The Center on Education Policy has released a report based on an October 2010 survey of state education officials, which discusses state education budgets, implementation timeline for initiatives to support the four American Recovery and Reinvestment Act reform assurances, state education agency capacity, and Race to the Top. The full report, More To Do, But Less Capacity To Do It: States’ Progress In Implementing the Recovery Act Education Reforms, describes findings from the survey sections that deal with the condition of state education funding in fiscal years 2011 and 2012, the status of state implementation of ARRA-related reforms, the influence of ARRA’s Race to the Top (RttT) program on reform agendas in states that did and did not receive these competitive grants, and the capacity of state education agencies to carry out ARRA reforms.
The analysis makes four broad conclusions:
*The ambitious agenda of education reform attached to ARRA may hit a wall in 2012.
*The capacity of many states to implement ARRA reforms could be constrained by cuts in state education agencies’ operating budgets and limited staffing levels.
*States are responding sooner and more actively in some ARRA reform areas than in others.
*ARRA has helped to create a common reform agenda for states based on broad federal goals.
The report is posted on CEP’s Web site (www.cep-dc.org) and can be downloaded for free at the following address:
http://www.cep-dc.org/cfcontent_file.cfm?Attachment=KoberRentner%5FFullReport%5FMoreToDoButLessCapacityToDoIt%5F021711%2Epdf
