The formal letter from Washington hasn't arrived, simply the verdict has: The federal Department of Education has turned down California's application for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind constabulary.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson

Country Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson

"It is disappointing that our state'southward request – which enjoyed such strong support from parents, teachers, administrators, and education advocates across California – has patently been rejected," Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a press release Friday.

Thirty-three states and the Commune of Columbia take already received waivers, liberating them from NCLB'south master demand ­– 100 percent proficiency of all students in English language arts and  math past 2022 – and the sanctions that come up with failing to see it. These states likewise at present take flexibility to spend a portion of federal Title I dollars that had been restricted to NCLB compliance. An additional 10 states have waiver applications pending.

The rejection of California'due south application was non unexpected. Gov. Jerry Brown, Torlakson and the Land Board of Teaching had chafed at some of U.South. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's requirements, and had filed a waiver asking that ignored them. Amid their objections: the requirement of a statewide teacher evaluation system that includes the utilize of standardized test information. State officials practical for a waiver nether a different section of the police force that they claimed gave Duncan authority to grant permission.

What was surprising was how long information technology took for a decision: California sent in its application in June. State pedagogy officials learned of the rejection in conversations with federal education administrators, Paul Hefner, Torlakson's spokesman, said.

President Obama and Duncan announced in the fall of 2022 that they would consider granting waivers because of the failure of Congress to set or supersede NCLB, officially known as the Elementary and Secondary Pedagogy Act. With a sharply divided Congress no closer now to reaching an agreement, states with waivers are free to devise their ain accountability plans to fix everyman-achieving schools and narrow the achievement gap.

Without a waiver, the number of California schools and districts facing penalties for failing to meet NCLB's proficiency targets volition continue to ascent. Currently 70 percent of schools receiving federal Championship I money – 4,402 out of half-dozen,209 schools – are in Program Comeback, the designation for beingness out of compliance. Torlakson and State Board of Education President Michael Kirst accept sharply criticized No Kid Left Behind's accountability demands. In a letter sent to superintendents and heads of charter schools on Friday, they implied that California will take the path of least resistance to federal sanctions, focusing instead on the country's effort to revise its own accountability system, using the Academic Performance Index. "While we await direction from ED (Department of Education) on new requirements for federal accountability, California will keep to apply the API every bit the key indicator in determining whether the school or LEA (district) has fabricated acceptable academic progress."

However, the deprival of a waiver will take consequences. Schools in Program Improvement must proceed to notify parents annually that they tin can transfer their children to some other school, and they must continue to prepare aside 20 percent of Title I coin for student tutoring and transporting students to schools of their selection. At that place are also restrictions on 10 percent of Title I dollars that must exist used for teacher grooming. With a state waiver, districts would take flexibility to use this money, which totals $353 meg statewide, according to the land Department of Education.

In his statement, Torlakson said, "Based on a thorough exam of federal and country police force, California made a good-faith attempt to seek relief from requirements that even federal officials have best-selling fourth dimension and over again are deeply flawed."

One group that praised the rejection past the feds is StudentsFirst, a Sacramento-based advocacy group created past former Washington, D.C., chancellor of schools Michelle Rhee, which favors the substantial utilize of exam scores with instructor evaluations. "If Supt. Torlakson'due south argument is accurate, the Obama administration is correctly poised to deny California'due south petition because legislators and defenders of the status quo refuse to create the appropriate learning surround and then that every kid is given a chance to succeed," its statement said Friday. "Further, by submitting an inadequate application, California has precluded the ability of schoolhouse districts and schools to be flexible and innovative with millions in federal funds."

Duncan has said that he might consider granting a waiver to districts in states whose waivers are turned down, as long as the districts meet the criteria, including evaluation systems. Among those that volition at present printing Duncan to motion forward with the thought are the eight unified districts that have come up together under the umbrella of the nonprofit California Office to Reform Didactics (CORE). Its members include Long Embankment, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento City and Fresno. Fresno Unified Superintendent Michael Hanson said last night, "Nosotros're hopeful the Section of Teaching will consider NCLB waivers at the commune level through consortiums similar Cadre."

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