A tremendous amount of work by GADOE staffers, system personnel, and state-wide educational leaders has gone into preparing a Georgia plan for ESSA. Dr. Melissa Fincher, Debbie Gay, and Matt Jones have spearheaded a major effort to get Georgia up and running with the new federal regulations specified in the ESSA law but now it appears that all of that will be put on hold. It most certainly appears that the U.S. House of Representatives has other ideas and wants to go back and undo much of the ESSA plan that was approved bilaterally by Congress in 2015. The Affordable Care Act is not the only Obama era policy that will be on the chopping block. (Please see the Education Week article at the end of today’s Flyer.) Unfortunately no one knows where to go from here—do you press on preparing a plan for September submission knowing that the rules very well may change or just wait and see. Realistically all that we can do right now is to wait and see what changes—if any—that Congress makes in the current ESSA regulations. Bottom line is that the progressive elements found in ESSA may or may not survive but we do know that it is going to take longer to get an acceptable plan approved than anyone anticipated.
Mama said, “These are the times that try men's souls"