Feds Grant Indiana Three-Year No Child Left Behind Waiver

Indiana is still in line with the expectations set in order to receive federal funding.

The state Department of Education announced today that Indiana has received a three-year extension from the U.S. Department of Education for the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver. This flexible status exempts the state from various provisions of the federal education law.

State Superintendent Glenda Ritz says this waiver will give schools more local control and greater flexibility over how they use federal dollars.

“I will continue to work with both local schools and the federal government to find increased ways to direct more resources into classrooms while reducing the amount of time spent on testing,” Ritz said in a statement.

Indiana had been operating under a one-year waiver extension granted last summer.

No Child Left Behind is the latest version of the country’s cornerstone education law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), an extensive statute that has governed funding for primary and secondary education since 1965. ESEA is up for renewal this session in Congress, and right now the House and Senate have each passed their own version of a rewrite. The chambers will have to work together to come up with one version to send to the President’s desk.

Along with all other states, Indiana would be subject to whatever regulations appear in a new version of ESEA – unless the feds decide to continue the practice of granting waivers – so it’s unclear how long this waiver will stay in effect.

Former President George W. Bush signed NCLB into law in 2002.