E.D. Won't Fault Grantees for Breaking Old Rules

By Mark Pitsch

Washington

State auditors are now evaluating state agencies and school districts that received federal money in the 1994-95 school year to determine if they complied with federal rules. But the Clinton administration has essentially decided not to enforce certain rules that changed after the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act went into effect last July.

Grant recipients under the affected programs--Title I compensatory education, migrant education, bilingual education, and the block grant formerly known as Chapter 2--were required to comply with the old ESEA rules in 1994-95, and they have not officially been waived. But because the new ESEA enacted several changes to those programs, auditors have been told not to monitor compliance on those counts during the last year the old rules were in effect....