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Education Policy
Federal Government Education Policy
Federal Government
Congress
Supreme Court
President
Department of Education
Federal Government
The federal government receives its authority to influence the education systems of the 50 states from the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Under Law clause, the famous Brown vs. Board of Education court case, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The main role of the federal government in state education systems is to ensure that all students receive equal access and opportunity when it comes to their schooling.
Congress
Article I of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress with the ability to make laws for the entire country. This incredible power enables Congress to create the structures in which every corporation, organization, government, and citizen operate. However, in regards to state education systems, the 10th amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from exercising powers not specifically granted to it and gives those powers to the states. The State of Utah therefore assumes control over its education system.
While the State of Utah does exercise the most control over its system, Congress has used its authority to deeply influence the education systems of every state in the nation. For example, in 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which banned discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, etc. In 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. And in 1990, Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which granted the right to a free and appropriate education for all students with disabilities.
The Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) established a series of grant programs that direct funding towards the most disadvantaged students in a state’s education system. If states choose to participate in these programs, they must follow strict requirements and regulations. These regulations are designed to promote equality and accountability within state education systems. ESEA must be reauthorized every five years, and sometimes the reauthorizations come with changes. No Child Left Behind was a reauthorization of ESEA, and NCLB required states to measure the growth and proficiency of student subgroups through state-mandated standardized assessments. No Child Left Behind has since been replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act, which (in addition to measuring student sub-groups) requires states to create their own plans to improve student growth and proficiency.
Supreme Court
Education systems are inextricably tied to some of the most basic rights guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution. Because of this, the Supreme Court of the United States has the power to interpret the meaning of these rights as well as the operations of state education systems to determine if their actions comply with constitutional mandates.
Some prominent examples of Supreme Court decisions that shape state education policy include, but are not limited to, the following:
In Brown vs. Board of Education, the court determined that all students should have equal access to education facilities and resources; in Lemon v. Kurtzman, the court decided that state money could not go to religious schools; and in Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court ruled that there are some forms of free speech that schools cannot deny their students.
President
The President’s main role in regards to state education systems is to appoint the head of the Department of Education, who oversees the billions of dollars the federal government provides to the states through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. By selecting the head of the department, the President indirectly determines the priorities of the Department of Education during his or her presidency.
The President is also able to influence state education systems through executive orders that immediately enact education policy changes. Two examples of such executive orders are President Obama’s White House Initiatives on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and African Americans. These executive orders established initiatives within the Department of Education that provided additional support and resources to these student subgroups to improve their growth and proficiency.
Department of Education
The Department of Education is a part of the Executive Branch and is responsible for implementing the Elementary and Secondary Education act. The Department of Education under the Every Student Succeeds Act has established a series of expectations states are required to follow. The expectations include
- Creating a state-wide set of academic standards.
- Ensuring that all students receive equal access and opportunity in terms of their public education schooling.
- Developing systems of accountability that measure the effectiveness of the State’s education system. The accountability systems must include
- State-wide assessment results
- High school graduation rates
- Student growth (how much a student improves in an academic year)
- An additional indicator of school quality determined by the State.
- Measurement of English language proficiency for English Language Learners
- Achievement goals for student subgroups (student race, socio-economic status, etc).
- Ensuring and developing teacher quality through creating a certification and licensure process and by providing teachers with evidence-based professional development.
- Identifying and notifying districts of low performing schools.
- Creating and posting an annual report card that includes but is not limited student subgroup performance, graduation rates, English Language Learner performance, teacher qualifications, etc.
State Government Education Policy
State Government
State Legislature
State Board of Education
Governor
State Charter Board
State Government
The Constitution of the United States grants individual states the power to create and shape their own systems of education. In Utah’s Constitution, the powers to create and maintain the state’s education system are found in Article X Section 1 and Article X Section 3, which give powers to the State Legislature and State Board of Education respectively.
State Legislature
Article 10 Section 1 of the Utah Constitution states that
“the Legislature shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of the state’s education systems including: (a) a public education system, which shall be open to all children of the state;”
The terms “establishment and maintenance” provide the Legislature with the power necessary to act as the main architect of Utah’s education system. The Legislature has the authority to change any component of the education system so long as those changes do not violate the State of Utah or U.S. Constitutions.
