Palm Beach County schools could get some relief from the looming 2014 deadline to meet the student achievement requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and more flexibility to meet those standards.
But President Obama said at a news conference this morning that this freedom for the district and other schools nationwide will only come in exchange for states reforming and improving their education systems.
"This does not mean that states will be able to lower their standards or escape accountability," Obama said.
The president's proposed reforms would relieve school districts from the requirements of the decade-old No Child Left Behind Act, which requires nearly all students to be academically "proficient" by 2014. Schools that fall short are subject to being shut down, turned over to outside groups or forced to replace their staffs.
In Palm Beach County, only 10 percent of schools are meeting the adequate yearly progress test scores required to be complying with No Child Left Behind, said Nicole Smith, the district's No Child Left Behind grants compliance coordinator.
However Palm Beach County's struggles are the norm nationwide. Under current law, most experts say that nearly every school that receives federal aid would, sooner or later, be deemed a failure, except where individual states dramatically lower academic standards. Congressional action to revise the law - and halt looming penalties for tens of thousands of schools - has stalled as other issues have consumed lawmakers.
Relief would come from a waiver dispensed by the U.S. Department of Education.
"Starting today, we'll give states more flexibility to meet high standards," Obama said.
The waivers are not free, Obama said. In order to get them, states have to not only raise standards but must transform their education systems so all students are meeting standards to either be college ready or career ready when they graduate. States must also use student data in teacher evaluations. The Florida legislature earlier this year already created a merit-pay system basing teacher pay on student data such as standardized test scores.
One provision states and districts must meet to get the waivers requires designation of each state's lowest-performing 15 percent of schools for the aggressive measures now in place. Smith said she could not really comment on the impact of the No Child Left Behind waivers on Palm Beach County schools yet because she does not know what consequences the schools in that bottom 15 percent will face.
Currently No Child Left Behind allows students in poor performing schools to opt out and be transferred to better-performing schools elsewhere in the county. Smith said she did not know if the reformed No Child Left Behind with the waivers would allow those transfers for the bottom schools.
No Child Left Behind has been controversial since it was passed in 2002, with parents in Palm Beach County frequently blasting it for its use of standardized test scores as the main measure of student achievement. At a public meeting organized by U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton in April, dozens of parents from Palm Beach and Broward counties packed Don Estridge High Tech Middle School. The parents spent hours yelling at a U.S. Department of Education top official about how No Child Left Behind was turning out students who were "sheep" because their whole education was rote teaching to a standardized test.
Obama said the original goals of No Child Left Behind, such as higher standards and accountability, were good but the implementation had "serious flaws" that hurt children by forcing teachers to teach to a test and causing many states to lower their standards to avoid failing.
In Florida, Department of Education spokeswoman Deborah Higgins said the state would seek the No Child Left Behind waivers.
Tom Butler, Director of Communications for the state Department of Education released a statement saying "The benefits of a waiver would be very evident for Florida, especially in giving us the ability to better align state and federal accountability requirements so parents and the public can more easily understand how our schools are doing. Our application will lay all of these details out once it is finalized."
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.
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