HJR 39: Urging the Governor to direct the Department of Education and Early Development to prepare and submit a request for flexibility under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to obtain a waiver of select requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and to direct the commissioner of education and early development to provide a comprehensive improvement plan that will guarantee that students in the state will be adequately prepared for academic and vocational success.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 39 01 Urging the Governor to direct the Department of Education and Early Development to 02 prepare and submit a request for flexibility under the federal Elementary and 03 Secondary Education Act of 1965 to obtain a waiver of select requirements of the No 04 Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and to direct the commissioner of education and early 05 development to provide a comprehensive improvement plan that will guarantee that 06 students in the state will be adequately prepared for academic and vocational success. 07 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 08 WHEREAS the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. 6319), as incorporated 09 into the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 - 7941), does not 10 take into account the geographic challenges that impose conditions and circumstances that 11 routinely influence the education systems throughout the state; and 12 WHEREAS the No Child Left Behind Act does not effectively take into consideration 13 the economic difficulties and constraints faced by rural educators in the state and the resulting 14 adverse effects on child educational development in rural areas of the state; and
01 WHEREAS an overwhelming number of educators and administrators agree that the 02 No Child Left Behind Act has proven to be vastly inadequate and unsuitable to meet the needs 03 of the state's students and teachers and has imposed unreasonable standards of evaluation of 04 student academic performance and progress; and 05 WHEREAS after more than a decade in effect, the No Child Left Behind Act has 06 given schools more ways to fail than succeed; and 07 WHEREAS the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act flexibility option 08 allows states to opt out of the No Child Left Behind Act regulatory burden with waivers; and 09 WHEREAS opting out of the No Child Left Behind Act will allow the state to set its 10 own path toward improving education in the state by adopting its own standards, identifying 11 struggling schools, and developing measures to evaluate teacher and administrative 12 performance; and 13 WHEREAS the obligations of the state as outlined in Moore et al. v. State No. 3AN- 14 04-9756 CI, are closely aligned with requirements for opting out of the No Child Left Behind 15 Act; and 16 WHEREAS developing an improved, state-specific educational plan to meet the 17 requirements of the waiver request will allow the state to develop rigorous but relevant state 18 standards; and 19 WHEREAS developing an improved state-specific education plan will provide a 20 framework for implementing effective early intervention methods to address academic 21 deficits; and 22 WHEREAS an improved education plan will increase resources for, and the 23 development of, distance education technology to foster rural educational systems and 24 advancements that will benefit rural and Alaska Native communities; and 25 WHEREAS the state is one of five states that has not adopted the standards endorsed 26 by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers; and 27 WHEREAS 11 states have applied for and 10 states have received waivers for the 28 first round of submissions, and 28 additional states already filed their intent to apply in the 29 second round; 30 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to direct the 31 commissioner of education and early development to develop a comprehensive improvement
01 plan that will guarantee that students will be adequately prepared for academic and vocational 02 success and that will qualify the state to opt out of the No Child Left Behind Act; and 03 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor 04 to direct the Department of Education and Early Development to prepare and submit a request 05 for flexibility under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to obtain a 06 waiver of select requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act to be submitted before the 07 September 6, 2012, deadline established by the United States Department of Education. 08 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 09 the United States; the Honorable Arne Duncan, United States Secretary of Education; and the 10 Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the 11 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.