District strives to comply with new federal laws

PALMER -- Far-reaching new federal laws have the Mat-Su Borough School District mailing letters to hundreds of teachers and parents, even as state officials continue to try to interpret those laws.

During the next weeks, parents and teachers at 17 Mat-Su schools that receive federal Title I money will be sent letters explaining the "No Child Left Behind Act" signed into law by President Bush in January. The letters describe how, under this recently revamped law, parents have a right to know teachers' qualifications and teachers will be labeled as "highly qualified" or not, depending on their credentials.

"This is the largest federal education act to have ever been passed, and it is sweeping," said Kim Floyd, public information specialist with the Mat-Su school district.

The new requirements are designed to increase

accountability, provide parents with more choices and address the issue of teachers instructing out of their areas of expertise. The details of how the law will be implemented at the state and local level, however, are still being ironed out.

"We're just trying to interpret the laws and be in compliance," said Laurine Domke, the district's director of federal programs. She said even as the district sends out the letters, the state continues to work toward understanding exactly what this law means for schools around Alaska. Consequently, the specifics change daily.

"The state is still interpreting the laws so we are proceeding slowly, but we are very much behind the premise -- achievement for all students," Floyd said.

The new law is to be phased in during the course of several years, beginning this year with those schools that receive federal funds under the Title I program - Butte, Iditarod, Big Lake, Goose Bay, Finger Lake, Meadow Lakes, Swanson, Sutton, Sherrod, Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, Tanaina and Willow elementary schools, as well as Su Valley Jr./Sr., Houston Jr./Sr., Palmer Middle and Wasilla Middle schools.

The law sets up a definition of a "highly qualified" teacher and gives parents recourses if their teachers do not meet those requirements. Parents now have the right to know whether teachers are working under an emergency permit or have had any requirements waived, what their college majors were, whether they hold any advanced degrees, and whether the state has licensed them for the grades and subjects they teach.

According to the federal law, teachers are labeled as "highly qualified" only if they have a bachelor's degree and state certification, which is already required in the district, in addition to having passed a "rigorous test" in the areas they teach.

"The problem here is there is no test to make teachers 'highly qualified,'" Domke explained. It will be up to state officials to decide what test will be used to determine a teacher's ability to teach a certain area. For now, however, no such tests exist.

This school year, however, the district only has to label teachers who instruct specifically in Title I programs and who were hired on or after the first day of school. District officials anticipate this will apply to only a few instructors. In the event that a teacher is labeled as being "not highly qualified," all families with children in that class must be notified.

"This is going to be hard for some teachers because they may have been teaching for 20 years, and successfully, but in the eyes of the federal government they are not considered to be 'highly qualified,'" Floyd said.

During the next several years the district is to set up a plan to ensure that all teachers meet the new requirements by the 2005-2006 school year. The law also applies to "paraprofessional" employees, such as teachers' aides, who will be required to have two years of college, an associate's degree or a passing score on a "rigorous test."

District officials say they are striving to identify ways to help employees meet the federal requirements, including finding courses and programs for them to attend.

At the same time, the federal law addresses schools as a whole. Schools must meet guidelines for student achievement both across the board and in specific subgroups, such as Native Americans. If those standards aren't achieved, the school is to be put on a two-year "improvement plan."

Currently no Mat-Su schools have been put on such a plan, although a few rural Alaska schools have.

Eventually, according to these new federal guidelines, if a student is in a class with a teacher who is not determined to be "highly qualified" or is in a school that fails to make adequate progress in its student achievement, the parent can request their child be transferred to a different class or even school, and the district would have to fund the child's transportation with some of its Title I federal funds.

The state is continuing to study this aspect of the law in hopes of ensuring that districts won't suffer from "unreasonable" transportation or boarding requests, especially in rural districts where options are limited.

District officials point out that these new laws do not come equipped with new dollars, but instead must be paid for by an existing budget. The district receives about $7 million of its more than $100 million annual budget from the federal government and, if not in compliance with federal laws such as "No Child Left Behind," risks losing those funds.