Elementary and Secondary Education:
Flexibility Initiatives Do Not Address Districts' Key Concerns About Federal Requirements
T-HEHS-00-51: Published: Jan 25, 2000. Publicly Released: Jan 25, 2000.
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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its report on how federal requirements affect local school districts, focusing on: (1) the major federal requirements that affect school districts; (2) the issues school districts face in implementing these requirements; and (3) recent initiatives by Congress and the Department of Education to provide flexibility to school districts.
GAO noted that: (1) school districts are subject to a large number and a wide variety of federal requirements that reflect a variety of purposes and goals--such as ensuring students' health and safety, helping students that have particular disadvantages, and improving educational quality in key subject areas; (2) the majority of programs and legislative mandates GAO identified carried some federal dollars; (3) this federal funding is often distributed to school districts through the states, which frequently place additional requirements on districts' administration of federal programs; (4) both federal and state requirements can create implementation issues that affect how school districts plan, fund, and operate their educational programs; (5) obtaining sufficient information about federal requirements can be a challenging task for district administrators, making some districts reluctant to change long-established practices in favor of new educational initiatives; (6) district officials expressed concern about the limited federal financial support in meeting federal requirements, despite their general agreement with the underlying goals; (7) school district officials also told GAO that certain federal requirements create logistical and management challenges in operating their educational programs; (8) the multiplicity and complexity of these implementation issues make them difficult to address, especially because it is frequently those requirements that are often viewed as very beneficial that give rise to many implementation concerns; (9) district staff reported receiving little assistance from recent federal initiatives that have attempted to provide more flexibility; (10) similarly, Congress passed legislation that allows districts to shift a portion of their funds across certain federal programs; (11) however, many states do not allow districts to use this provision, and the amount of funding that can be covered is generally very small; (12) as currently structured, federal flexibility mechanisms are not well-positioned to address the concerns identified by the districts GAO interviewed; and (13) any new initiatives would also have to balance the interests of school districts and the larger purposes reflected in many pieces of federal legislation.
Jan 27, 2021
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Higher Education:
IRS and Education Could Better Address Risks Associated with Some For-Profit College ConversionsGAO-21-89: Published: Dec 31, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 27, 2021.
Jan 19, 2021
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Higher Education:
Department of Education Should Further Assess College Access Grant ProgramsGAO-21-5: Published: Dec 17, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 19, 2021.
Jan 11, 2021
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K-12 Education:
Observations on States' School Improvement EffortsGAO-21-199: Published: Jan 11, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 11, 2021.
Dec 10, 2020
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Higher Education:
Children's Savings Account Programs Can Help Families Build Savings and Envision CollegeGAO-21-10: Published: Dec 10, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 10, 2020.
Nov 19, 2020
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Distance Learning:
Challenges Providing Services to K-12 English Learners and Students with Disabilities during COVID-19GAO-21-43: Published: Nov 19, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 19, 2020.
Oct 15, 2020
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Data Security:
Recent K-12 Data Breaches Show That Students Are Vulnerable to HarmGAO-20-644: Published: Sep 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 15, 2020.
Oct 14, 2020
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Disaster Recovery:
COVID-19 Pandemic Intensifies Disaster Recovery Challenges for K-12 SchoolsGAO-21-62R: Published: Oct 14, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 14, 2020.
Sep 29, 2020
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Federal Student Loans:
Supplemental Data on Income and Family Size Information for Income-Driven Repayment PlansGAO-20-591R: Published: Sep 29, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 29, 2020.
Aug 27, 2020
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Native American Youth:
Agencies Incorporated Almost All Leading Practices When Assessing Grant Programs That Could Prevent or Address Delinquency [Reissued with revisions on Aug. 27, 2020.]GAO-20-600: Published: Aug 6, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 6, 2020.
Jul 24, 2020
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K-12 Education:
School Districts Need Better Information to Help Improve Access for People with DisabilitiesGAO-20-448: Published: Jun 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Jul 24, 2020.
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