The Legislature’s power is loosely defined, which allows it to be flexible in its approach to interacting with the system. The Legislature is not responsible for implementing the laws they create; they simply use law to shape the system.
State Board of Education
Article 10 Section 3 of the Utah Constitution states, “The general control and supervision of the public education system shall be vested in a State Board of Education.” These loosely defined terms, general control and supervision, are typically interpreted to mean that the State Board is responsible for implementing the laws and regulation given to them by the State Legislature and the federal government.
Considering the rate at which laws and regulations change, this is no easy task.
The main responsibilities assigned to the State Board are:
- Design a common set of academic standards for the State.
- Select and administer assessments to measure student growth and proficiency according to the state-developed standards.
- Create a system that holds districts and schools accountable for their results, which include performance on state tests, graduation rates, and other important metrics outlined by the federal government and the State Board.
- Establish a system that identifies and helps improve underperforming districts and schools.
- Develop a teacher certification process
- Administer, implement, and oversee state and federal funding, and other programs.
- Articulate the state’s educational vision and goals.
- Establish minimum standards for charter school authorizers to consider when reviewing charter school applications.
Governor
The Governor’s role in education funding is limited, but important. The Governor helps to drive the narrative of the direction and amount of education funding and provides a proposed budget. His greatest influence comes through his formal ability to veto education bills and his informal ability to attract media coverage and shape the public’s perception of education issues. He is also tasked with appointing (and removing) members of the State Charter School Board and overseeing agencies that give grants to the State Board, school districts, and public schools.
State Charter Board
The State Charter School Board’s primary responsibility is to review and approve new charters. A charter is a contract that explains what a charter school will do and the state board rules from which they wish to be exempt (they are not allowed to request exemptions from state and federal law). The State Charter School Board’s main responsibilities are:
- Review charter applications and determine to approve or reject them.
- Ensure that charter schools are complying with federal and state law.
- Annually evaluate the performance of charter schools and hold schools accountable for their performance.
- Create a system that helps improve underperforming schools/determine if a school needs to be closed down.
The State Charter School Board approves and oversees approximately 91% of all charters.
Local Education Policy
Local School Boards
Schools
Charter Schools
Local School Boards
School Districts are run by locally elected school boards. These school boards select the executive staff of the district and provide the strategic direction for each school district.
School boards are responsible for creating and managing schools. Districts determine school locations, boundaries, physical designs, budgets, leadership (principals and assistant principals), and teacher pay. They are also responsible for ensuring that schools are teaching according to state standards and that low-performing schools receive the funding and resources needed to improve their performance.
Schools
Public schools have no control over education policy and are instead charged with teaching, mentoring, counseling, and disciplining students. Schools fulfill these responsibilities by collecting and tracking student data, managing student records, supervising teachers and staff, communicating with parents, and submitting relevant data to district and state entities.
Charter Schools
Contrary to popular belief, charter schools are public schools. The greatest difference between a traditional public school and a charter school is flexibility. Charter schools have greater flexibility in how they comply with rules created by the State Board.
Charter schools were initially authorized during the 1998 legislative session. The intent behind the legislation was to “encourage the use of different and innovative teaching methods”, allow educators to “actively participate in designing and implementing the learning program at the school”, increase student choice of learning opportunities, and “provide opportunities for greater parental involvement in management decisions at the school level”.
Charter schools are created when a group of people (this group can be anyone from local parents to education researchers) apply to the State Charter School Board for the authority to create a school (school districts and universities may also approve charter schools, but the most of the charter schools in the state are approved by the State Charter School Board).
Charter schools tend to request exemptions from certain State Board rules. While the ability to request exemptions from rules is also open to school districts, charter schools exercise this ability far more frequently. For example, Franklin Discovery Academy has requested and received an exemption from the traditional 180 day school year required by the State Board of Education, and they have also been granted an exemption from the traditional elementary school model. Instead, they have a longer school year and give elementary students greater control over their class schedules.
Another major difference between traditional public schools and charter schools is that charters acts as their own school districts. Each charter is governed by its own board and the board sets school policy, develops school budgets, chooses school administration, determines teacher pay, etc.
For more information, see the Utah State Board’s FAQ page.
