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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 29, 2001

News Release

Current Challenges Require More From Ed Bill

"Legislation must seize opportunity to raise standards and help kids achieve."

Washington, D.C.- "The education bill before Congress must seize the opportunity to raise standards for all schools and to help students achieve higher standards," said NEA President Bob Chase. "Unfortunately, the current bill in conference may fall short of this goal." In a letter to the House and Senate, Chase urged Congress to craft testing and accountability measures that effectively identify schools and students in need and provide them the targeted help necessary to improve.

Chase's letter declared that mandatory full funding for special education and more common sense testing measures are imperatives for meeting the goal of higher standards. "The Elementary and Secondary Education Act is only authorized once every six years," said Chase. "Let's get it right. Simply imposing a new layer of testing, and labeling and threatening kids with failure, will not close the achievement gap and help students meet high standards."

Chase said mandatory full funding for special education is an essential piece of the final education bill. Local schools were shortchanged $11 billion in special education funding this year alone. Federal appropriations fall far short of the federal government's commitment to help meet the cost of educating students with disabilities. The federal share promised to states is 40 percent, but only about 15 percent is actually funded. This shortfall forces school districts to choose between making needed school repairs or updating equipment and providing quality special education. "At a time when the economy is faltering and state budgets are contracting, states need the help that the federal government has promised and failed to deliver for more than two decades," said Chase.

Chase warned that the testing provisions in the bill would impose severe sanctions and revoke funding on the basis of a single standardized test. "A single test is not a sufficient measure of what a student has learned," said Chase. "Parents want more information about their child's learning and their schools than that contained in one test. We demand more information from soup and cereal labels than we do in passing judgment on students and schools." NEA calls for multiple measures of school and student performance, www.nea.org/testingplus.

Shrinking state budgets mean dire consequences for education, particularly in the face of costly testing and accountability systems. In response to budget cuts, schools across the nation are increasing class sizes, delaying purchases of classroom technology, and scaling back after-school classes. "At the very moment new demands are placed on students to make the grade on an array of new standardized tests, they are being asked to make do with less," said Chase. "This isn't accountability. It's liability. Our kids deserve better."

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.