A significant Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee questions the cost for states and school districts for maintaining compliance with the Blueprint. (The Blueprint is available on the PAFPC website.) Although Secretary Duncan has expressed the need for increased flexibility, he and staff apparently have not determined any time or cost estimates for maintaining compliance with the current or proposed implementation of the Blueprint.
Rep Hoekstra stated, “In response to my question concerning the cost of NCLB, you indicated that USDE has neither calculated the number of hours nor the amount of money states and LEAs have spent on meeting the mandates and requirements included in NCLB”. The question remains: will USDE do a study to determine the costs and paperwork necessary for states and school districts to remain compliant? When a school district is monitored in Pennsylvania, school district staff know what you must do for NCLB to remain compliant. It takes time and effort. The expectation is that the requirements will be greater for the Blueprint. If you are interested in knowing what states must do for a United States Department of Education (USDE) monitoring visit, go to www.ed.gov, search monitoring and review the state monitoring reports. Few, if any, states are 100% compliant for NCLB.
USDE determines if states are compliant through USDE monitoring teams visiting local school districts. The PAFPC and the Division of Federal Programs attempts to provide training at our annual conference on every requirement of NCLB and the recent changes in regulations made by the new administration. My best sense is that there will be more monitoring with fewer funds and less staff next school year. Think of the additional information that was required for the Stimulus funds!