Policy discussions that take place in Washington, D.C., often neglect to address one of the most important aspects dictated by federal legislation: the flow of money from the federal level down to the building level. At the second panel of NAESP’s Federal Relations Conference, which discussed state perspectives on ESEA’s reauthorization, one attendee summed up the frustration felt by many school principals across the country when he told the panelists that no matter what type of legislation Congress passes, funding never seems to reach the building level where it is needed the most.
“When I go to Capitol Hill, I tell legislators don’t give money to the states or school districts, give it to me, give it directly to schools, because we are the ones who are underfunded,” said the attendee.
Nancy Reder, the deputy executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, argued that federal funding for education is often wasted on endless data collection that rarely improves outcomes for students. She urged principals to tell their congressman to stop funding data collection that has not been proven to catalyze reform. Adam Ezring, the senior advocacy associate for the Council of Chief State School Officers, echoed this sentiment and added that data collecting and reporting efforts should be streamlined at the state and federal levels and that the Department of Education needs to establish a single office where all data collected by states can be sent and processed.
As an organization that maintains a strong presence in Washington and stays in contact with principals across the country on a daily basis, NAESP understands that federal education legislation is useless, unless it gives individual schools the funding and tools needed to improve student outcomes. As ESEA reauthorization moves forward, NAESP’s advocacy team will continue to protect the interests of individual principals who are looking to the federal government for help.