million)
• Investment in Innovation
• Transition to Teaching 

Next Steps

Once the subcommittee completes its markup, it is expected that the full committee markup will be the week of July 23. 

For more information about FY13 budget negotiations, visit the “Budget News” section of the Department of Education website.

Today, the Obama administration approved seven more requests for waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB), in exchange for state-developed plans to prepare all students for college and career, focus aid on the neediest students, and support effective teaching and leadership. The approved states include Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and South Carolina, as well as the District of Columbia.

Federal education law has been due for congressional reauthorization since 2007. In the face of congressional inaction, President Obama announced in September of 2011 that the Obama Administration would grant waivers from NCLB to qualified states. The first requests for waivers were granted in February of 2012. Five additional requests are still under review, and there is still time for other states to apply. States have until September 6 to apply for the next round of waivers.

The 32 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have been approved for waivers from NCLB include: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The 5 states with outstanding requests for waivers include California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, and Nevada.

The 13 states (plus Puerto Rico) that have not yet requested a waiver through this process include; Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont (request withdrawn), West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Visit the US Department of Education website’s “ESEA Flexibility” section for more information.

On July 6, 2012, the Obama administration approved Washington and Wisconsin for flexibility from key provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—now called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—in exchange for state-developed plans that are required to include adoption of college and career ready standards, teacher and principal evaluation and nine other key components. This brings the number of states that have been approved for waivers from NCLB to 26, or more than half the country.

President Obama announced in September of 2011 that the Obama Administration would grant waivers from NCLB to qualified states. The first requests for waivers were granted in February of 2012.

The 26 states that have been approved for waivers from NCLB include: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

The 10 other states (plus Washington, D.C.) with outstanding requests for waivers include: Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, and South Carolina.

The 14 states (plus Puerto Rico) that have not yet requested a waiver through this process include: Alabama, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont (request withdrawn), West Virginia, and Wyoming.

States have until September 6, 2012, to apply for the next round of waivers. 

Visit the US Department of Education website’s “ESEA Flexibility” section for more information.