Congress Looks to Prioritize Whole-Child Supports, Democrats Aim to Boost Federal School Spending, Integrated Student Supports & More
May 21, 2019
By: Erika Ross
Source: The 74
As part of Education Week’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series, Alyson Klein responds to a question posed by Sheryl Santos-Hatchett of the University of North Texas: “What if a state refuses to follow through on or retracts a state plan and doesn’t care about funding? Does ESSA have any teeth to close down a school district? By what constitutional provision does ESSA have any right to dictate educational law?”
The short answer to these questions is “no.” According to Klein, “ESSA doesn’t really have the teeth to force a state to follow through on its plan if the state doesn’t care about losing key federal funding. And two, a school district couldn’t close down because of ESSA.” She adds that while technically, “states don’t have to follow ESSA’s requirements,” if “they decide to completely stop following the law — for example, by ditching annual testing — they could forfeit Title I funding, which helps districts cover the cost of educating students in poverty.”