Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Indiana gains 3-year waiver from federal education law

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana will have three more years of flexibility from requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law, the federal government said Thursday.

The waiver frees the Indiana Department of Education from some federal testing and school progress rules and lets Indiana keep greater control of how it spends about $230 million in federal education funding. The state originally received the waiver in 2012.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan approved waiver requests Thursday from seven states for periods ranging from one year to four years. In all, the Obama administration has granted waivers for 43 states and the District of Columbia.

Indiana state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz called the decision welcome news and pointed out that the three-year extension - through the end of the 2017-18 school year - was longer than previous ones Indiana received.

The federal waiver notification highlighted Indiana’s Division of Outreach for School Improvement for helping low-performing schools develop plans to get better. The division helped 103 schools - with more than 61,000 students - show enough progress so that they advanced from D or F ratings on the state’s A-F school grading system, Ritz said.

“I will continue to work with both local schools and the federal government to find increased ways to direct more resources into classrooms while reducing the amount of time spent on testing,” Ritz said in a statement.

The 2002 landmark education law signed by President George W. Bush required annual testing and put into place consequences for schools that didn’t show progress. It led to complaints that teachers were forced to teach to the tests, and that some of the mandates weren’t realistic. Federal lawmakers have been at odds for years on how to fix the law.

The current waiver application was prepared without the in-fighting that was seen last year between a now-disbanded education agency created by Republican Gov. Mike Pence and the Indiana Department of Education, headed by Ritz. Pence’s top education aide at the time submitted a 28-page critique of the state’s waiver, questioning the capabilities of Ritz’s staff to perform work outlined in the application. Federal officials gave Indiana a one-year waiver for the 2014-15 school year.

Last month, Ritz announced a bid for the 2016 Democratic nomination for governor; Pence is running for re-election.

 

Posted 7/24/2015

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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