Education Week - August 31, 2016 - 17

Among the House of Representatives' most conservative members, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., co-chaired the Republican Party's platform committee at its recent convention. Cliff Owen/AP But the department's 2016 proposals in negotiated rulemaking say exactly that. The 2015 guidance, in its general language, does refer to the "equitable distribution" of state and local resources that should take place. But does that mean equal spending outcomes among schools, or that one equitable method of distributing money must be used for all schools? Multiple Examples And remember: The formulas highlighted above are just two examples the department laid out in 2015 of equitable distribution of state and local funds. The guidance does caution that federal Title I funds can't be considered supplemental if they are used as "part of the basic level of education funding." In other words, if schools rely on federal dollars to provide a basic education program, they're not following the requirement. In early negotiations over ESSA regulations this spring, the department proposed requiring districts to show they were providing a basic education program with state and local dollars. But after objections, it dropped that language. It remains to be seen exactly how the draft regulations will address, or fail to address, those and other questions. publican, also cheered the O'Connor ruling. Kentucky is one of the state plaintiffs that had joined Texas in its legal battle. "It is difﬁcult to imagine a more absurd federal overreach into a local issue," Bevin said in a statement. "The president is not promoting unity. In fact, he is doing quite the opposite. He is intentionally dividing America by threatening to sue or withhold funding from our cash-strapped public schools if they do not agree with his personal opinion on policies that remain squarely in their jurisdiction. They should not feel compelled to bow to such intimidation." Several civil rights organizations that advocate on behalf of transgender students, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, called the ruling misguided and said it does not eliminate the requirement that school districts "treat transgender students fairly." "A ruling by a single judge in one circuit cannot and does not undo the years of clear legal precedent nationwide establishing that transgender students have the right to go to school without being singled out for discrimination," the groups said in a joint statement. "The court's misguided decision targets a small, vulnerable group of young people- transgender elementary and high school students-for potential continued harassment, stigma, and abuse." Contributing Writer Mark Walsh provided information for this article. Talking K-12 With a Force in the House GOP It's been a busy summer for U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican and member of the House education committee. That's in large part because Foxx, who was ﬁrst elected to the House of Representatives in 2004 and chairs the higher education subcommittee, was co-chairwoman of the party's platform committee at the GOP convention last month. Foxx, who is consistently rated as one With U.S. REP. VIRGINA FOXX, of the most conservative a North Carolina Republican members of the House, is and member of the House education committee also frequently mentioned as a possible successor to Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the current chairman of his chamber's education committee. She supported the Every Student Succeeds Act when it passed last year, but has been critical of ESSA regulatory proposals from the U.S. Department of Education. Education Week recently interviewed Foxx by phone during the congressional recess to get her thoughts on ESSA, on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and on a range of education issues. The question-and-answer piece has been edited for length and clarity. QA Right now, you're back in your district during the congressional recess, so what do you hear the most when you've talked to local school leaders? A lot of the regulations coming out of the Obama administration are of great concern to the leaders of the schools. The cost of health care keeps rising and rising and rising, and [their ability] to meet their budgets and pay for that. ... Most people thank me for ESSA. They're very pleased that we're de-emphasizing testing and that we're doing everything we can to push decisionmaking down to the local level, which is the way it should be. What potential obstacles for that do they see? What they are most concerned about, again, is the fact that the [Education Department] continues to come up with ways to maintain control when Congress has clearly stated that that's not the intent [of the law]. I'm quite aware of the feelings these people have. You often get conﬂicting rules, conﬂicting interpretations, and commentary from the folks who are supposed to be telling you what the rules are that don't quite jibe all of the time. When you think about the education part of the GOP platform, what are the notable changes or additions from the 2012 platform? I don't think [the Common Core State Standards] had a prominent place in the platform in 2012. Always with Republicans, you're going to see the platform say: We don't need a federal Department of Education, that we should be letting locals again make the decisions. Teachers, principals, local school board members should be making the decisions as to how to run local schools. We, I think, emphasized a little bit more the issue of lack of success, despite the fact that we've spent a huge amount of money, hardworking-taxpayer money, at the federal level. And we've really basically seen no change. How comfortable or conﬁdent would you be working with a President Donald Trump on issues like school choice? Do you think he would have, or wants to have, a major impact on education policy? I do. One of the good things is that he will want the Congress to work with him and formulate the policies that will work for the country. I think that will be a very, very positive thing. I don't think he's going to come in day one and try to dictate to the Congress what should be done. I think it'll be the other way around. And that's a very healthy thing. ... He has stated that he wants to restore the traditional division of authority. And I think that's the ﬁrst step. What's your reaction when you get mentioned, as you do, as a possible successor to John Kline as the leader of the House education committee? I'm focused on getting us through this year. I have the absolute, utmost respect for Chairman Kline. ... I'm not going to deal with the chairmanship now. It's just too early to talk about it. When you look at Hillary Clinton's proposals for education, whether it's expanding early-childhood programs or increasing the affordability of higher education, do you see those getting traction? No. She has primarily adopted [Vermont Sen.] Bernie Sanders' positions on that. And I don't think those are viable positions. So if we maintain our majorities in the House and Senate, even if she's elected president, I think you'll see quite a different kind of legislation than what she might propose. What's foremost in your mind about the proposed ESSA accountability rules? All of us on the committee on both sides of the aisle-and frankly, I wish our colleagues on the other side of the aisle were more concerned about it-is that we don't allow the Department of Education to overstep its bounds. It tends, I think, to put in the reforms it wants to put in and not respect the letter and intent of the law that we passed. Is it as bad as I thought it would be? You know, I'm an optimist. ... But I'm telling you, you get a bunch of bureaucrats together, and there seems to be no end to their ideas for gaining control. What would be your priorities on the education committee heading into the next Congress and presidential administration? You have a career and technical education bill that passed out of committee-would that be something you'd be focused on, or other things? We're hoping to get that passed by the Senate. I know they have a different version. We'd certainly like to see that passed this fall. There's a lot of interest in getting that passed. And certainly if it doesn't get passed this fall, it would be high on the agenda for whomever the next chairman is. The child-nutrition program is another one. ... We've got -ANDREW UJIFUSA plenty on our plate right now to deal with. EDUCATION WEEK | August 31, 2016 | www.edweek.org | 17 http://www.edweek.org

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