No changes expected in federal education law before '08

WILLMAR -- School administrators were told earlier this month to expect no changes in federal education law until after 2008.

The No Child Left Behind law requires all the nation's public schools to make progress toward a goal of having all children perform at grade level in reading and math by 2013.

Willmar Superintendent Kathy Leedom recently attended the federal legislative meeting of the American Association of School Administrators executive committee in Washington, D.C.

Leedom is not a member of the committee, but she joined a small number of representatives of state organizations who were invited

to attend the meeting.

Leedom will be president of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators in 2007. MASA paid for her trip to Washington.

"It was very worthwhile," she said. "Federal legislation of recent years is definitely impacting education at the local level more than we ever thought possible."

With that federal involvement, it's important for people "close to the action" to be able to share their experiences with federal officials, she said.

Leedom said Minnesotans on the trip were able to meet with representatives from the offices of Rep. Betty McCollum and Sen. Norm Coleman.

"Almost everyone agreed that nothing is likely to change until after 2008," she said.

They also attended the two-day executive committee meeting to hear speakers from a variety of backgrounds.

Discussions on budget and appropriations were bipartisan and informative, she said, and it was clear from the presentations that schools across the country have some of the same concerns in dealing with federal requirements.

Leedom ran down some of the comments she noted during the meeting.

* One speaker pointed out that No Child Left Behind gives schools "40 ways to fail and one way to pass."

* Speakers estimated that states spend between 1 percent and 5 percent of their budgets to comply with the paperwork requirements of the federal law.

* The federal government provides 8 percent of public education funding; states and local districts provide 92 percent.

* Experts say it's statistically impossible to reach the federal goal of 100 percent proficiency.

* Achievement targets will continue to increase each year. Meeting those targets "will require states to add 20 percent to 40 percent to their existing K-12 budgets," she said. "That's billions of dollars."

Leedom said she learned that there was a consensus at the federal level that "poverty is not an excuse for low achievement." Poverty is an issue for Willmar Public Schools, where about 43 percent of the students receive free or reduced-price school lunches.

The group talked about the need to take part in discussions about No Child Left Behind, even though they disagree with some of its requirements.

"We don't want to leave the impression we shouldn't be looking for ways to improve," she said.

Willmar is already doing some of the things advocated at the meeting, Leedom said.

The district uses computer-assisted testing to track student progress from fall to spring. A teacher can use the information to address a particular student's needs and to provide detailed progress reports for parents, she said.

Another topic during the meeting was funding for special education. The federal government promised to pay 40 percent of the cost many years ago but currently pays 18.6 percent.

In Willmar, the district spends more than $2 million on special education that would otherwise be covered by federal funding.

"We're proud of our special education program -- we don't want to do anything less for our special needs population," she said. Discussions at the meeting centered on having sufficient funding, including federal money, to provide the best possible education for special education students, she added.