Every State’s Untapped Advantage: ESSA Waivers and Ed-Flex

Secretary McMahon and her team have made considerable progress on one of President Trump’s key campaign promises - reorganizing and dismantling the Department of Education. Before President Trump took office, the conventional wisdom was that there was nothing that could be done to fulfill his campaign promise short of an act of Congress. But by using The Economy Act’s Interagency agreements, the Administration has managed to shift functions to departments better able to execute them.

The executive order these actions were taken under, however, was not titled “Dismantle the Department of Education.” It was titled “Improving Educational Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities.” Administrative actions at the federal level can only go so far. All of the skillful federal reorganization will have limited effect on K-12 classrooms across the country unless states step up and take advantage of their newfound flexibility.

To date, two states have shown administrative initiative comparable to Secretary McMahon’s. Iowa, Louisiana, and Indiana have both sought and been granted waivers from the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) at the state level, as well as “Ed-Flex” status for their school districts. The waivers permit state education agencies to combine federal funding streams to prioritize state-level initiatives, from dedicating more resources to the science of reading to making targeted investments in AI. Just as importantly, they let agencies save considerable sums on reporting requirements, redirecting millions of dollars spent on compliance back to the classroom.

The “Ed-Flex” status gives states the flexibility to sign off on school district requests to use their federal funding in new and creative ways. For example, states have asked for flexibility to approve district requests to carry over some of their Title I funding – the largest federal funding stream – from year to year, so that districts can invest in larger-scale initiatives rather than simply allocate federal funding the same way every semester. Federal law requires that school districts spend certain percentages of Title IV funds on categories like technology, “well-rounded education,” or school safety. If a district wants to redirect funding from computer screens to the arts, for example, Ed Flex makes it easier to do so. More states, such as Florida and Illinois, have sought and received this status.

States could go even bigger with their federal waiver requests than Iowa and Louisiana have to date. Indiana, for example, has a waiver request that was just approved to redirect federal funding meant to fix failing schools toward helping the students trapped in them attend a better school. States could even request redesigning their accountability systems altogether. Annual tests in reading and math in grades 3-8 have been federally required since No Child Left Behind passed in 2001, but there’s little reason to believe that they are the perfect system. States could experiment with grade-span testing (i.e., testing every other year) in English, or redesign their tests to measure content knowledge rather than skills. As long as the Secretary determines that a state’s plan is likely to maintain or improve academic achievement, she can approve it.

Before Secretary McMahon took office, state superintendents from twelve states wrote to her asking, in part, that she uses the flexibility in ESSA to grant them relief from federal rules and regulations. Secretary McMahon has made a clear public priority of this, celebrating Iowa’s, Louisiana’s, and Indiana's actions as part of her Returning Education to the States initiative. But the Secretary of Education can only open the door. State leaders must choose to walk through it. Governors and state superintendents serious about reclaiming authority over education should seriously pursue waivers and Ed Flex status to maximize their ability to innovate.

AFPI’s recently published issue brief can be found here.

Erika Donalds is Chair of Education Opportunity at America First Policy Institute.