Championing K-12 Public Education in Washington DC
Washington DC, the heart of political endeavors and a melting pot of ideas, stands as a critical arena where advocacy can turn into impactful change. On the second week of September, I was honored to join 29 other Board of Education (BOE) delegates from the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA), Legislative Platform Committee, who embarked on a journey to delve into the world of advocating for K-12 public education in our nation's capital, uncovering the passion and drive needed to spearhead transformation. We joined advocates from across the country as members of the Consortium of State School Boards Association (COSSBA) in our efforts to share the need for support of K12 Public Education for all students. We met with the U.S. Department of Education and other national leaders as well as our elected officials from Ohio.
Embracing the Cause
Picture this: the bustling streets of Washington DC, filled not just with cars and pedestrians but also with voices raised in unison for the betterment of our educational system. Advocacy for K-12 public education is more than a campaign; it's a movement towards equal opportunities and brighter futures for our children. It is about ensuring that every student, regardless of background or zip code, receives a quality education that sets the stage for success.
Navigating the Halls of Power
As advocates, we stepped into the corridors of power, armed not just with facts and figures, but with a burning passion to drive change. Meetings with policymakers became more than just discussions; they became opportunities to plant seeds of progress, nurturing the soil for a flourishing educational landscape. Each word spoken, each statistic presented, was a step closer to realizing a vision where every child has access to high-quality education.
Our Advocacy Priorities
As non-partisan advocates of COSSBA, we concentrated on a few major federal issues that has widespread impact on our nation's public schools and students. The COSSBA advocacy position is adopted annually by leaders of each member state school boards associations, requiring a two-thirds majority support. Our priorities serve as a unifying agenda on behalf of American public school students.
COSSBA Requests
A substantial increase in federal funding allocated to mental health services for public schools, which could be used to hire more mental health professionals, such as counselors, psychologists, and social workers or to contract with community mental health professionals to provide services for the public schools.
Acknowledge longstanding workforce challenges in mental health through innovative training programs, loan repayment, and intensified efforts to recruit professionals into school-based and community mental health positions.
Increase implementation and sustainable funding of effective models of school-based mental health care, including clinical strategies and models for payment – including making it easier for schools to access Medicaid supports.
Address safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments for all students and educators – including encouraging partnerships between schools and community-based organizations – through additional support and resources.
Strengthen efforts to reduce the risk of suicide in children and adolescents through prevention programs in schools, primary care, and community settings.
Acknowledge that meeting the mental health challenges impacting public schools is a shared responsibility that requires partnerships between local schools, community-based, and state agencies.
As our nation’s schools navigate the post-pandemic landscape and focus on improving student outcomes it is imperative to recognize the profound impact and challenge posed by mental health issues on the well-being of students and staff. The current mental health challenges within the public school system demand urgent attention, adequate funding, and comprehensive action. Addressing these challenges is crucial to creating a supportive environment that is conducive to learning.
A 2023 Pew Poll on Parenting in America showed that mental health topped the list of parents’ concerns with 76% of respondents either extremely, very worried, or somewhat worried about their children struggling with anxiety or depression. Teen suicides have surged across the nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates among individuals aged 15-24 have increased by 57% over the past decade, including a significant increase during the pandemic. The suicide rate among girls is nearly double that of boys. This data highlights the urgency of addressing mental health concerns among young people.
The COVID-19 pandemic further intensified the mental health crisis impacting our public-school systems. Mounting evidence underscores the direct correlation between mental health and academic success. Students grappling with mental health issues are more likely to struggle academically, experience absenteeism, face challenges in building healthy peer relationships, and are more likely to abuse illegal substances. Chronic absenteeism has also significantly increased following the pandemic.
This trend places a significant burden on educators and support staff who shoulder the responsibility of providing emotional support to students. Further, mental health is a contributor to disruptive behavior in classrooms and schools. The lack of mental health resources for students and staff contributes to burnout, decreased job satisfaction, and high turnover rates within the education sector. Expanding mental health services is not only critical for our students, but also an investment in the well-being of our educators, ensuring a stable and nurturing environment for all within our nation’s schools.
COSSBA Requests:
Support the nation’s public education system by stopping the diversion of federal funding to non-public school choice options, vouchers, tax credit, and ESA programs.
K-12 public education has long been viewed as a pillar of our nation’s democracy. It is an underpinning for civic engagement, quality of life, and economic opportunity. Study after study highlights that high quality public education produces students who are healthier, wealthier, and more engaged citizens. Studies have also substantiated that supporting public education does make a difference—investments in public education result in many positive externalities for communities, states, and the nation.
