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Legislation Update
 From the February 2002 Education newsletter.No Child Left Behind President Bush signed the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 into law on January 8. Aside from reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and giving states an historic increase in education funding, the Act requires greater accountability from each state. Annual testing of students in grades 3 through 8 will become the norm by the 2005-6 school year. Schools will be required to demonstrate progress toward meeting state proficiency goals or risk reconstitution. For low-income schools receiving Title I money, good news: funding was increased by 24%. However, if schools receiving Title I money fail to meet state academic standards, their districts will be required to use up to 20% of their Title I allocations for parent-selected supplemental education services. They must also allow students to transfer to a different public or charter school in the district. New certification requirements for teachers and paraprofessionals hired under Title I were also put in place. Reading instruction also got a boost, with $900 million earmarked for funding scientifically-based reading instruction programs in the early grades. The goal of this Reading First initiative is to ensure that young children attain the emergent literacy skills needed for success in their later school years and to decrease the number of children needing supplemental reading services in later elementary school. Commission on Special Education The 19-member President's Commission on Special Education was sworn in on January 15. The goal of the commission, chaired by former Iowa governor Terry Branstad, will be to examine policy and services to determine how federal resources can be used more effectively to improve the education of children with disabilities. They have been charged with producing a report of their findings and recommendations to President Bush by April 30. For more information on the commission's members and hearing dates, as well as contact information, see this site. We'll keep you posted on progress as the report becomes available to the public. For the latest policy updates on special education legislation, see this web site.
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