Federal

Officials Vow Flexibility on Federal Rules

September 01, 2005 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Includes updates and/or revisions.

Top federal education officials pledged last week that they would streamline bureaucratic processes for states and school districts affected by Hurricane Katrina.

They said they would waive requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act as necessary, for example, as they reached out to state leaders to determine their needs.

“You can be assured that the red tape will be put in the drawer,” said Raymond J. Simon, the deputy U.S. secretary of education. “We know we have statutory authority … to grant waivers for occurrences such as this.”

Mr. Simon and other U.S. Department of Education officials offered few details during an Aug. 31 conference call with reporters, but made clear they stood ready to offer states various types of support in dealing with huge numbers of displaced students and destroyed or damaged schools.

Mr. Simon and Henry L. Johnson, the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, personally called each of the state chiefs in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

“We’ve really asked them to tell us what their needs are right now,” Mr. Simon said.

Mr. Simon said the department would offer substantial flexibility to those states, both for districts that have sustained direct damage from the hurricane and those that take in large numbers of displaced students.

“There may be waivers needed for [adequate yearly progress] decisions, school improvement decisions,” he said. Districts could simply notify their states that they would like waivers, and each state would submit a list for review, Mr. Simon said.

“We’re going to make this as quick and efficient as possible,” he said.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act makes a range of demands on states and school districts, from requiring schools to show that their students have made adequate progress on tests to ensuring that a highly qualified teacher is in every classroom by the end of this school year. The law in many places makes plain that exceptions to its requirements may be made for natural disasters.

At press time last Friday, Congress was expected to deliver a $10.5 billion package of aid for President Bush’s signature. Lawmakers made clear that more aid would come when needs were fully assessed.

“This catastrophe is unprecedented, and it will take the full support and cooperation of the federal government to stabilize, repair, and rebuild the Gulf Coast,” Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said in a statement. At press time last week, no details were available on what that help might involve for schools.

School Lunch Guidance

As schools prepared to take in student evacuees from devastated areas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued an Aug. 31 memo to programs that deal with food distribution in schools to help them come to grips with feeding children in the storm’s aftermath.

Areas with large numbers of evacuees registering at their schools should treat those students the same way they would homeless children under federal lunch guidelines, the memo says.

The policy allows schools to keep lists of those eligible for free meals instead of requiring applications that involve documentation of family income.

Households that are certified for emergency food stamps are automatically eligible for free school meals. Any operating schools in the areas the hurricane hit may serve all meals free to children through Sept. 30, the memo says. Also, some of the nutritional requirements for school lunches have been temporarily waived.

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Spark Minds, Reignite Students & Teachers: STEM’s Role in Supporting Presence and Engagement
Is your district struggling with chronic absenteeism? Discover how STEM can reignite students' and teachers' passion for learning.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
Recruitment & Retention Webinar EdRecruiter 2025 Survey Results: The Outlook for Recruitment and Retention
See exclusive findings from EdWeek’s nationwide survey of K-12 job seekers and district HR professionals on recruitment, retention, and job satisfaction. 
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Trump Puts Use of TikTok Back in Play. What This Means for Educators
The platform's future remain's murky despite Trump's executive order delaying a ban.
5 min read
Supporters of TikTok hold signs during a rally to defend the app at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. The House holds a hearing Thursday, with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about the platform's consumer privacy and data security practices and impact on kids.
Educators who support TikTok hold signs during a rally to defend the app at the Capitol in Washington on March 22, 2023. President Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that delays enforcement of the law for at least 75 days.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Trump Names Acting Education Secretary Ahead of Linda McMahon's Confirmation
Denise Carter will fill the role until President Donald Trump's pick, Linda McMahon, is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
2 min read
The U.S. Department of Education, in Washington, D.C., pictured on February 21, 2021.
The U.S. Department of Education, in Washington, D.C., pictured on Feb. 21, 2021.
Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via AP Images
Federal Trump Names Experienced Educator as His Pick for Deputy Education Secretary
Penny Schwinn, a former teacher and state schools chief, is an advocate for school choice and evidence-based reading practices.
3 min read
080321 Tennessee Education Commissioner CRT AP BS
Penny Schwinn, who was Tennessee's education commissioner, sits with students at Fairmount Elementary in Bristol, Tenn. on June 14, 2021. Schwinn, President-elect Trump's choice for the U.S. Department of Education's No. 2 job, has a long resume of leadership roles in K-12.
David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier via AP
Federal Trump Returns to the White House. What's in Store for Schools?
With his White House return, Trump's early actions could affect schools directly, or indirectly.
5 min read
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on Aug. 8, 2023, at Windham High School in Windham, N.H.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on Aug. 8, 2023, at Windham High School in Windham, N.H. Trump returns to the White House on Monday, and in his second term could include policies that reshape the landscape for K-12 schools.
Robert F. Bukaty/AP