Washington was already poised to return a lot more authority over K-12 policy to states, thanks to the Every Student Succeeds Act, slated to hit school districts next fall.
Now, with President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 victory, that process is only likely to accelerate.
State leaders aren鈥檛 waiting for the new administration to name all its players or fill in the blanks on in-the-weeds policy details. They鈥檙e already charging forward with the agendas they have been crafting since ESSA鈥檚 passage a year ago.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know the general direction of the new administration,鈥� said Chris Minnich, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. 鈥淏ut the commitment to coming up with high-quality [ESSA] plans is consistent across the chiefs. The resolve is to not worry so much about what the federal government is doing and to really put together high-quality plans so that when the federal government is ready to talk about these things, we know where we are.鈥�
Details about the Trump administration鈥檚 policy direction may be starting to emerge, with the Nov. 23 announcement that Betsy DeVos, a Michigan philanthropist and strong school choice supporter, is Trump鈥檚 pick for U.S. Secretary of Education.
In fact, if the Trump administration takes a hands-off approach to accountability, as many expect, it could come as a welcome change of pace for states, some experts say.
State leaders have spent the past decade and a half digesting one Washington-driven policy initiative after another, from the No Child Left Behind Act鈥檚 annual tests under President George W. Bush to the Obama administration鈥檚 teacher-evaluation and school-turnaround initiatives pushed through under waivers of NCLB requirements.
鈥淚 think the education world is going to ultimately go, 鈥榃hew, thank heavens,鈥� 鈥� Vic Klatt, a one-time aide to Republicans on the House education committee, said at a postelection event sponsored by the Education Writers Association. 鈥淣o more wacky new changes from the federal level give us a chance to implement things on [our] own and not have to deal with stuff from Washington all the time.鈥�
Civil rights organizations agree that some stability will be a positive development if it means that states can push forward on a 鈥渟erious improvement-focused agenda,鈥� said Daria Hall, the interim vice president for government affairs and communications at the Education Trust, which advocates for poor and minority children.
But if states are going to use a reduced federal role to 鈥渢ake their foot off the gas鈥� when it comes to ensuring educational equity for all students, 鈥渢here needs to be advocacy that says we can鈥檛 let up, we have to keep going,鈥� Hall said. 鈥淭he good news is that we think there is a lot of good, equity-focused advocacy going on in states鈥� right now.
State Perspectives
In conversations since the election, state chiefs, state school board members, and state lawmakers shrugged their shoulders when asked how a Trump presidency changes their plans for K-12 education.
Instead, they described a flurry of decisions they鈥檝e made on their own in recent months in areas including new accountability systems, new high school exams, tweaked learning standards, and redefined graduation standards.
鈥淲e just need to stay the course,鈥� Melody Schopp, the secretary of education in South Dakota, said in an interview at the Council of Chief State School Officers鈥� annual meeting, in Baltimore, a little more than a week after the election. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got great standards. We鈥檝e got a good assessment system. 鈥� That鈥檚 my goal: Stay the course.鈥�
Stephen Pruitt, the commissioner of education in Kentucky, is on the same page.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing in statute or regs that鈥檚 changed, so we鈥檙e going to keep going with what鈥檚 right for kids until somebody tells us to do something different,鈥� he said.
The Obama administration set two deadlines for reviewing states鈥� ESSA plans, one in March of next year and one next summer, although it鈥檚 unclear if the Trump team will stick to that timeline. It will be up to Trump鈥檚 education secretary鈥攚hoever he or she is鈥攖o give the ultimate thumbs-up or -down on states鈥� proposals.
That process could also prove pivotal in setting the course for the law鈥檚 implementation. ESSA includes a lot of vague terms that the U.S. Department of Education and its hand-selected team of peer reviewers will have to puzzle over. How the new administration decides to define those terms鈥攍ike what it means for various indicators in an accountability system to carry 鈥渟ubstantial鈥� weight鈥攃ould have a serious impact on the shape of the law.
鈥淭he process will probably be more open to envelope-pushing ideas,鈥� said Reg Leichty, a co-founder of Foresight Law + Policy, a law firm in Washington. 鈥淚n areas that are a little more gray, the tie will go to the runner,鈥� meaning deference to states.
But Leichty doesn鈥檛 expect that absolutely anything would go. A state couldn鈥檛, for instance, completely stop testing its students without running afoul of ESSA.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 something the department, any department, could lawfully ignore,鈥� he said.
Regulation Questions
The Trump administration could decide to tweak or toss the Obama administration鈥檚 proposed regulations for the new law, especially on a complicated spending provision known as supplement-not-supplant, which governs how states and districts divvy up their own money between poor and less-poor schools.
Those regulations sought to close what critics say is a loophole that prevented disadvantaged children from getting access to their fair share of resources. The proposal was hailed by civil rights groups, but came under fire from practitioners, as well as ESSA鈥檚 Republican sponsors in Congress.
In fact, if the Obama administration decides to proceed with that draft regulation, Congress could vote to strike it down through the Congressional Review Act, said David Cleary, a top aide to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., at the education writers鈥� event. That would bar the department from issuing similar regulations until legislation was passed.
It鈥檚 also unclear how the Trump administration will decide to handle the Obama administration鈥檚 accountability regulations, which are due to be made final by the end of the year. The new administration could hit the pause button on those regulations, let states know through guidance that it won鈥檛 be enforcing them, or even scrap them and start over.
For now, state leaders are forging ahead.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 wait for the federal government anymore,鈥� said Ouida Newton, a state board member in Arkansas, who said officials in her state, after doing on-the-road outreach, are drafting the ESSA plan due for submission to the federal Education Department next year. 鈥淥ur kids can鈥檛 wait.鈥�
Meanwhile, the Trump administration may have limited sway over K-12 education in some areas where it might want to act, in part because of a list of prohibitions on the education secretary鈥檚 role included in ESSA.
Law鈥檚 Handcuffs
The law bars the secretary from offering states money or flexibility for adopting a particular approach to teacher evaluation, school turnarounds, and standards.
That means ESSA prohibits the secretary from telling states that they must ditch a particular set of standards, including the Common Core State Standards, which were developed through a partnership between state chiefs and governors. On the campaign trail, Trump called the standards a 鈥渄isaster鈥� and said he would get rid of them.
What鈥檚 more, Trump鈥檚 education secretary could not offer states conditional waivers of some ESSA requirements in exchange for, say, adopting school choice programs or ditching teacher-tenure protections.
When ESSA was under consideration, Democrats fought against the prohibitions on the secretary鈥檚 role, but now many are grateful for them.
鈥淔olks on the left bemoaned the secretary not being able to effect things like standards, and now we are thanking our lucky stars,鈥� said Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, the vice president for social policy and politics at Third Way, a think tank in Washington that seeks to find common ground on controversial issues.
But while Trump can鈥檛 legally get rid of the common core, he could continue to hurt the standards politically by bashing them from the bully pulpit. Since 33 governors are Republicans鈥攖he North Carolina race had yet to be decided as of deadline last week鈥攈is opposition to the standards could be influential.
Minnich of the CCSSO, which led the development of the Common Core along with the National Governors Association, said that states continue to embrace rigorous standards, no matter what they decide to call them.
This 鈥渋sn鈥檛 about the common core anymore,鈥� he said, noting that many states have tweaked or rebranded the standards, but kept a high bar. 鈥淚f you want to go away from the common core, great, but you better have high standards.鈥�
