Federal

Education Department Fines Texas for Missing NCLB Transfer Deadline

By David J. Hoff — April 25, 2005 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The U.S. Department of Education has fined Texas $444,000 for failing to inform parents quickly enough that their children were eligible under the No Child Left Behind Act to transfer out of struggling schools.

The fine is unrelated to a continuing disagreement between state and federal officials over how Texas included the test scores of students with disabilities when determining if districts and schools made adequate yearly progress in the 2003-04 school year under the federal law. Texas officials said April 25 they were working with federal officials on those differences and were optimistic that they would be resolved without further fines being levied against the state.

“We’re hopeful that [fines] should never be an issue again,” Debbie Graves Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said.

The federal fine equals 4 percent of the administrative funds that Texas received in fiscal 2004 under the Title I aid program for disadvantaged students—the largest program under the No Child Left Behind law. Ms. Ratcliffe said the state agency would be able to absorb the fine without lowering school districts’ federal grants.

In an April 22 letter, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said Texas had violated the No Child Left Behind requirement that parents be notified before the school year begins of their option to transfer their children out of a school that failed to make adequate yearly progress, or AYP, for two consecutive years. Last fall, the state did not notify districts of schools’ AYP status until Sept. 27, more than a month after most schools in the state had started the 2004-05 school year.

In an earlier letter to Ms. Spellings, Texas Commissioner of Education Shirley Neeley said the state was delayed in calculating AYP results because the federal officials did not act quickly enough on the state’s request to alter its plan to comply with the law.

The federal department did not give state officials a final response until July 29—three months later than promised, Ms. Neeley said in her Feb. 10 letter.

On a special education issue, Ms. Neeley announced in February that she granted appeals to 431 districts and 1,312 schools that otherwise had failed to make AYP in the 2003-04 school year. Ms. Neeley said those districts and schools failed to make AYP because they had followed the state’s rules for testing special education students, which are less stringent that federal rules.

Secretary Spellings has said that she disagrees with that decision. Ms. Neeley met with federal officials to discuss the issue on April 20 in Washington.

Events

Budget & Finance Webinar Leverage New Funding Sources with Data-Informed Practices
Address the whole child using data-informed practices, gain valuable insights, and learn strategies that can benefit your district.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Webinar
ChatGPT & Education: 8 Ways AI Improves Student Outcomes
Revolutionize student success! Don't miss our expert-led webinar demonstrating practical ways AI tools will elevate learning experiences.
Content provided by Inzata
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Tech Is Everywhere. But Is It Making Schools Better?
Join us for a lively discussion about the ways that technology is being used to improve schools and how it is falling short.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Ron DeSantis Is Running for President. What Will That Mean for K-12 Schools?
DeSantis has solidified himself as a force on school policy. His campaign will likely influence the role education plays in the election.
6 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during convocation at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va., on April 14, 2023.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during convocation at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va., on April 14, 2023.
Paige Dingler/The News & Advance via AP
Federal Cardona Defends Biden's Education Budget and Proposals on Student Debt and Trans Athletes
House Republicans accused Education Secretary Miguel Cardona of indoctrinating students and causing drops in test scores.
4 min read
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during a ceremony honoring the Council of Chief State School Officers' 2023 Teachers of the Year in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 24, 2023, in Washington.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during a ceremony honoring the 2023 Teachers of the Year at the White House on April 24, 2023. He appeared before a U.S. House committee May 16, 2023, to defend the Biden administration's proposed education budget and other policies.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Federal Book Bans and Divisive Concepts Laws Will Hold U.S. Students Back, Secretary Cardona Says
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participated in a summit this week that drew international education leaders to the nation's capital.
6 min read
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona answers questions during an interview in his office in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona answers questions during an interview in his office in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
Alyssa Schukar for Education Week
Federal Opinion The Lies America Tells Itself About Black Education
'A Nation at Risk' created a faux crisis to usher in the right's education agenda, argues Bettina L. Love.
4 min read
President Ronald Reagan is flanked by Education Secretary Terrel Bell, left, White House Policy director, during a meeting in the Cabinet Room in Washington, Feb. 23, 1984 where they discussed school discipline.
President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell, left, during a meeting in the Cabinet Room, Feb. 23, 1984, where they discussed school discipline.
AP