AFT Submits Over 5,000 Comments to Department of Education Regarding ESSA Proposed Regulations

The American Federation of Teachers on Aug. 1 submitted comments from President Randi Weingarten and 10 state affiliates, and signatures from nearly 5,400 individual AFT members, to the Department of Education regarding the proposed regulations governing the accountability systems and state plans for the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

“ESSA is a fundamental reset, but the work to make that reset a reality in our classrooms must now begin in earnest,” says Weingarten.

“The submission of nearly 5,400 signatures from rank-and-file AFT members, as well as comments from state affiliates, shows our union’s overwhelming support for ensuring ESSA is properly implemented by addressing the major concerns we have raised about the proposed regulations.”

In a letter to Education Secretary John King that accompanied the AFT’s comments on the proposed regulations, Weingarten said, “The AFT believes that, to best ensure our students are guaranteed their right to a high-quality public education, regulations should clearly follow the intent and language of the new law, which allows for a reset of education policy and a focus on children, not testing.

“This requires listening to the collective wisdom of those closest to kids—their parents and educators. ESSA provides a reset for states, with broad stakeholder input, to create robust systems of accountability that redefine how to measure learning to be more about what learning really is—not simply math and reading test scores.”

Weingarten noted in her letter that the regulations do succeed in some areas: “The proposed regulations reinforce the law’s flexibility for states to incorporate new measures of school quality and student success, beyond test scores, into their accountability systems. Likewise … the regulations also uphold the law’s flexibility to allow local school systems and their stakeholders to select interventions for struggling schools that meet their needs.”

“However,” Weingarten said, “the AFT does have some major concerns that parts of the proposed regulations walk away from ESSA’s promise of flexibility and opportunity.” The letter outlines the changes the AFT is seeking before these regulations become final.