Secretary-Nominee DeVos Confirmation Hearing
On January 17, the Senate Help, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee conducted its hearing on Secretary-Nominee DeVos. Read our three takeaways for charter school authorizers related to charter school funding, accountability and more.
In addition, the Secretary-nominee committed to proceeding with the current timeline for states to turn in consolidated ESSA Title I plans, with deadlines in the Spring and Summer. However, the Secretary-nominee made no commitments on if she intended to preserve the current package of regulations governing those consolidated state plans.
New Guidance on Educating Students with Disabilities
The US Department of Education released three sets of new guidance on December 28, 2016 that have the potential to impact special education in the charter sector. One set of guidance explicitly pertains to Section 504 and IDEA in charter schools.
Want to know more? Sign up for a webinar on this release hosted by the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools on January 26 or January 31, 2017.
ESSA Implementation Update: Want to Talk?
Last week states had to notify the US Department of Education of their intended submission date for consolidated ESSA plans. As we mentioned above, Secretary-nominee DeVos stated her intent to carry forward with the deadlines (right now April 3 and September 18).
So far, seventeen states and DC have indicated they are planning to submit by the April 3 deadline. This notice to ED is non-binding: states can still choose to delay their submission date until September.
- When is your state submitting its plan? Find out!
- Has your state released a draft Title I plan, and you want to discuss it with someone? Sign up for a one-on-one session with NACSA to talk about your state’s ESSA plan, use our member forum on ESSA, or connect with another authorizer in your state.
- Quick tips for reviewing your state Title I plan: Check out NACSA’s ideas for “What Should Title I Plans Do to Get the Best Result for Authorizers?” and the commentary piece from me on tips for reading state plans.
New NACSA Resources
Title I In-Depth: In December, we highlighted what authorizers need to know about the final regulations for Title I Accountability and Assessments. For the wonks out there, an in-depth look at Title I is now available, with a quick guide of key code and regulatory citations.
Sample Charter School Communique: In our ESSA Transition Guide, NACSA recommended getting in touch with your charter schools about ESSA.
Having trouble getting started? This template may help. This is a great time to think about how you want to engage with your charter schools during this transition—a quarterly update, a stakeholder group to solicit input, a forum with your state education agency, or presenting at events in the charter community can all be great ways to facilitate communication about this transition.
