California District Waiver Bid Has Precedent, Conditional Approval Of State Officials

Michele McNeil writes at the Education Week (3/26) "Politics K-12" blog about the "tepid blessing" that California education chief Tom Torlakson and BOE President Michael Kirst gave to the NCLB waiver application that a coalition of California districts has submitted to ED, noting that the letter expressed "reservations about how such a waiver would work, including the role of the state in monitoring these districts, whether other districts will be able to join in, and the process used by federal officials to approve the request. These nine California districts, calling themselves CORE for California Office to Reform Education, are hoping to secure a first-of-its-kind district waiver now that the state's waiver application has been rejected. ... US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan seems quite fond of the CORE districts and their proposals, pointing out in a spirited back-and-forth with a group of state chiefs last week that they encompass 1 million students-more than the student population of some entire states." She notes that ED Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Deborah Delisle has written to state that the application will receive peer review, and describes past precedents for district-level waivers from NCLB requirements.