Colorado schools could face cuts to federal education funding or other consequences after the U.S. Department of Education on Friday rejected the state Board of Education’s request to give a break to districts with large numbers of students opting out of state tests.
The state board had sought to amend its existing waiver to the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or No Child Left Behind.
The state, in turn, petitioned the feds for a change to its waiver to allow for that.
However, Assistant Secretary of Education Deborah Delisle wrote to Colorado Education Commissioner Robert Hammond that the law doesn’t exempt certain districts from accountability requirements.
“High-quality, annual, statewide assessments provide information on all students so that educators can improve educational outcomes, close achievement gaps between subgroups of historically underserved students and their more advantaged peers, increase equity, and improve instruction,” Delisle wrote in a Friday letter.
Districts and schools face consequences if participation on tests dips below 95 percent. Districts could see a lowering of accreditation and other sanctions, and schools may be given improvement plans.
In pushing for the change, Republican state board member Steve Durham argued the only potential consequence for failing to hit participation marks is the federal government withholding funds to the state, a threat he said doesn’t believe would be carried out.
“Is it a risk I am willing to take? The answer is yes,” Durham said at the time. “Do I think it’s a significant risk? The answer is no.”
Colorado gets about $346 million annually in federal money to pay for services for poor and special-education students, state officials say.
Hammond, who announced on Friday his planned June retirement, said deputy commissioner Keith Owen needs to review the letter and report back to the board.
He noted that the existing waiver is due to expire, and the issue again will be on the table for the next waiver request still in the pipeline.
“It could go in many different ways,” Hammond said, including Colorado being required to fall fully under No Child Left Behind.
Waivers allow districts to escape the law’s most onerous provisions.
Opt-out figures are still preliminary and vary greatly by district. In the Boulder Valley School District, 40 percent of high school students and 14 percent of middle school students opted out of PARCC math and English tests that began in March, officials said.
The Douglas County School District, another opt-out hotbed, reported about 16 percent of students opted out district-wide.
But in Denver Public Schools, the state’s largest district, just over 0.65 percent of students opted out of the PARCC tests that began in March, DPS officials said.
The waiver amendment rejection adds a new wrinkle in a debate about legislation that would explicitly allow opting out of state tests. The Senate bill also would prohibit penalties against teachers, principals, districts, schools and students if opt-outs drive down test participation
The bill has cleared the Republican-controlled Senate and is scheduled to be heard Monday by the House Education Committee. Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office has signaled he would not sign any legislation that would endanger Colorado’s federal funding
Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971, egorski@denverpost.com or twitter.com/egorski