For more than three decades state legislatures, and more recently Congress, have debated the pros and cons of school choice to introduce “competition” and drive improvement in student achievement outcomes. Conceptually, school choice is designed to empower the rights of parents to choose the most proper school setting for their children, be it a public school (traditional or charter), private school, or home school. Other policy levers have emerged that further spur the notion of choice, including a multitude of tax credit programs and Education Scholarship Accounts (ESA) that function like a consumer Health Savings Account. For example, Arizona in 2022 passed a universal ESA program for all K-12 education students.
According to research and reports from the Education Commission of the States, the landscape of school choice in states across the nation includes:
An escalation of social and political challenges confronts K-12 public education more than ever before. Despite these challenges, and the expanding market of school choice, public schools continue to remain the schools of choice for parents. Nationwide, according to the
NCES Condition of Education 2022 report, more than 49.4 million students attend a public school compared to 4.7 million students in private schools, and 1.7 million students who are homeschooled. (retrieved January 3, 2022)
The Consortium of State School Boards Association (COSSBA) opposes increased federal government activity and funding for non-public school choice options, including but not limited to voucher, tax credit and ESA programs. These programs divert funding from public schools, lack financial transparency and accountability, are subject to less regulation and oversight, and do not improve student achievement.
COSSBA Requests
Significant increases in Title I funding to allow schools to quickly address and overcome the Achievement Gap and disparities exacerbated by COVID-19.
Increases in Title IV funding to help solve the additional student health challenges schools are addressing, especially those in mental health.
Education is the foundation for ensuring a strong, safe and prosperous nation. Study after study highlights that high-quality public education produces students who are healthier, wealthier, and more engaged citizens. However, in order to achieve these outcomes, our public schools need adequate and robust resources to overcome the current challenges that have emerged after the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal funding for public education, especially for IDEA, ESEA Title I, Title II, and Title IV Part A, makes up a large portion of the necessary resources our schools need for success.
The Nation’s Report Card for 2023 demonstrated that our students have suffered academically since the pandemic. Scores have dramatically regressed to those achieved in the 1990s. The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) each year examines achievement in reading and math for 4th and 8th grade students. Last year’s results highlight that COVID had a huge impact on learning, especially for students of color. While generous and flexible COVID funding has helped to initially address this challenge, this is a systemic issue that will last for many years, even decades, if schools are not adequately funded early enough to build sustainable solutions for now and into the future.
Another significant challenge facing school districts is the health and well-being of students. The isolation during the pandemic and nature of online learning has detrimentally impacted many students. Students’ social skills, self-confidence, and mental health have suffered. And they face increased rates of anxiety and depression. Our schools and our educators must address these challenges. Demand for school psychologists and other wrap-around supports has skyrocketed. While schools strive to provide the best education to students, we know that students also need to be in a good state of health to learn and succeed. Hunger, homelessness, depression, anxiety, and other issues impact student performance. More and more each day, our schools are being called on to address these issues. In the past, the role of the school was to educate, however, over the years that role has evolved to address student need in a broader context. As we move past the pandemic, the demand and need for those supports has greatly expanded. Our schools and our educators are ready to meet these challenges and are uniquely suited to help but require additional resources to be successful.
Unfortunately, annual federal funding for education has not kept pace with inflation and recent proposals to significantly cut investments move our schools in the wrong direction.
COSSBA Requests
Increase Title II, Part A, funding to attract, develop, and retain high quality educators
Incentivize teacher and principal licensure reform efforts with the goals of improving student achievement and meeting the needs of public schools.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended; 20 U.S.C. 6601-6641 created Title II, Part A.
The recruitment, development, and retention of schoolteachers and leaders is more important than ever. Title II, Part A: Teacher and Principal Training and Recruitment provides state agencies and local school districts essential federal investments for this purpose. The purpose of the Title II program is to improve academic achievement of all students by increasing access to effective educators. Title II provides grants to state educational agencies (SEAs) and subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs). The goal of program is to:
Increase student achievement consistent with the challenging State academic standards,
Improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals, and other school leaders,
Increase the number of teachers, principals, and other school leaders who are effective in improving student academic achievement in schools, and
Provide low-income and students of color greater access to effective teachers, principals, and other school leaders.
In exchange for receiving funds, state educational agencies and school districts are held accountable to the public for improvements in academic achievement. Title II, Part A, also provides these agencies the flexibility to use these funds creatively to address challenges to teacher quality. This can be accomplished through teacher preparation and qualifications of new teachers, recruitment and hiring, induction, professional development, teacher retention, or the need for more capable principals and assistant principals to serve as effective school leaders.
Formula grants are provided for state-level activities, which include but are not limited to:
Reforming teacher and principal certification programs,
Providing support for new teachers, and
Providing professional development for teachers and principals.
