Washington, D.C. - January 26, 2015
The Coalition for Community Schools is grateful for the support of forty-four national organizations that have signed on to our recommendations for a reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). These organizations span education, health, youth development, and civil rights and include the AFT, AASA, National League of Cities, Opportunity Action, First Focus Campaign for Children, and National PTA, reflecting the large scope of organizations in support of community school principles.
“This broad range of over 40 national signatories demonstrates strong national cross-sector support for community school principles,” says Coalition Public Policy Manager Mary Kingston Roche. “This occurs at the same time we are seeing rapid growth of community schools across the country and increasing political support at the state and local levels. We as a coalition are eager to work with Chairman Alexander, Ranking Member Murray, and other committee members to embed these principles throughout a reauthorized ESEA.”
At a time when over half of our nation’s students are low-income and we face persistent opportunity and achievement gaps, leaders across the country from Tulsa to Boston are embracing community schools as a vehicle for educational equity and comprehensive school improvement.
Coalition recommendations include the following:
- Incentivize school-community partnerships at the school, district and state levels that coordinate resources between schools and community partners (public and private) to address the comprehensive needs of students and provide enriching learning and development opportunities during and outside of school hours.
- Authorize the bipartisan Full-Service Community Schools Act, and reference full-service community schools as an allowable school turnaround model in Title I and an allowable strategy for Safe and Healthy students in Title IV.
- Require SEAs and LEAs receiving Title I funds to identify and report results beyond academic achievement to include indicators for health and wellness, discipline, attendance, and family engagement.
The complete set of recommendations can be found in theletter.
Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee is setting an aggressive timeline to reauthorize ESEA, calling for a bill out of committee by mid-February. We are appreciative of the strong support of our national partners who are critical to the growth and quality of community schools across the country, and together we will work to ensure these principles are embedded in a reauthorized ESEA that recognizes, supports, and incentivizes strong school-community partnerships for young people’s success.
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About the Coalition for Community Schools
The Coalition for Community Schools, housed at the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL), is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K–16, youth development, community planning and development, higher education, family support, health and human services, government, and philanthropy as well as national, state, and local community school networks. The Coalition advocates for community schools as a strategy to leverage local resources and programs, changing the look and feel of the traditional school structure to best meet the needs of children and families in the 21st century.
About the Institute for Educational Leadership
For a half-century, the Institute for Educational Leadershiphas championed the need for leaders at all levels to shake off their institutional constraints and work across boundaries to address the needs of young people and their families. The work of IEL focuses on three pillars required for young people and their communities to succeed: Involving the broader community with public education to support the learning and development of young people; building more effective pathways into the workforce for all young people and supporting the transition to adulthood; and preparing generations of leaders with the know-how to drive collaborative efforts at all levels.
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