House ESEA Draft Would Loosen Strings on K-12 Aid

Leeway for districts, less federal oversight among aims of bill

A House draft bill on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act would make subtle—but important—changes to the federal role in overseeing how districts spend their cash, including handing local officials considerably more say over how they allocate money aimed at special populations of students.

The draft bill , which would carve out a much smaller role for the federal government in testing and school improvement, also seeks to rein in future funding increases for the U.S. Department of Education. In a controversial move, it would scrap a key provision of the current law known as “maintenance of effort,” which requires states to keep their own funding for education at a certain level in order to tap federal Title I funds. And it would give districts leeway in spending on English-learners, troubled youths, and several other groups of students.

Advocates for districts already have raised red flags about the proposed change to maintenance of effort, saying it could lead to major cuts to K-12 education at the local level, particularly...