In addition to state-level activities, SEAs make formula subgrants to LEAs, also known as local school districts. LEA activities include but are not limited to:
Recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers and principals,
Increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in classrooms, and
Providing professional development for teachers and principals.
LEA activities must be based on a local needs assessment. They must align with state academic content standards, student academic achievement standards and state assessments.
COSSBA Requests
Executive Requests
Efficiency and equity in the operation of the E-Rate program.
Enhanced and expanded capacity of the E-Rate program.
Flexibility in E-Rate program requirements and eligibility, as communities continue to utilize virtual instruction at an unprecedented level.
Sustained quality and speed of connectivity in schools.
Focus on closing the education technology gap and “The Homework Gap” for students in rural and low-income communities.
Additionally, COSSBA opposes the FCC’s proposal to place a budget cap on the Universal Service Fund and the E-Rate program.
Congressional Requests
Enactment of legislation that codifies and funds federal support for implementing effective cybersecurity measures for K-12 schools.
Distribution of emergency funding for students who lack access to devices and/or connectivity.
Implementation of a permanent exemption or solution to the Anti-Deficiency Act.
Reinstatement of net neutrality to ensure that schools are not paying additional costs.
Continue to support robust funding for rural broadband deployment in the upcoming Farm Bill reauthorization
Broadband and Connectivity
A vast majority of schools across the country have the capacity to connect students to the internet every day, but, according to Education Superhighway, only 38% of school districts meet the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recommended level of one megabit per second.
As of recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 94% of U.S. households with children aged 3 to 18 have internet access, but only 88% have access through a computer. This statistic reflects the increasing importance of internet connectivity for educational purposes and the efforts to close the digital divide. Further, while a high percentage of households have internet access, a smaller proportion have reliable access through a computer, which is often necessary for more effective educational activities compared to access through mobile devices.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in-school instruction, programs supporting at-home learning reduced the number of students without broadband access by 20-40% and reduced the number of students without a device by 40-60%. Analysis finds that over 75% of these programs’ efforts will expire in the next one to three years. These expirations could reverse some of the progress made in closing the digital divide unless permanent solutions are implemented.
Cybersecurity
Public schools rely on information technology for many operations. But cybersecurity incidents, like ransomware attacks, significantly affect everything from educational instruction to school operations. K-12 schools have reported significant educational impact due to cybersecurity incidents. Cyberattacks can also cause monetary losses for targeted schools due to the downtime and resources needed to recover from incidents. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), officials from state and local entities report that the loss of learning following a cyberattack can range from 3 days to 3 weeks, and recovery time ranges from 2 to 9 months.
The number of cyberattacks on K-12 public schools has significantly increased in recent years. The K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center reported that in 2020, there were over 400 publicly disclosed cybersecurity incidents, which was an 18% increase from the previous year. The most common types of cyberattacks include ransomware, phishing, and data breaches. Ransomware attacks, where hackers encrypt a school's data and demand payment for its release, have been particularly prevalent. These attacks can have severe consequences, including disruptions to learning, financial losses, and the exposure of sensitive student and staff information. Some schools have had to shut down operations temporarily to address cybersecurity breaches. Further, the financial impact of cyberattacks on schools can be substantial. Costs can include ransom payments, recovery efforts, legal fees, and investments in improved cybersecurity measures. The average cost of a data breach for educational institutions was reported to be around $3.9 million. Literally impacting millions of students across the nation, this problem is growing at an alarming rate as are the costs to adequately address it.
E-Rate Program
The federal E-Rate program helps eligible schools and libraries access affordable telecommunications, internet access, and internal connections by providing discounts from 20-90%. E-Rate is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), which was created in 1997 under the FCC.
Funding for the E-Rate program is based on demand and is currently capped at $4.276 billion. To be eligible for funding, a school must meet the statutory definition of an elementary or secondary school. An eligible school may submit a request to the USAC for identified goods and services, followed by the school selecting the most cost-effective goods and services from competitive bids. Next, the school must apply to the USAC for approval of the purchases, and the USAC will issue funding commitments dependent on eligibility. Discounts for goods and services depend on poverty level and location of the school. The E-Rate program is a vital component of the national effort to ensure that all students have access to the digital resources necessary for modern education.
During the pandemic, the importance of the E-Rate program was further highlighted as schools transitioned to remote learning. While E-Rate funding itself cannot be used to cover off-campus internet access, the FCC introduced additional initiatives, such as the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), to help address connectivity needs for remote learning. The ECF program, which has since sunsetted, invested $7.17 billion to provide support to approximately 18 million students, 11,500 schools, 1,070 libraries, and 130 consortia, and provided nearly 13.5 million connected devices and over 8 million broadband connections. Subsequent FCC action on wi-fi hotspots and other services has allowed a significant part of ECF’s homework gap support to continue through the E-Rate.
