ESSA parent notices are still required starting July 1, 2017, despite the pause in ESSA accountability system development

TransACT has received a number of questions recently about whether parent notices under ESSA will still be required for the 2017-2018 school year. This is because of confusion over the pause on the development of accountability systems. Despite the pause on accountability system development, ESSA will fully replace NCLB on July 1, 2017. This means that parent notices required by ESSA go into effect for the 2017-2018 school year.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Starting July 1, 2017 the implementation of parent notices required by ESSA goes into effect. This means that you must send ESSA parent notices in the 2017-2018 school year
• TransACT has developed it’s ESSA Compliance Collection with over 100 notices to meet ESSA parent notification compliance requirements
• The accountability pause might affect only the parent notices for schools identified for Comprehensive or Targeted Support and Improvement
• The first time schools will be identified for Comprehensive or Targeted Support and Improvement is for the 2018-2019 school year
• So, while the parent notices related to accountability might be affected, they don’t go into effect for at least another year, and all other parent notices are still required

In addition, a letter to Chief State School Officers from the recently confirmed Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, she indicates that the timeline for implementation of ESSA and the due dates for ESSA State Plans have not changed. The letter specifically says, “The regulatory delay and review, and the potential repeal of recent regulations by Congress, should not adversely affect or delay the progress that States have already made in developing their State plans and transitioning to the ESSA.”

Background

The pause in the development of accountability systems is due to an executive order from President Trump that delayed the implementation of all recently released regulations that had not taken full effect. This paused the accountability regulations and resulted in the U.S. Department of Education pausing their technical assistance efforts related to the development of accountability systems for ESSA State Plans.

Even more recently, the U.S. House of Representative has taken steps to rescind the ESSA accountability regulations by passing a “Resolution of Disapproval” regarding those regulations. If the U.S. Senate passes a similar resolution, these regulations will be rescinded and no similar regulations may be issued on this topic until another law is signed.

It is anticipated that the issues related to the pause on the development of accountability systems will be resolved within the next couple of months. Since parent notices related to schools identified for Comprehensive or Targeted Support and Improvement won’t be needed until the 2018-2019 school year, this pause poses no issues. It is important to remember that all other ESSA parent notice requirements must be met starting July 1, 2017.

Therefore, it is important to note that the pause in accountability system development has no impact on parent notices that are required under ESSA for the 2017-2018 school year. TransACT is committed to keeping up with what is happening on the federal education level and reporting to you any impact that these actions might have on parent notices.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact us at 425.977.2100, Option 3 or email at support@transact.com.