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Even as they posed tough questions about government flexibility on overhauling low-performing schools and the disadvantages of having to compete for federal dollars, the states鈥� top education officials Tuesday expressed general support for how the Obama administration aims to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e off to a very compatible start,鈥� said Joseph Morton, Alabama鈥檚 state superintendent at the annual legislative conference of the Council of Chief State School Officers. 鈥淲hen we get down to details is when we鈥檒l know for sure how compatible we are.鈥�

In it released Tuesday afternoon, CCSSO outlined several broad principles, as well as more finely honed recommendations for how the ESEA, now known as the No Child Left Behind Act, law ought to be rewritten. The overarching theme is that the states, not the federal government, ought to be taking the lead on setting education policy.

The council calls for a new ESEA that 鈥渟ets goals and criteria in core policy areas but encourages sound state policy innovation,鈥� and, more specifically, suggests that states 鈥渂e encouraged to develop and submit new policy models in assessment, accountability, supports and interventions, teacher effectiveness, etc.鈥�

Among the other 18 specific recommendations, the council asks for 鈥渂roader buckets of funding streams鈥� that would allow states to consolidate programs as they see fit and, in particular, break down barriers between early childhood, K-12, and higher education programs. It also calls for more federal investment in research and evaluation, as well as spreading knowledge about effective practices across the states and for shifting the state longitudinal data systems competitive grant program to a formula program.

But in a Tuesday meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the chiefs weren鈥檛 focused only on the details of reauthorizing the ESEA. They also offered specific recommendations鈥攁nd made specific requests鈥攊n a wide-ranging, hourlong session.

Among the topics: the $4 billion Race to the Top competition, states鈥� momentum toward adoption of common academic standards, and the challenges for rural states in turning around their lowest-performing schools through methods mandated as a condition of receiving billions of dollars in Title I school improvement grants.

The needs of rural states prompted especially lively discussion. 鈥淭he frontier is really where we are,鈥� said Denise Juneau, Montana鈥檚 state superintendent. 鈥淲e are more rural than rural.鈥�

Ms. Juneau emphasized that even the so-called transformation model, which is less drastic than the three other turnaround models that the U.S. Department of Education has said are acceptable, won鈥檛 work in her state because the approach requires the principals to be replaced. The five schools that Montana has identified as the lowest-performing are all located on isolated American Indian reservations she said.

Even if those districts could find strong principals to replace the existing ones, Ms. Juneau said, there are more fundamental challenges, such as where they would stay.

鈥淲e lack housing,鈥� she told the secretary. 鈥淚f we want to get a turnaround specialist in these places, we may not even be able to buy a double-wide trailer for them.鈥�

But Mr. Duncan would not concede that rural states can鈥檛 use the transformation model successfully, telling Ms. Juneau that Montana and others were selling themselves 鈥渁 little bit short.鈥�

He said the Education Department is trying to help by giving rural states a competitive advantage in applying for some of the $650 million in Investing in Innovation, or i3, stimulus grants, and stressed that 鈥渨e are going to fund, not where there鈥檚 a capacity to write a grant, but where there鈥檚 a capacity to help kids.鈥�

The secretary also said that Montana would be receiving roughly $10 million in school improvement money for the five schools it identified as low-performing. 鈥淭hink about the resources you will have for those five schools,鈥� he said.

Seeking Flexibility

Patricia I. Wright, the state superintendent in Virginia, asked the secretary if the department would offer the same sort of flexibility on how states develop new assessments as it has offered on the adoption of new common academic standards.

In its ESEA blueprint unveiled March 13, the Obama administration said that state officials could adopt either the common core standards鈥攖he initiative led by the National Governors Association and the CCSSO鈥攐r devise their own 鈥渃ollege- and career-ready standards鈥� in partnership with colleges and universities in their states.

鈥淚 am very pleased to see that you have acknowledged that college- and career-ready [standards] can come about in different ways,鈥� Ms. Wright said. 鈥淲e鈥檇 like to see the same flexibility on assessments.鈥�

Mr. Morton, the Alabama chief, provided one of the livelier exchanges when he asked Mr. Duncan to spell out, explicitly, the importance of having a charter school law in order to win a piece of Race to the Top money. Alabama does not have a charter law, and lawmakers there recently rejected a bill that Mr. Morton and Gov. Bob Riley fought hard to pass.

Mr. Morton recalled the secretary saying at a meeting at the Hunt Institute in North Carolina that states without charter laws, 鈥渘eed not apply鈥� for Race to the Top. Then, last week, the Alabama Education Association sent out a letter saying that Mr. Duncan told union leaders in a private meeting that he didn鈥檛 care about charter schools, according to the Alabama chief.

鈥淒o we have to have charter schools?鈥� Mr. Morton asked. 鈥淲e tried, we failed. I don鈥檛 want to start a race 8 percent behind the other states,鈥� he said, referring to the 40 points out of a total of 500 that states can garner in Race to the Top if their policies are deemed to be friendly to charter schools.

Mr. Duncan acknowledged that states without charter laws are at a competitive disadvantage, but, as he usually does, insisted that his message on charter schools has not changed.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 support charter schools, I support good charter schools,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are communities in Alabama that need better options.鈥�

In an earlier session on the administration鈥檚 proposed fiscal 2011 budget for education with Roberto Rodriquez, from the White House鈥檚 Domestic Policy Council, and Robert Gordon, from the Office of Management and Budget, Mark K. McQuillan, Connecticut鈥檚 education commissioner, said he believes that Race to the Top could end up resulting in 鈥渂ad policy.鈥�

By competing at least twice for Race to the Top money鈥攁nd possibly a third time should Congress approve the Obama administration鈥檚 proposal to include $1.35 billion for another round in the fiscal 2011 budget鈥攕tates must expend political capital and financial resources that are in short supply, he said.

鈥淚f you are going to sit and push states in this direction with no results, I think this is potentially bad policy,鈥� Mr. McQuillan said. 鈥淵ou could be taking state agencies through this process three or four times with no outcome.鈥�

Mr. Rodriguez told the chiefs that 鈥渋t is not lost on us the amount of energy, political capital, human capital, and financial capital鈥� that the states have invested in competing for a piece of the prize.