COSSBA Requests
Provide increased reimbursements for school lunch and breakfast; provide funds to cover higher food/labor costs; and expand lunch and breakfast programs to offer free meals to all students.
Reauthorization that reduces burdensome federal mandates and provides flexibility for school districts to administer healthy meals students want to eat, to include reducing meal planning complexities, cutting red tape, and maximizing staff time and funds for meal prep.
Congress must bolster NSLP/SBP to include expansion of community eligibility so that more schools serving large numbers of low-income children can provide meals at no charge to all students, including creating a statewide option so that states could more easily begin offering meals at no charge to all students. Under community eligibility, school districts must cover any costs that exceed the federal reimbursement. Because the reimbursement sometimes falls short of covering a school’s full meal costs, many eligible schools have chosen not to participate.
No unfunded mandates or under-resourced requirements.
Farm Bill Priorities
Support robust funding and flexibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to ensure families have the support they need to combat hunger.
Strengthen funding and support for programs that directly help children including the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program and the Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program.
Millions of public-school students are served by national child nutrition programs every year. Free and reduced-priced meals offered through federal programs support kids’ healthy development and ensure that students from low-income households have access to nutritious breakfasts and lunches at school. When students come to school hungry, they can’t learn.
As nearly one in five children in our nation live in households without enough to eat, these programs are a literal lifeline for students and may often provide the only full and healthy meals they get all day. Unfortunately, amid post pandemic uncertainties, persistent challenges and cost increases continue to threaten the stability of school meal programs. According to a recent survey by the School Nutrition Association:
99% of school meal programs are struggling with increasing costs (84% said this was a significant challenge);
Just 17% of programs said the current federal reimbursement rate is sufficient to cover the cost of producing a lunch and almost all are concerned about the long-term financial sustainability of their programs;
91% of programs are challenged by staff shortages – exacerbated by inadequate reimbursement rates;
Nearly 90% are still struggling with shortages of menu items; and
93% report continued challenges from unpaid meal debt, with the average debt continuing to climb annually.
In response to the ongoing pandemic, the USDA extended a set of nationwide waivers intended to help school meal programs feed students through June 30, 2022. Congress subsequently passed the Keep Kids Fed Act, which extended some waiver authority and also increased reimbursement rates for the 2022-23 school year. Unfortunately, those increased reimbursement rates and waiver authority expired in July 2023. As these survey results show, schools across the country continue to struggle with providing adequate meals to students in need.
COSSBA Requests
Amend IDEA to ensure parents and school districts can fully collaborate and provide an education that meets the needs of individual students.
Allocate more funding for students with disabilities that is at least equal to the national average per pupil expenditure for students served under the IDEA.
Signed November 29, 1975, by President Gerald Ford, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) turns 50 in 2025. The Act governs special education services for students across the country by ensuring all students with a disability have access to a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.
Even though IDEA has resulted in positive changes for students with disabilities, issues still exist. Parents and school districts must navigate a process that is burdensome, and results in a lack of collaboration and trust. Laws and regulations that deal with student discipline, due process, and placement tend to result in adversarial relationships between parents and school staff. Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings focus more on addressing procedural requirements instead of focusing on student needs. The law should promote collaboration between parents and schools, building trust and removing procedural hurdles creating an environment that promotes student success.
The largest hurdle to achieving that student success is the lack of federal funding. When the IDEA became law, the federal government promised to fund 40 percent of the cost. Congress continues to woefully underfund this program forcing school districts and local taxpayers to make up the difference. Congress must allocate more funding for students with disabilities to fully meet the goals contained in the IDEA. As more students are identified with disabilities each year incremental increases will continue the decline in federal support for this population. Congress must find a way to fund its mandate by meeting the 40% funding commitment.
IDEA By The Numbers
8 million – Number of students identified with disabilities, up from 7.5 million in 2020.
$14.2 billion – Amount of federal grant dollars going to states in FY 2024, up from $12.7 billion in FY 2020.
Over $40 billion – Amount estimated needed to meet the federal obligation of 40%
Roughly 18% – Percentage high water mark for federal funding in meeting the 40% threshold. (2005)
$26 billion – Estimated amount that states and local schools will spend to cover federal commitment for students with disabilities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, advocating for K-12 public education in Washington DC was not just a noble cause; it is an imperative call to action to amplify our voices, galvanizing support for policies and initiatives that pave the way for a brighter future for our children. I hope you will join your public school district in lifting our collective voices for a stronger tomorrow – Our students deserve it!
Living Life with Intention!
Mary
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